Study: Doctors don’t screen for abortion coercion — and it hurts women
A recent study found that women who are pressured to undergo unwanted abortions are at highest risk of negative outcomes and harm from abortion.
The study, published in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (JAHM), found that physicians rarely screen for coercion and pressure to abort, even though it is the highest predictive risk factor for negative outcomes.
The authors, David C. Reardon, Dr. Martha W. Shuping, and Dr. Patricia K. Giebink, called the failure to screen for this “medical negligence.”
“Women considering abortions should be evaluated for risk factors predictive of negative outcomes,” the study read. “The failure to screen for these risk factors is medical negligence. Screening and informing women of their personal risk factors as required by ethical and legal standards may lead to consideration of alternatives to abortion by women who consider the risks unacceptable.”
Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life group that does abortion-related research, said it was a “methodologically strong study,” noting that 1,000 women were surveyed, 226 of whom had an abortion in the past.
“Pro-lifers and the medical community should learn several important lessons from this study,” New told EWTN News. “First, coerced abortions are not uncommon. Secondly, … this study adds to a body of research that finds that a substantial percentage of abortions are unwanted or are inconsistent with the values of the woman seeking the abortion.”
“Third, even though supporters of legal abortion claim that women obtaining abortions report low levels of mental health problems, they should acknowledge that mental health risks are substantially higher among the subset of women who are emotionally conflicted or who would prefer not to have the abortion,” he continued.
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, urged physicians “to provide full disclosure of the risks and side effects to their patients.”
“The long list of bad mental, emotional, and health effects that regularly arise in the wake of an induced abortion should give pause to anyone seeking, or counseling, abortion, especially when it comes to medical professionals who themselves need to be fully informed regarding the seriousness of these risks,” Pacholczyk told EWTN News.
“I think it’s fair to say that a key duty of the physician or healthcare professional, in seeking to ‘do no harm,’ would be to try to dissuade their patients from acting on any desire to procure a direct abortion,” he continued. “And a candid discussion about the broad range of potential bad outcomes from the procedure provides an excellent starting point for dialoguing with their patients in a moment of crisis.”
Pacholczyk urged medical professionals to have references for pre-abortion counseling for women considering abortion.
“While medical professionals may not be able themselves to provide all the support a young woman requires when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy, they should be able to recommend or refer the woman to obtain additional helpful pre-abortion counseling so she can ponder, and bring to the surface, her own motives and fears, and by doing so, hopefully strengthen her to steer clear of the pseudo-remedy of abortion and instead address her situation with a heightened awareness of the care, accompaniment, and support coming from those around her,” Pacholczyk said.
Though difficult to enforce, legislation to require medical professionals to screen for coercion may enable victims of coercion to sue abortion clinics, if put into effect, according to New.
“It is unsurprising that physicians performing abortions rarely screen for coercion,” New said. “Many abortion are done in high-volume clinics where abortion doctors spend very little time with women seeking abortions.”
Kelsey Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the abortion industry doesn’t prioritize women.
“The abortion industry prioritizes profit — not women’s well-being, informed consent, or health, the overwhelming evidence shows,” Pritchard said.
“Previous peer-reviewed research by Charlotte Lozier Institute scholars indicates most women who’ve had abortions would have preferred not to if they had more support, with nearly a quarter describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced,” Pritchard continued.
She voiced concerns about the ease of abortion coercion due to mail-order abortion.
“Since Democrats made it as easy as ordering an Amazon package for anyone anywhere to buy and ship dangerous abortion drugs, even to states with pro-life laws, this hidden epidemic has gone from bad to worse, with alarming cases of women assaulted and poisoned across the country,” Pritchard said.
“Women pressured, coerced, or forced to abort go on to report higher levels of mental health and quality-of-life difficulties, which they all too often endure silently as they can face significant hurdles to coming forward,” Pritchard said.
“The loudest pro-abortion voices refuse to acknowledge the truth behind their narrative of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice,’” Pritchard said.
Sainthood cause for Virginia farmer who saved his son moves forward
The sainthood cause of Tom Vander Woude is moving forward, according to his home diocese of Arlington, Virginia. Vander Woude, a father of seven sons, died saving the life of his youngest son, Joseph, who has Down syndrome.
The diocese will begin gathering information — a key initial stage in the Catholic Church’s process of determining sainthood.
When Joseph, a teenager at the time, fell into a septic tank, Tom climbed into the tank with him, pushing him up toward the surface, away from the toxic fumes, saving his son’s life. Tom, 66, died on Sept. 8, 2008, in the accident, leaving behind his wife and seven sons.
His legacy didn’t end there, however. Because of his self-sacrificial act, a group of Catholics, formally called the Tom Vander Woude Guild, began to advocate for his cause.
“His final act of self-sacrificial love was widely regarded as the culmination of a Christian life marked by faith, charity, humility, fortitude, and generous service to others,” read Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge’s edict, also signed by Monsignor Paul deLadurantaye, the chancellor of the diocese.
After receiving a formal petition from the cause’s postulator, Waldery Hilgeman, the diocese is asking for all information that could affect the cause to be brought forward. The bishop is also collecting any writings by Vander Woude and any documents about him.
“We see in the life and death of Thomas Vander Woude a sincere response to the Christian call to sainthood,” Burbidge said. “As heroic as were the circumstances of Thomas Vander Woude’s death, this husband and father showed in a profound way that sanctity is to be sought first and foremost through personal faithfulness in daily life and to a consistent and sincere yes to God in the circumstances of one’s vocation and responsibilities.”
Burbidge spoke about the cause in a podcast on Sept. 10, describing Vander Woude as “a holy, faithful, selfless, sacrificial man who serves as an inspiration for us.”
“That’s what saints do,” he continued. “They show us that we, who are ordinary and flawed, can live heroic and holy lives."
“When you move forward in this cause, itʼs not just because of that one heroic event, but also the day-to-day faithfulness as a husband, as a father, as a citizen, as a man of God,” Burbidge said.
Chris Vander Woude, a son of Tom Vander Woude who is advocating for his cause, expressed his excitement at the progress.
“I am grateful to the Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Burbidge for taking this step in the investigative process; it is truly exciting and incredibly humbling at the same time,” Chris Vander Woude told EWTN News.
“Not a day goes by without missing Dad, but witnessing how his story continues to inspire so many is a consolation,” he said. “I think his commitment to his daily vocation as a husband and father, culminating in his sacrifice for my brother, resonates with all sorts of people — especially parents. We continue to pray that Godʼs will be done in this process.”
Report flags weak funding and low completion in natural family planning programs
A report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) found diocesan natural family planning (NFP) programs across the country are experiencing continued low course completion among couples.
In January 2025, 196 dioceses were invited to take part in the annual Diocesan Natural Family Planning Ministry National 2025 Profile Report by the USCCB. Of the dioceses, 61 completed the questionnaire.
Similarly to past years, there is a wide gap between the numbers of couples who enroll in an introductory NFP education program and those who follow up with a full course.
The report found that a total of 18,211 individuals received some information or instruction on NFP across dioceses in 2025. In comparison, there were only 7,518 individuals who attended a full course in NFP.
The report noted that further research must be done among dioceses to understand the disparities and adjust NFP efforts to combat them.
It is important to strengthen NFP programs for many reasons but especially for the overall health of women, according to Dr. Annevay Conlee, vice president of the Women’s Health Service Line at OSF HealthCare, an integrated health system founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.
“When looking at the overall health of the couple, but also the woman in particular, fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are better than artificial contraceptive methods when looking at the wellness aspect and monitoring health, recognizing abnormalities, and being able to help in a restorative way sustain and support health,” Conlee told EWTN News.
“It does not cause the side effects and long-term potential consequences that contraception does,” she said.
To best ensure that couples continue the NFP learning process, Conlee suggested dioceses and other NFP providers ensure that they offer different types of options to “fit the needs and time commitment of the couple,” she said.
Also, they should be “making sure that there is awareness of not only the ability to achieve and avoid pregnancy with this but also monitor health and wellness,” she said.
Report reveals few employees and low budget
The 2025 report also found that employment for NFP programs differs among dioceses.
Of the 2025 respondents, 30% reported they rely on paid part-time staff and volunteers, and 16% have a full-time paid NFP coordinator.
Most instructors are volunteers (58%) who do not receive any stipend, while some are volunteers who do receive a stipend (16%) to cover expenses.
Steve Mattern, senior vice president of mission services at OSF HealthCare, noted high levels of volunteers may contribute to some of the low numbers.
“It seems like volunteers staff much of the demands of this work and while some … pre-marriage work does involve expectation of education and training, many dioceses do not expect this nor have the ability to serve it if they did expect it,” Mattern said.
“Still, there are some wonderful things happening where the next generations of Catholics are stepping up to give witness talks, to help give orientation, and to support education,” he said.
Along with employees, the survey also found that limited funding continues to be a significant issue for NFP programs. Of dioceses surveyed, 68% budgeted less than $5,000 for NFP programs.
Most diocesan NFP programs rely on indirect funding from other sources including donations from parishes, grants from local Knights of Columbus councils, a fee for course instruction, and follow-up fees, according to the report.
Next steps for the Church
“We hear anecdotally in healthcare that fewer couples are coming to seek marriage in the Catholic Church,” Mattern said.
As “more people are living together and may be seeking marriage outside the Church when they do marry,” there is more of a question around what “needs to be in the required marriage prep pathway,” he said.
“Should the couple go through a course of their choosing within a range of offered methodologies for NFP, and should the diocese offer a coupon or resource for them to do this?”
“This has been tried and it does work; many do go on to take a course offering,” he said. “However, other dioceses may seek to do a very basic course … and may not really get to NFP or may make only a brief mention of it.”
“It seems like a strong and effective communication approach and partnership across both the diocese and the Catholic healthcare ministry, and its professionals can bring a stronger approach for life and for the good of these couples and their family life,” Mattern said.
Overall, “people still need basic awareness of what the fertility awareness-based methodologies offer and provide and so this work is ongoing and invites our creativity, hope, and imagination,” he said.
While discussion around NFP is usually in regard to pregnancy, “it is so much more important to start forming our minds and hearts when we are young and in the context of our families,” Sister M. Mikela Meidl, FSGM, president of OSF HealthCare, said.
“Learning about modesty, purity, and the beauty of our bodies as we grow and develop helps create an openness to understand ourselves long before we marry,” she said.
“Supporting and helping parents to hold these conversations without embarrassment and full of confidence and attentive listening will go a long way in making people desire what is true and good,” she said.
Nearly 700 young Christians gather in Iraq for Baghdeda Youth Festival
The sixth Baghdeda Youth Festival concluded Saturday, Sept. 12, with a large faith procession that brought together nearly 700 young men and women, led by Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul and its dependencies, along with former diocesan bishops Yohanna Boutros Moshe and Georges al-Qass Moussa, priests, religious men and women, and thousands of faithful.
The procession, which organizers called the “Hosanna Procession,” began at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Baghdeda, also widely known as Qaraqosh — a predominantly Christian town on Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. Participants followed the traditional Palm Sunday procession route toward St. John Church.
Along the way, young people and other faithful prayed, sang hymns, and chanted while carrying olive branches as a symbol of peace. The procession concluded with the “Service of the Cross — Teshmeshta,” a prayer service from the Syriac tradition, followed by the lighting of the festival torch.
Before setting out from the cathedral, participants attended a spiritual conference titled “St. Francis: A Living Model for Our Young People in Living Hope,” presented by Dominican Father Nuwairan Nasser. He encouraged the young people to follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi, seeking to embody his spiritual values in their daily lives and to live more deeply the meaning of the festival’s theme.
‘In the footsteps of St. Francis’
The festival began Thursday under the theme “In the Footsteps of St. Francis.” The opening program included a spiritual reflection by Hanno titled “Leave Everything That Makes You Lose Yourself.”
The bishop stressed the importance of understanding Christian freedom as a free response of obedience to God rather than as freedom without accountability or responsibility. His reflection drew on the festival’s theme and the life of St. Francis.
Participants then divided into groups for pilgrimages and prayer at several churches in Baghdeda, including St. Ephrem the Syriac Church, Sts. Behnam and Sarah Church, St. James the Mutilated Church, St. John the Baptist Church, and St. Joseph Church.
Mosul welcomes Baghdeda’s young Christians
The festival’s second day included visits to restored churches belonging to the diocese in Mosul, a city where the Christian community suffered severe persecution and displacement during the occupation of the Islamic State group.
The young people began at St. Thomas Church and continued to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, both in Mosul’s Old City, before concluding at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church on the city’s eastern side.
Residents greeted the crowds of young Christians and welcomed what organizers described as “the renewed Christian presence in the community’s historic homeland.”
The day also featured a spiritual conference titled “Forgive So That You May Be Free,” presented by Chorbishop Emmanuel Kallo, the bishop’s special vicar and official responsible for the Syriac Catholic churches in Mosul.
Kallo reflected on the Christian understanding of forgiveness and explained how forgiving others can help free a person from the burden and pain caused by wrongdoing.
The young people also participated in Eucharistic adoration at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church.
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.
UN asked to recognize surrogate motherhood as a new form of slavery
The Casablanca group of experts and the French nongovernmental organization Juristes Pour l’Enfance (Legal Professionals for Children) have asked the United Nations to officially recognize surrogacy as “a new form of slavery involving women and children.”
The request was submitted to the U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and human trafficking, Katarina Schwarz, to mark the centennial of the 1926 Slavery Convention and the upcoming Human Rights Council session dedicated to the occasion, “the agenda of which includes, among other issues, new forms of slavery.”
The request is based on the argument that surrogacy reduces the child in utero to an object of disposal, which corresponds to the definition of slavery set forth in the 1926 Geneva Convention, namely, the exercise of the attributes of the right of ownership.
In the case of the woman carrying the baby, her body is subjected to the will of third parties, which includes control over her diet and medical care as well as, potentially, embryo reduction or abortion, the statement explains.
The Casablanca Declaration experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance point out that "at the international level, several United Nations bodies have already characterized surrogacy as the sale of children, including the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children in 2018 and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019."
Furthermore, in her July 2025 report, the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls called for the eradication of all forms of surrogacy and the adoption of a binding international instrument to abolish this practice. Finally, a June 22 joint statement by states calls for a moratorium with a view to the universal abolition of surrogacy.
In their statement, the Casablanca Group of Experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance also called on Schwarz to urge states to put an end to this practice within their territories and to commit to its universal abolition.
The Catholic Church also condemns the practice of surrogacy.
In his 2024 address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis described the practice of so-called surrogacy as "deplorable," noting that it is "a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
The Holy Father urged the international community “to prohibit this practice universally,” as “human life must be preserved and defended” at every stage of its existence.
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.
Cardinal Czerny announced as first recipient of Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal
Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, former prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will be honored as the first recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal in October.
Father Peter Donohue, OSA, president of Villanova University, made the announcement at a Vatican press conference on Sept. 14.
The medal, established by Villanova University and named after Pope Leo XIV, recognizes individuals who have worked toward ecological sustainability. The pontiff will personally present the award at a ceremony on Oct. 13 in the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden, part of the Pontifical Gardens in Castel Gandolfo.
Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, prior general of the Augustinians, was also present at Monday’s press conference.
Villanova University is a Catholic liberal arts university in Pennsylvania. Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2014 from Villanova University.
‘Sustainability is about accompanying those who suffer’
In announcing the recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, Donohue praised Czerny’s “extraordinary passion for justice, human dignity, and the care of creation,” noting that his witness is an apt reminder of what authentic sustainability is.
“His witness reminds us that authentic sustainability is never solely about environmental stewardship. It is also about accompanying those who suffer, defending the dignity of the human person, and building a future that leaves no one behind,” Donohue said.
In his speech accepting the honor, Czerny cited Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, saying the pope highlighted the need for shared responsibility in achieving sustainability.
“[The pope] has made responsibility even more explicit. We are responsible for the world, not just to take care of it, even though it would be part of sustainability, but in fact we are building it,” the cardinal said.
The morality of data centers
As artificial intelligence (AI) drives a rapid expansion of data centers worldwide, concern has grown about their environmental impact, particularly water consumption and human displacement.
Speaking to EWTN News after the conference, Czerny noted that many AI companies building data centers often do not consult residents before building on their land.
“The decision to build data centers is like all the big developmental decisions that we make,” Czerny told EWTN News. “It is not an unusual question, and itʼs one that needs to be answered with the participation of the significant stakeholders.”
“You have to ask about whether the people living there are going to pay the price, carry the burden, and suffer the consequences. Were they consulted? Otherwise, it is an imposition and an injustice,” he added.
Pope Leo XIV marks 71st birthday with opening of water exhibit at Vatican Library
Pope Leo XIV marked his 71st birthday at the Vatican with the launch of an art exhibit focused on water at the Vatican Apostolic Library on Monday.
The pontiff inaugurated the exhibit, “AQVA,” part of the theme “Catastrophe and Wonder,” which will be on display at the Vatican Library through May 14, 2027. The exhibit includes artwork highlighting a “reflection on water as both a threat and a resource” and reflects a recent focus on promoting contemporary art at the Vatican.
‘The pope’s library is a heart’
The occasion also marked Leo’s first visit to the library since his election to the papacy in 2025. In his remarks, he described the Vatican Library — the pope’s library — as a beating heart and a symbol of life.
“How should we describe the pope’s library? I will use a metaphor: The Apostolic Library is a heart,” Leo said. “A beating heart is a symbol of life, and it results from two opposing movements, systole and diastole: a contraction and a relaxation, a movement towards the center and another towards the periphery.”
The pope then explained that the heart’s movements of contraction and relaxation are mirrored in both the quiet atmosphere of the Vatican Library and its engagement with human history.
Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, the Holy See’s librarian and archivist, reflected on the library’s and the Church’s role in promoting dialogue, as shown by the new exhibit.
“This exhibition, among other things, precisely by putting together a centuries-old library and contemporary artists, says exactly this: Generations are intertwined. Let us not pretend to be men and women alone, because we are already in the company of all generations, and to them we are indebted,” Pagazzi told EWTN News at the inauguration.
The exhibit features contemporary art, including an enormous art installation inspired by Gustave Doré’s iconic 1866 wood engraving of the Great Flood, a collection of short culinary stories by Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini, and marine artwork by American typographer Bill Moran as well as pieces from the Vatican’s permanent collections, such as historic cookbooks from around the world centered on seafood.
The pope also encouraged all present, particularly the Vatican Library employees, to “keep finding new pathways towards reconciliation.”
JR, a French artist who created the exhibit’s installation of an ocean wave on the outside of the library, reflected on his role as a bridge-builder.
“Well, you know, as an artist, my role is to create bridges, and so I feel in my place, like where I need to be working, even if it’s pretty intimidating to work in a place like the Vatican,” JR told EWTN News.
More room at the Vatican Library
In a document issued the same day, Leo decreed that a new building be constructed in Vatican City to house the Vatican Library’s growing manuscript collection. He noted that current storage was insufficient, citing Pope Francis’ 2024 move of parts of the library to the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary building near the Basilica of St. John Lateran.
“Unprecedented opportunities have arisen to create new facilities within the territory of the Vatican City State, which are undoubtedly preferable, for a variety of reasons, to the solution that had previously been identified,” the pope wrote. The new building will be located in an area currently reserved for the parking of service vehicles.
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Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi contributed to this report.
Vatican Latin Mass permissions steady across papal transition
Thirty-four dioceses received Vatican permission to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in parish churches in 2025, matching the 2024 total and remaining broadly consistent with previous years despite the election of a new pope. The United States accounted for 24 of the 34 decrees issued.
Pope Francis restricted the use of the 1962 Roman Missal with the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. Under subsequent Vatican regulations, diocesan bishops must obtain permission from the Holy See to authorize celebrations according to that missal in parish churches.
The 2025 figure was also close to the 35 dioceses and other ecclesiastical jurisdictions that received permission in 2022, the first full year after Traditionis Custodes took effect. The number rose to 55 in 2023 before returning to 34 in each of the following two years.
The figures appear in the Summarium Decretorum for 2025, the annual summary of decrees issued by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The document shows that permission was granted during 2025 for celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal in parishes located in 34 dioceses around the world.
Seven of the decrees were issued during the pontificate of Francis, who died April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. The other 27 were issued after the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, indicating continuity in the Vatican’s case-by-case handling of requests during the change of pontificates.
The vast majority — 29 of the 34 published decrees — renewed existing permissions for an additional two years for communities already celebrating the liturgy according to the 1962 missal promulgated by St. John XXIII. In several cases, a single authorization covered more than one parish in the same diocese.
United States received most permissions
The U.S. decrees included permissions for Traditional Latin Mass celebrations in the dioceses of Sacramento, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Lincoln, Nebraska; Davenport, Iowa; and Cleveland, as well as the Archdiocese of Seattle.
According to the Summarium Decretorum for 2022, the Holy See that year granted permissions to 35 dioceses and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, 20 of them in the United States, making the country the leading recipient of such concessions.
The Traditional Latin Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, traces its form to the liturgy codified by St. Pius V following the Council of Trent. The reform was set out in the Roman Missal of 1570 in response to the council’s call to unify the various liturgical uses then in existence.
The missal currently used for these celebrations is based on that promulgated by St. Pius V but was revised by St. John XXIII in 1962.
One of the form’s most distinctive characteristics is that the priest generally celebrates “ad orientem” — facing liturgical east rather than the congregation — as he leads the faithful in common prayer.
The permissions granted across the two pontificates in 2025 show that the Holy See continued to consider requests individually under the restrictions established during Francis’ pontificate.
The annual Summarium Decretorum is one of the few official sources indicating how the provisions of Traditionis Custodes are applied in practice.
The decree indexes published from 2022 through 2025 also document the Holy See’s broader work regulating the liturgy. The records include approvals of translations of liturgical books, confirmations of calendars particular to dioceses and religious congregations, grants of the title of minor basilica, canonical coronations of Marian images, and recognitions of new heavenly patrons.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV repeals COVID-era pay cuts to Vatican cardinals
Pope Leo XIV has officially repealed the salary cuts Pope Francis imposed on cardinals and other senior officials working in the Roman Curia.
In a decree published by the Vatican on Sept. 14, the pontiff canceled the cost-cutting measures Francis had established in 2021 to address the Vatican’s financial deficit that year, projected at $60 million.
A Vatican cardinal’s monthly stipend is about $5,768 (5,000 euros). Under those measures, the Vatican cut cardinals’ stipends by 10%.
Francis had previously described these cuts in a March 2021 decree as necessary for an “economically sustainable future” at the Vatican.
Those measures, introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, also reduced the pay of other senior officials and employees of the Holy See and Vatican City State by 8%. Clergy and religious employed by the Vatican saw their salaries reduced by 3%.
Leo stated in his motu proprio that those salary cuts “may now be set aside, in the certainty that the Institutions of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State will continue, through different means, their commitment to ensuring economic sustainability.”
Capuchin bishops reflect on dual calling as friars and diocesan shepherds
How can a Capuchin friar remain faithful to his Franciscan vocation while serving as a diocesan bishop responsible for secular clergy and the lay faithful?
That question was at the heart of an assembly of approximately 55 Capuchin bishops from around the world held Sept. 9–13 in Assisi, Italy, for prayer, study, and fraternal reflection.
Set against the historic backdrop of the Jubilee of St. Francis and the approaching 500th anniversary of the Capuchin Reform, prelates serving in Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe, and Indonesia shared their pastoral realities and reflected on their service to the universal Church.
“We are going back to Assisi in this wonderful year of the Jubilee of St. Francis,” Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, archbishop emeritus of Boston, said. “It is a great honor. It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience the fraternity of so many bishops from all over the world.”
According to Vatican statistics, there are 5,525 Catholic bishops worldwide. Of those, 4,332, or 78.4%, are diocesan bishops formed within the secular clergy, while 1,193, or 21.6%, are members of institutes of consecrated life, including Capuchins, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Salesians. The Capuchin order counts more than 74 bishops among its members.
The assembly offered the bishops an opportunity to share their experiences as members of a religious order governing dioceses made up of secular clergy and lay faithful. In particular, they considered how to live the Capuchin values of contemplative prayer, fraternal life, minority, poverty, and closeness to the people in their governance and pastoral care of local Churches.
The Capuchin value of ‘vicinanza’
According to Archbishop Emeritus Andrés Stanovnik of Corrientes, Argentina, the Capuchin value of “vicinanza” — closeness or proximity to others — is the bridge between his Capuchin identity and his episcopal ministry.
Though a bishop must, in his words, “leave behind his identity as a friar and take up the identity of a bishop,” what unites the two vocations is “vicinanza.”
This is profoundly a Franciscan instinct, not an incidental one, because St. Francis of Assisi did not renew the Church through abstractions or distance. He embraced the leper, sat with the poor, and preached in public squares rather than only from the pulpit.
Franciscan closeness is not merely being nice or sociable but a theological stance: Holiness is discovered in proximity to the concrete, wounded, and ordinary human person, not in withdrawal from others.
Stanovnik said proximity to the people must survive the transition into hierarchical office; otherwise, the episcopate risks becoming purely administrative rather than pastoral. The question for Capuchin bishops is whether closeness to the poor and ordinary people has been preserved or traded for institutional distance.
Returning to the Gospel without becoming fossilized
Reflecting on the historical significance of the Capuchin Reform, Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, emphasized that the movement begun in 1528 was born of a divine prompting to return to the original charism of St. Francis of Assisi.
Drawing on his 50 years as a friar and 27 years as a bishop in four Tanzanian dioceses — Mbulu, Dodoma, Mwanza, and Dar es Salaam — Ruwa’ichi said: “God prompted the founders of the Capuchin Reform to desire to go back to their sources, to desire to live faithfully the charism of St. Francis.”
“The charism must be lived faithfully in the course of time, and as we live the charism faithfully, we should not be fossilized,” he continued. “We should not allow ourselves to be trapped in a certain approach that does not allow us to continue listening to the Holy Spirit and to continue responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”
He also expressed gratitude for the concrete support of his fellow friars.
“I have always been given a friar to work and live with me, and that has been very helpful,” he said. “So, along with living with my diocesan clergy, I also have the support of a confrere who understood me, who served as my confessor, who served as my driver, who served as my private secretary.”
Combating isolation through fraternal solidarity
O’Malley said the international assembly, organized at the initiative of the Capuchin minister general, Father Roberto Genuin, and his council, offered essential encouragement to bishops, most of whom serve in mission territories.
Exchanging experiences of evangelization in a fraternal setting helps bishops “know that they are not alone and that there are many brothers who share their ministry,” he said.
“They do not work in isolation,” O’Malley added, saying the gathering imparted fresh spiritual energy to their ministry. “So, it is a wonderful opportunity for us.”
Addressing contemporary cultural pressures, he pointed to increasing secularization and social divisions as paramount challenges for Church leaders.
“It is very encouraging that the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, is trying to bring peace and unity, themes of his pontificate, and they are certainly very Franciscan themes,” O’Malley said. “Francis called us to be universal brothers and to be instruments of peace and to try and bring people together to follow Christ with the joy of the Gospel.”
Restoring the original gift to the universal Church
Stanovnik described the approaching 500th anniversary as a crucial moment to rediscover the core Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The Capuchins, 500 years ago, revived this practice, placing certain emphases on it,” he said. “For example, mental and contemplative prayer, simplicity in community life, closeness to the people and preaching.”
He said Capuchin bishops are called to absorb these original gifts anew and offer them back, fully restored, for the revitalization of the universal Church.