New FDA nominee has a ‘pro-life heart,’ top advocate for life says
Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of a major pro-life advocacy group, said President Donald Trump’s new nominee for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, Dr. Heidi Overton, is “the right person for the job.”
“Iʼm very impressed with her credentials and her pro-life heart,” Dannenfelser said in an Aug. 26 interview with “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” anchor Abigail Galván. “She, behind the scenes, was working very hard to make sure that the FDA was moving in the right direction on a new study to base further action on.”
The position became vacant after Dr. Marty Makary was fired and is currently filled by acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas, whom Dannenfelser also described as “a very strong pro-life person.”
“We’ve been extremely disappointed from the beginning of the administration with the direction of the FDA and the inaction from the Department of Justice, or the undermining of the pro-life priorities at the Department of Justice,” Dannenfelser said. “What I think is that her naming is an indication of the right direction that … this administration is now taking.”
Confirmation hearings will begin as soon as the Senate is back in session. Dannenfelser said she anticipates the hearings “will probably go pretty well.”
“Now, it doesnʼt mean that the hard questions shouldnʼt be asked,” she said. “They must be asked, and one of those questions would be the direction of the study: How long it will take? What do you see about preliminary findings come out that the court has ordered to be communicated in early October? And do you support the Department of Justice doing what it can to settle this case and get the drugs immediately out of the mail?”
“Because there is a challenge from the state of Louisiana, representing many states, that are saying what we all know: They have basically nullified those state laws,” she continued. “Theyʼve put a burden on states to help women that should never have been in a horrible situation. So while itʼs a question about the Department of Justice, one should not claim that the FDA is the only entity that can do something about fixing this horrific problem that is occurring for children and women in this nation.”
Dannenfelser called for a return to the first Trump administration policy on abortion drugs.
“Weʼve been battling for quite some time from the beginning of this administration to get these drugs out of the mail, and all weʼre hoping for, and what all any sane voter wants to see, is that on the at least on the Republican side, that we return to the first Trump administration policy on the distribution of these drugs, that only in a Biden administration that put on an emergency cloak around the distribution around the COVID moment,” she said.
“Itʼs time to restore the first Trump administration rules — no reason why we shouldnʼt,” she said. “The DOJ can act now and should.”
Catholic Charities steps up amid prolonged power outages in Indiana
When a storm pummeled the electric grid and plunged much of northwest Indiana into darkness two weeks ago, Karen Simon was grateful she had a generator at her house to keep her refrigerator running so her food wouldn’t spoil.
But unlike most people, she had another set of refrigerators to worry about — the commercial ones at the food pantry she coordinates at her parish, St. Mary of the Lake in Gary.
“I have two or three freezers full of meat. I have two refrigerators full of refrigerated items. Panic sets in, because I do not have a generator there,” Simon told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News.
Not having an alternative power source, Simon was able to secure alternative storage options for the food, allowing St. Mary’s to continue serving the poor as some in the region enter their third week without electricity.
The outages began on Aug. 11, when 100 mph wind gusts and heavy rain blew through northwest Indiana and east Chicago. Numerous municipalities in northern Indiana including Gary, Portage, Lake Station, and Munster suffered widespread power outages, with as many as 400,000 customers affected at the peak.
Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) announced that power would be restored for nearly all of its customers in the area by Aug. 25. But more than 7,000 customers in Gary were without power for two weeks. The outages heavily affected the predominantly African American city of about 70,000 people, which has a poverty rate of about 33%, more than three times higher than the national average.
Indiana’s Republican governor, Mike Braun, called for an investigation into NIPSCO over the lengthy outages.
‘Trying to meet the need’
While conditions were extremely difficult, they also fostered solidarity.
When Simon was searching for alternative options for storing St. Mary’s perishable food pantry items, she started calling around to other ministries around Gary that the Catholic food bank works alongside. Many of them were also struggling due to the lack of electricity, but a nearby Christian church that still had power offered to keep 100 containers of milk cold, while the local secular food bank was able to keep the meat frozen.
Last Saturday, the volunteers at St. Mary’s loaded up their cars and distributed nonperishable food to 200 households in a local housing complex, including for several people with disabilities who were trapped with nonfunctioning elevators amid the blackout. Other parishes around Gary, along with local Knights of Columbus councils, also stepped up to offer food and other aid to their neighbors.
Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary said in an Aug. 14 social media message that the trying times in the region are an “opportunity for us ... to be attentive to each other’s needs, to check in on your neighbors."
“I know many of us have already experienced a certain solidarity coming together with our neighbors during this time of need,” McClory continued. “Now is our opportunity to allow our Christian witness to shine forth. Know that you’ll all be in my prayers, and as we work together to navigate through this, we trust in the Lord, and we seek, as St. Paul says, to bear each other’s burdens.”
Terry Seljan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Gary, told the Register that while roughly 99% of those who had lost power have now had it restored, significant needs remain among residents recovering from the recent storms.
Many people had to throw away food from refrigerators and freezers and are seeking assistance to restock their food, he explained. Others whose sump pumps stopped working during the heavy rain lost appliances, mattresses, and other belongings due to water damage. Additionally, some people who were unable to work while local businesses were shut down are seeking help with rent, while others need building supplies to make home repairs they cannot afford to address through insurance.
Seljan said the organization is focusing primarily on providing financial assistance and is asking those who want to help to donate through its website.
Prayers are ‘greatly appreciated’
With the help of roughly 60 regular volunteers, the St. Mary of the Lake pantry normally distributes mostly nonperishable food on the third Monday of each month. Normally at this time of year, the pantry serves about 155 households, or roughly 450 individuals.
Amid the power outages, St. Mary’s also donated some 1,400 pounds of fresh produce grown at a massive community garden associated with the parish to the local fire station for further distribution.
Father Jayababu Nuthulapati, rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary and pastor of two other parishes, including St. Mary of the Lake, told the Register that prayers for their community are greatly appreciated.
“[The storm] was very devastating,” he said, but “we never stopped feeding the poor.”
“We continue doing that even in the difficult moments, because we want to be out there for the people. And I’m very grateful for the volunteers,” Nuthulapati said.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Gary have also been highly engaged, addressing the immediate and ongoing needs in the communities affected by the blackouts, including food, clothing, and housing assistance.
On Aug. 22, the Chicago Bears announced a donation of $100,000 to the Chicago and Gary Catholic Charities to help them in this work.
While St. Mary of the Lake’s pantry is managing with the help of the wider community, the church is currently seeking the donation of a backup generator to protect the investment of its food in the case of another emergency like this, Nuthulapati added.
For Simon, the experience has been a heartwarming show of community cooperation and a chance to practice gratitude.
“Thank God that we have what we have,” she said. “It could be worse. It could be a lot worse.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Tennessee diocese remembers Dolly Parton as ‘one of our own’
The Diocese of Knoxville is mourning the passing of American artist and Tennessee native Dolly Parton and reflecting on her legacy.
“I am very sorry to hear of her passing, and I am praying for those who are mourning her loss,” said Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville in a statement. "She made a wonderful contribution to our world and our community, and she will be greatly missed.”
The artist passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer. Parton is being remembered across the world for her work as a singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist whose career spanned over 60 years.
“East Tennessee knew Dolly Parton as more than a world-famous star. We knew her as one of our own,” the diocese said in a statement.
“She was shaped by these hills and these churches. Her life shows what can grow from faith, perseverance, imagination, and love for oneʼs neighbors — even from humble beginnings,” the statement said.
Parton, who was not Catholic, sang and spoke frequently about her Christian faith and love for Jesus. Some of her public views — including her support for same‑sex marriage — differed from Catholic teaching. She was publicly silent on her views about abortion.
“She first sang in a small Pentecostal church, long before the world knew her name,” the diocesan statement said. Parton included the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in her Dollywood theme park.
“She never hid her faith. It showed up in the hymns she recorded across six decades, in how openly she talked about God, and in the millions of free books her Imagination Library has placed in childrenʼs hands,” the statement said.
Parton’s “life carried the spirit of our mountain home far beyond the Smokies,” the statement said.
“As Catholics, we entrust her to the mercy of Almighty God. We pray that Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, will receive her into His eternal kingdom,” the statement said.
Remembering Parton’s ‘generosity’
Father Jim Sichko, a papal missionary of mercy who has repeatedly referred to Parton as a friend, also mourned the artist’s passing, calling her “a woman whose extraordinary gifts reached far beyond the stage.”
“As a Papal Missionary of Mercy, I will remember Dolly not simply as an icon of American music, but as a woman who understood that blessings are meant to be shared,” Sichko said in a statement.
Sichko, a priest of the Diocese of Lexington, said he “had the privilege of welcoming Dolly to my church on several occasions.” He added: “She generously used her presence and influence to help raise money to support my ministry and its work of mercy.”
Parton “never forgot where she came from, and she never seemed to forget the people who needed a helping hand,” Sichko said.
“Her faith, generosity, humor, and unmistakable spirit touched millions,” he said.
"My faith impacts everything that I do because I do believe that, through God, all things are possible,” Parton said in a 2023 interview with Fox News. “And so I always ask God to bless everything that I do and the people that I work with and to bring all the right things and right people into my life and to take the wrong ones out.”
“So, I try to just live through love as much as I can,” Parton said.
Pope Leo XIV offers prayers, spiritual closeness to victims of devastating Nepal floods
Pope Leo XIV has offered prayers and condolences to the victims of major floods along the Nepal-China border that have claimed several hundred lives so far.
The flooding disaster was driven by what the U.S. Geological Survey said was a glacial collapse near the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, one that displaced huge volumes of water and generated catastrophic flooding downstream.
Videos circulating on social media from closed-circuit camera footage showed massive waves of water rushing across the landscape and overtaking entire structures as local residents ran for their lives.
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In an Aug. 27 telegram sent on behalf of the Holy Father, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the pope was “saddened to learn of the loss of life and devastation” caused by the floods.
“Commending the souls of the deceased to the clemency of the Almighty, His Holiness sends heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved, together with the assurance of his spiritual closeness to those affected by this tragedy,” the telegram said.
“Likewise offering prayers for the emergency personnel engaged in the ongoing rescue efforts, [the pope] invokes upon all divine assistance and protection,” the message continued.
The tragedy has resulted in a global outpouring of support, with governments and humanitarian organizations mobilizing to respond to the catastrophe with resources and assistance.
The U.S. Department of State said it was deploying a “disaster response advisor” to the region to help manage rescue and cleanup efforts. The government said it would also distribute $500,000 in assistance via Catholic Relief Services.
The United Nations, meanwhile, said it had released $2 million from its Global Emergency Fund to provide emergency medical care, water, and shelter to those affected by the flooding.
Workers with the U.N. World Food Programme and the U.N. Children’s Fund were also being deployed to the region with supply trucks.
Conference in Rome to explore how communicators can build trust in Catholic journalism
A communications conference in Rome in 2027 will explore how Catholic journalists and media professionals can help foster a climate of trust.
The convocation for “Nurturing Unity Through Communication” will be hosted by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome from Feb. 2–4, 2027. Typically held every two years, it will be the 15th edition of the Professional Seminar for Church Communications Offices.
The event is being organized in collaboration with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication and is expected to draw over 500 participants, including Catholic communications professionals from dioceses, religious orders, and episcopal conferences.
Conference sponsors also include EWTN News, Rome Reports, and the Pontifical Mission Societies.
According to the event website, the gathering will invite participants to reflect “on the role of institutional communication as a path toward fostering unity and concord both within and beyond the Church.”
The seminar is also inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s call for Catholic media professionals to strive for peace in their work.
“Addressing communicators in his first public audience as pope, Leo XIV reminded them: ‘Peace begins with each one of us: with the way we look at others, listen to others, speak about others; and, in this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images; we must reject the paradigm of war.’”
The conference will include plenary and parallel sessions covering topics ranging from social media to encouraging diversity rather than promoting division in the Church through media.
EWTN Chairman and CEO Michael Warsaw will speak on the topic “Leading Through Digital Disruption: Building Community in a Changing Media Landscape.” EWTN Vice President and Chief Global Officer Andreas Thonhauser, meanwhile, will moderate a discussion of “AI and Magnifica Humanitas: Reflections One Year On.”
Registration for the conference is open until Dec. 1 and can be made through the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross by clicking here.
Pope Leo XIV: A good family is the best way to prevent drug addiction
Pope Leo XIV has highlighted the importance of the family in preventing drug addiction in young people, saying that there is “no better defense against drugs than a good family.”
The pontiff made these remarks during a private audience on Aug. 27 with participants in a conference on drug abuse, promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL). According to Vatican News, the conference is being held from Aug. 25–27 and focuses on preventing drug addiction and the criminal recruitment of young people in Central and South America.
Leo will make his first apostolic journey to South America from Nov. 6–17, visiting 10 cities across Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. He previously served as a missionary and bishop in Peru.
Families can help those suffering from drug addiction
In his address, Leo discussed the challenge of drug addiction in young people and its consequences for the family.
“Today, we bear witness to the pain of many broken families, whether due to drug use, violence, the criminal recruitment of a child, poverty, or the lack of opportunities that push people to the margins of society,” Leo explained.
To solve this, the pope said, would require reemphasizing the family as the “domestic church.”
“St. John Paul II asked us to make the Church ‘the home and school of communion.’”
“The family, which the Second Vatican Council rightly called the ‘domestic church,‘ is the place where life is nurtured, cared for, and planned. There is no better defense against drugs than a good family,” Leo said.
Inspiration by Pope Francis
According to Vatican News, the conference drew inspiration from the actions of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who would later become Pope Francis. As the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he supported the project “Familia Grande del Hogar de Cristo,” a network of community centers that supports people battling drug addiction and social vulnerability.
Shortly after being elected pope in 2013, Francis traveled to Brazil for that year’s World Youth Day. During a visit to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, he sharply criticized drug traffickers as “dealers of death.”
“How many ‘dealers of death’ there are that follow the logic of power and money at any cost,” Francis lamented in his address. He would echo those sentiments again in a general audience in June 2024, calling drug traffickers “murderers.”
Leo cited Francis in his address, reminding those present that Jesus wants the Church “to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others.”
Cardinal Bo urges lawmakers to reject the ‘automated slaughter’ of autonomous weapons
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo has called on Christian legislators from around the world to “reject automated warfare” and support strong limits that keep the technology of artificial intelligence under human control.
“As representatives of the people, your mandate is clear: You must champion an immediate, binding international ban on fully autonomous lethal weapons,” the cardinal and archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, said in Assisi, Italy, on Aug. 24.
“To automate the battlefield is to lower the moral threshold for violence, stripping conflict of human conscience and turning our sons, daughters, and citizens into bloodless data points,” he added.
Bo addressed lawmakers during a one-day peace summit organized by the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN) on Aug. 24. The summit immediately followed the group’s annual meeting in Rome Aug. 20–23, which included a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.
Bo — whose country has been suffering for years under unrelenting violence, economic collapse, and dramatic humanitarian concerns — gave a strong warning about AI’s “potential to amplify human conflicts and malice.”
“Human conflicts alone resulted in the deaths of 135 million people in the 20th century,” he said. “Now, we have a new lethal actor: AI in the hands of a few, in some countries, who perceive AI as the bride of geostrategic power games.”
The cardinal sounded the alarm about “a terrifying marriage of autocratic monopolies and automated surveillance” that replaces human freedom; he urged legislators not to give in to the pressure to adopt a “There Is No Alternative (TINA) narrative.”
“As lawmakers and Christians, we are called upon to embrace a different TINA: ‘There Is a New Alternative.’ This alternative involves human-led AI that would bring greater prosperity and ultimately lead to durable peace for all,” he said.
‘Christ is our model’
Acknowledging that his prognosis about AI may appear pessimistic or even dystopian, Bo recalled that the objective is to shape a society grounded in lasting peace.
“Between dystopian reaction and utopian celebration, humanity requires a guiding beacon in its journey. For men and women of faith, Christ serves as that beacon, the savior sent to remind humanity of its earthly and heavenly path,” he said.
“Christ is our model,” he continued. “Christ’s warning in Matthew 26:52 rings across history: ‘Put your sword back in its place... for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.’ When you delegate lethal force to an autonomous weapon system, the concept of a ‘moral agent’ collapses entirely. A machine cannot possess a right intention; it cannot comprehend grief, mercy, or the sacred value of a human life. It can only execute statistical optimization.”
The cardinal reminded Christian lawmakers of their responsibility to the people who elected them.
“Your faith is not a private luxury to be hidden away; it is a public covenant to build peace in a world tearing at the seams,” he said.
“We live in an era uniquely troubled by global war, civic unrest, and crushing economic upheaval, but Christ calls Christian leaders to a radically different, courageous path,” he added, quoting Christ’s words in Matthew 5:9, that “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
“Notice carefully that he does not bless the ‘peace-lovers’ or the ‘peace-wishers.’ He blesses the peacemakers — those who actively build bridges, enforce structural justice, and cultivate narrative empathy across bitter political and social divides,” he said.
True leaders in AI regulation
Bo noted the presence of Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic and machine learning researcher, at the May presentation of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, and called it a sign that “the architects of our digital future are begging for governance. They are confessing that while they understand the code, they do not have the answers for human dignity.”
“If you refuse to regulate, if you accept the myth of technological inevitability, you are abdicating your sovereign duty to the people who elected you,” he said.
“In the words of St. Francis of Assisi, remember that ‘all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle,’” the cardinal said. “Let your governance be that candle. Stand up as true leaders. Establish binding legal guardrails, demand corporate transparency, reject the automation of human slaughter, and ensure that technology remains entirely subservient to the magnificent humanity that God has entrusted to our care.”
Norway’s bishops seek papal jubilee for 2030-2031 to spark spiritual renewal in the north
Pope Leo XIV welcomed Lutheran bishops from the Church of Norway for a formal Vatican audience on Aug. 26, urging Christians to seek “paths of reconciliation and fraternity” amid what he described as a “particularly turbulent period” marked by growing hostility in political and social life.
The meeting highlights deepening ecumenical ties as Norway prepares to mark the 1,000th anniversary of its Christianization. The upcoming 2030 millennium commemorates 1,000 years since the pivotal Battle of Stiklestad in 1030, where King Olav Haraldsson was martyred. His death ultimately cemented the nation’s conversion to Christianity and established St. Olav as Norway’s patron saint.
Norwegian Catholic leaders greeted the historic Vatican encounter with great joy. “We have excellent ecumenical relations with the Church of Norway and are pleased that the bishops have an opportunity to meet Pope Leo XIV,” Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo said. “We look forward to the millennium of Norway’s conversion and hope this jubilee will give occasion for broad ecumenical collaboration.”
Before visiting Rome, Presiding Lutheran Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit announced he would use the papal audience to invite Pope Leo XIV to the upcoming jubilee celebrations in Norway.
The pope closed the meeting by praying that Catholics and Lutherans live “ever more truly as brothers and sisters” and give “common witness to our savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A petition for a special year of jubilee
To mark this national milestone, Norway’s Catholic leadership, represented by Hansen and Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, formally petitioned Pope Leo XIV to declare a special year of jubilee for the Catholic Church in Norway running from July 29, 2030, through Aug. 3, 2031.
Explaining the significance of the dates, Varden explained that St. Olav is the centerpiece of the upcoming millennium. “29 July 2030 will mark the millennium of his martyr’s death at Stiklestad; 3 August 2031 will mark the millennium of his exhumation, when his body was found incorrupt,” he noted. “On that day he was proclaimed a saint not just for Norway, but for all of Christendom.”
For Catholics, a jubilee year serves as a period of special grace centered on prayer, pilgrimage, and reconciliation.
Hansen highlighted that the year will allow local Catholics and international pilgrims to walk in St. Olavʼs footsteps while renewing their faith “in gratitude for the Christian patrimony with which Norway has been blessed.” He added that the celebration will help the faithful keep “their eyes set on the Church’s present and future task in this country.”
A model of conversion and national identity
Speaking to EWTN News, Varden noted St. Olav’s life as a compelling witness for people who feel alienated from organized religion. Rather than viewing the saint as an untouchable historical figure, Varden pointed to his personal transformation.
“What attracts us in the life of any saint is to see how grace works over time and gradually transforms a person,” Varden said, describing the young king as “headstrong, ambitious, self-assured, [and] proud.”
Yet Olav was “increasingly drawn into Christ’s gentle mystery, fascinated by the all-reconciling love displayed in the cross,” making him “a model of conversion” for modern believers. Varden also noted that at the end of Olav’s life, Christ’s love was “the only thing that really mattered to him.”
Looking ahead to the jubilee’s pastoral impact, the prelate noted that his diocese began preparations years ago, choosing to use the millennium as “an opportunity to renew our baptismal promises.”
“We want to re-root ourselves in the essence of our faith,” he explained, adding that he hopes visiting pilgrims will discover the “fascination and freeing power” of Nordic Christianity. He noted Norway’s patrimony expressed across liturgy, literature, and architecture, which represents a “flowering of sanctity” that the Nordic Church is eager to share with the world.
This vision could also pave the way for a potential papal visit during the jubilee period.
Restoring Nidaros and looking toward 2033
Nidaros, the medieval name for present-day Trondheim, was one of northern Europe’s most important Christian pilgrimage centers. The city became the focal point of devotion to St. Olav, whose shrine at Nidaros Cathedral drew pilgrims from across Scandinavia and beyond.
“The cult of St. Olav spread with great speed in the 11th century,” Varden said, noting that it “nurtured apostolic efforts and the founding of churches throughout northern Europe.” He sees the revival of the pilgrimage as a means of recovering that Christian heritage, calling it “an aid to rereading the Christian history of our continent” and a source of inspiration for “endeavors of new evangelization.”
Paulist Fathers launch Communion Project to heal ‘toxic polarization’ within U.S. Church
The Communion Project initiative hopes to repair polarization in the U.S. Church and aid the Church in offering a better and more joyful witness in a divided country, organizers said.
“Unfortunately, too often Catholics and Catholic leaders are acting more like thermometers instead of thermostats,” Jonathan Lewis, mission strategy officer for the Paulist Fathers and co-director of the Communion Project, told EWTN News.
“Weʼre reading the temperature of the room or the culture, instead of setting the temperature according to our values and the truths of the Church,” he said.
“So, part of what this effort is aimed to do is to lower the temperature of division and distrust, starting with those of us Catholics who call ourselves brothers and sisters, who are a real spiritual family,” Lewis said.
“As we approach any election season, thereʼs always a need to help lower the temperature, have more thoughtful conversations, discern our Catholic values,” he said.
The Catholic initiative hopes to heal toxic polarization in the Church by creating dialogue, providing resources, promoting unity through national communication methods, and by aiding local communities to create unification at their level, organizers said. Exact plans are still being formed.
“Weʼre just beginning … and trying to share,” Lewis said. “Weʼre starting with a lot of resources” and “adapting resources that already existed.”
“Then weʼre planning, over the next year or two years, to develop programs for dioceses and organizations and religious communities, students in Catholic schools.”
The movement to start the project began in 2022 at the Paulist Fathers’ general assembly.
“One of the priorities of the Paulists is to read the signs of the times, like the Second Vatican Council tells us to do, so that we can respond in a spirit-filled way,” Lewis said.
At the gathering, they discussed “the realities of the United States and the Church in the United States today that we need to respond to or engage,” he said. “And thatʼs when the topic of toxic polarization emerged.”
"The polarization affecting the U.S. Catholic Church is not merely a matter of policy dispute or partisan loyalty,” said Father Ricky Manalo, CSP, co-director of the Communion Project. “It is a deeply spiritual and relational rupture, shaping how Catholics imagine moral life, celebrate the sacraments, interpret tradition, and remain in communion amid difference.”
“Within Catholic life, polarization is more than disagreement; it is the loss of our capacity to remain in relationship, even amid difference, as one body in Christ,” he said.
Inspired by Pope Francis, the group founded The Paulist Initiative on Polarization as a national partnership of Catholic leaders committed to strengthening unity across political, theological, and cultural divisions.
In 2025, the effort was renamed the Communion Project following Pope Leo XIV’s public commitment to building communion in the Church.
“This is really a priority of Pope Leo,” Lewis said. “In his first inaugural Mass, Pope Leo said his first great desire would be for a unified Church in communion. We really see this as an initiative that is trying to live out the message and the priority of the Holy Father.”
Polarization in the U.S.
When people think of polarization, they usually first think of “left and right politics, Republicans, Democrats,” Lewis said. “And certainly thatʼs one area, but I really see polarization showing up in a lot of different ways.”
“This isnʼt only in public life or in politics, where one might expect, itʼs also in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States,” Lewis said.
It can come up due to division surrounding the liturgy, or cultural or generational differences, but ultimately the goal is to remind Catholics of shared beliefs and values.
The project hopes to help the faithful “see that while people might prioritize different dimensions of our Catholic social teaching, thereʼs unity within that work, and we need to bring people together,” Lewis said.
For example, the Church has a mission to protect human dignity, and “some people focus on ending the death penalty,” while “other people might focus on ending abortion and the work of the pro-life movement,” Lewis explained. “Even if weʼre working in different areas, those areas are not in conflict.”
Connection through communication
The initiative’s resources and formation experiences are organized around three interconnected dimensions: the head, the heart, and the hands.
The project offers a “development of resources that impact our head, meaning our knowledge and our self-awareness,” and “also our hearts in terms of our prayer and discernment,” Lewis said.
There are also resources that impact “our hands,” which focus on “building skills and building relationships,” Lewis said.
“So we want to help organizations and churches work with leaders in particular, to equip them with the resources and programming to help them make a positive impact in their local community,” he said.
The resources can be found in the Communion Project’s “resource library” on its website, which offers a number of options for people to independently utilize or bring to a group. It also offers gatherings and workshops to aid its cause.
In the online library, people can find upcoming events, online courses, prayers for communion, articles, learning sessions to be used in small groups, and a Communion Project podcast.
It also has educational videos provided by outside organizations including Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, and Boston College.
So far the podcast has included conversations with Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore on what happens when the faithful stop seeing one another as brothers and sisters, and University of Notre Dameʼs Tim O’Malley on liturgical division and what it means to live in communion with people.
The first episode featured a conversation “with Tim Busch, founder of Napa Institute, and Father James Martin from America Media, two people who speak to very different parts of the Church … but have developed a personal friendship,” Lewis said.
“It was a great opportunity to put people in the same place to talk about their friendship, of their shared faith, realizing that what unites us is so much stronger than what divides us,” he said.
“What matters most is gathering around a particular Eucharistic table and a particular family table and having hard conversations or sitting in discomfort, because love compels us to do hard things,” Lewis said.
The initiative is only “just beginning in terms of programming and trying to share.” But since starting, “thereʼs a great interest” among local communities wanting to be involved.
“The path of healing begins not in dominating strength, but in shared vulnerability. When both Church and nation dare to move toward one another — wounded yet willing — they may discover that grace lives precisely in the places we thought were beyond repair,” Manalo said.
Possible Eucharistic miracle in Guatemala: Church urges ‘prudence and restraint’
An alleged “Eucharistic manifestation” has drawn the attention of the faithful in Guatemala, where a consecrated host reportedly remained intact inside a glass of water, bearing apparent stains of what “could be blood.”
While the event has captured the attention of the Catholic community in the country, the Church has urged the faithful to exercise “prudence and restraint.”
A consecrated host that reportedly failed to dissolve
The Niño Dios (Child God) Cathedral of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima announced in a statement that the occurrence took place on July 30 during a Mass for Eucharistic Missionary Week held at a private school in Cuilapa, a city located approximately 40 miles southeast of Guatemala City.
According to the statement, during Communion, the priest celebrating the Mass noticed that one of the young people who had received the Eucharist “was taking the sacred host out of his mouth; he quickly approached him and was able to prevent him from discarding it on the floor.”
“Following the guidelines for such cases, the priest placed the sacred host in a glass vessel containing water in the rectory chapel,” the statement explained.
The intention was for the host to dissolve naturally. However, according to the statement, “the following Thursday [Aug. 13], while cleaning the chapel, a parish volunteer noticed that the host had not dissolved and bore red stains that could be blood.”
The discovery was reported to the parish priest, who questioned and took a statement from the volunteer who had noticed the situation. Subsequently, the matter was reported to Bishop José Cayetano Parra Novo of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima.
‘Prudence and restraint’
The cathedral explicitly urged the faithful to exercise “prudence and restraint.”
“Throughout history, the Church has received testimony regarding the real and substantial presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, under this unique form of manifestation,” the cathedral noted in its statement, cautioning that such cases “have been neither common nor easy to discern; therefore, they cannot be called miracles until a full investigation, which must be carried out and will take time, is concluded.”
The cathedral also announced that the host is being reserved “in a special place and will not be on public display,” while Parra Novo is providing “guidelines for the necessary discernment and to enable a study of this possible Eucharistic manifestation” of the Real Presence.
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.