Chicago Archdiocese to pay $5.5 million to 9 abuse victims, attorneys say
The Archdiocese of Chicago will pay out more than $5 million to a small number of abuse victims after a recent settlement, attorneys said this week.
Lawyers with Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm that specializes in abuse cases, announced at a press event on Sept. 10 that they had settled with the archdiocese for $5.5 million to be paid out to nine survivors of abuse in the Church.
Attorney Jeff Anderson describe the development as a “tipping point and a turning point” regarding allegations of abuse in the archdiocese. He said the settlements were a matter of both “reckoning” and “accountability.”
“It is about the courage of every survivor with whom we and others have had the privilege to work to bring about change, change in the Archdiocese of Chicago and change across the state of Illinois and change across this country,” the lawyer said.
The Chicago Archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement. But the archdiocese has paid out major settlements to abuse victims numerous times in recent years.
In 2022 leaders settled multiple cases with abuse victims, one totaling $1.2 million and another $1.75 million.
In 2024, meanwhile, the archdiocese settled one abuse case for $950,000.
Multiple settlements by the archdiocese have involved allegations regarding disgraced former priest Daniel McCormack, who pleaded guilty to abusing numerous children years ago and who spent more than a decade in prison on those charges.
In 2025 the archdiocese filed a lawsuit alleging a “racketeering enterprise” against multiple plaintiffs who had reportedly filed fake abuse lawsuits regarding McCormack.
Archdiocesan attorney James Geoly said at the time that the lawsuit was meant to protect “the interests of legitimate victims.”
“We do not want [the racketeering lawsuit] to deter any legitimate victim from coming forward. I would encourage anybody who’s had a problem with a priest or cleric to do that,” he told the archdiocesan news outlet.
Court says Chicago Archdiocese, Catholic sisters won’t have to submit to state suicide law
The Archdiocese of Chicago and a group of Catholic religious sisters won a temporary reprieve against Illinois’s assisted suicide law this week, with a federal judge ordering the state not to enforce the law against the Catholic objectors while a federal lawsuit continues.
U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama’s Sept. 11 order said the state would be blocked from enforcing the suicide law against the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and the Little Sisters of the Poor who had brought the lawsuit.
Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich is also a plaintiff in the suit. The order applies only to the sisters and the archdiocese, the judge said; the state is free to enforce the suicide law elsewhere.
The Catholic objectors brought the lawsuit on Sept. 3, arguing that the suicide law infringes on religious liberty by requiring Catholics to participate in helping patients end their own lives. The lawsuit was filed by lawyers with the religious liberty law firm Becket.
On Sept. 11 Cupich said in a statement that the law should be struck down “permanently.”
“To be clear, the Church’s objection to this statute is not an attempt to impose Catholic teaching on non-Catholics,” the archbishop said. Rather, “it is an effort to stop the State from compelling Catholic health care providers to violate their conscience.”
Mother Mary Rose Heery, O. Carm., prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said the temporary order “brings real peace of mind to our Sisters, our residents, and their families.”
“It allows us to continue our vocation of showing Christ’s unbounded love to those who need it most—a love that endures in every circumstance and through every hardship,” she said.
Catholic health groups join another Illinois lawsuit
Illinois has become a battleground in recent weeks over its suicide law, which Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed in December 2025. The measure allows residents with a terminal illness to receive lethal prescriptions from doctors in order to take their own lives before they die naturally.
In August Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a Lutheran care home, and four Illinois-based doctors filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing similarly to the Chicago lawsuit that the state suicide law infringes on their religious freedom and their ability to care for their patients.
Later in the month the state agreed to not enforce the law against the plaintiffs while the suit plays out. In the meantime, multiple additional Catholic objectors have joined the Springfield Diocese’s lawsuit against the suicide policy.
The Thomas More Society announced on Sept. 11 that five religious health care associations had joined Paprocki’s suit, including the Illinois Catholic Health Association and the National Association of Catholic Nurses. A doctor and a nurse also joined the suit.
The Thomas More Society said the plaintiffs “represent 95% of Catholic health institutions in Illinois and more than 13,000 health care professionals nationwide.”
Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the legal group, said attorneys were seeking to extend the protection secured by the initial plaintiffs to the “thousands of Catholic and Christian health care professionals” represented in the new filing.
"The First Amendment protects the rights of Catholic and Christian doctors, hospitals, and health care ministries to reject assisted suicide and heal and care for the ill and infirm in accord with their consciences,” Breen said.
He argued that the suicide law “flagrantly violates those rights by forcing dedicated healthcare professionals to promote deadly drugs to their patients.”
Speaking from the Catholic Medical Association’s annual educational conference in Phoenix, meanwhile, Dr. Mary Keen Kirchoff — one of the doctors participating in the suit alongside Paprocki — told EWTN News she was “so pleased” that the Chicago Archdiocese had won the temporary block.
“We must all work together to oppose this law which is not only discriminatory against those of us with deeply held religious beliefs , but also against our brothers and sisters with fragile financial circumstances and those with disabilities who may feel pressured to seek physician assisted killing due to social prejudice against them,” she said.
This story was updated on Sept. 12 at 3:45 p.m. ET with a comment from Dr. Mary Keen Kirchoff.
Claire Lai, daughter of jailed Hong Kong advocate, announces cancer diagnosis
The daughter of imprisoned Catholic activist Jimmy Lai has revealed she has received a cancer diagnosis.
“This summer I received a cancer diagnosis and will be undergoing treatment in the UK,” Claire Lai said in a statement first reported by the Daily Wire on Sept. 8. “I am optimistic about the outcome but will be unable to travel and attend functions for the duration. I am endlessly grateful for my parents’ example of perseverance. Our Christian faith teaches — and my father bears witness — that suffering can be redemptive. Mine is but a fraction of my father’s, but I hope to bear it as a grace as well as he has. I deeply wish that dad was here, and pray that he will be released soon. I am so very grateful to everyone who continues to work toward securing his freedom.”
Iraq to build largest Marian shrine in the country
Inishke, a Chaldean village overlooking the Sapna Valley, is preparing for a 59-foot-tall monument to Our Lady of the Sapna Valley, planned as the largest Marian shrine in Iraq.
The design brings together Marian devotion and Iraqi heritage. Sculptor Thabit Mikhail has given Mary and the child Jesus Middle Eastern features, while Maryʼs two braids represent Iraqi mothers and grandmothers, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Sept. 5. The 43-foot-wide base takes inspiration from the spiral form of Samarraʼs famous minaret and ancient Mesopotamian architecture.
A chapel inside the base and another prayer space near the statue will give pilgrims places for prayer and candle lighting. Funded by donations from people from Inishke around the world, the project has been under development for more than a decade and is expected to become a new destination for religious tourism in northern Iraq.
Canonization cause opens for murdered Northern Ireland priests
The causes of canonization for two priests killed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by members of the British Army in the 1970s has officially been opened.
The Diocese of Down and Connor confirmed that the canonization cause has been opened for Father Hugh Mullan and Father Noel Fitzpatrick, who were shot in two separate instances while administering last rites to parishioners in Corpus Christi Parish in Ballymurphy, according to a report from the Irish Catholic on Sept. 10.
News of their canonization cause comes after an official inquest into the deaths of the two priests and other victims at the hands of the British Army found that the soldiers had “lost control,” the report said. Bishop Alan McGuckian said during a Mass for victims’ families in May that the finding “restores dignity to the deceased, and it brings a measure of justice to those who grieve.”
Christian doctor in Canada fined for refusing to give teen puberty blockers
A Canadian human rights tribunal has ordered family physician Dr. Henry Ajaero to pay $28,100 after he denied a teen puberty blockers at his clinic in March 2021.
Ajaero told the tribunal that “he did not feel comfortable administering” the hormone medication Lupron and that “doing so would go against his religious beliefs” and “because it is outside the scope of his practice,” according to a Sept. 9 CBC report.
The tribunal ruled that Alaero’s testimonial did not establish sufficient proof that administering the drug was in conflict with his religious belief or professional expertise.
While the tribunal acknowledged Ajaero likely made the decision quickly and in the context of a busy day, it ultimately ruled that "this context is an explanation for Dr. Ajaero’s decision, but it does not justify his decision to deny medical services to a vulnerable trans youth because of her gender identity,” according to the report.
Saydnaya, Syria, looks beyond its annual Marian celebrations
The feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary once again brought pilgrims from Syria and abroad to Saydnaya, where prayers and the traditional procession with an icon of Mary marked one of the cityʼs most important celebrations. Yet the occasion has also renewed discussion about Saydnayaʼs future.
Researcher Elias Azar, founder of the Saydnaya Center for Studies and Research, is working on a nonprofit initiative to preserve the cityʼs history while developing religious tourism, environmental projects, traditional agriculture, and local media, ACI MENA reported Sept. 9.
The effort comes after years of war and emigration. Azar estimated that Saydnaya has lost about half of its Christian population since 2011, although it remains a Christian-majority city. Residents are also calling for greater security, which they see as essential to protecting daily life and Saydnayaʼs place as a major Christian pilgrimage destination in Syria.
Vatican UN Permanent Observer Mission speaks against nuclear testing
Monsignor Robert Murphy, chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, called for renewed international commitment to ending nuclear weapons testing in a letter to the president of the U.N. General Assembly.
The Sept. 1 letter came amid a high-level plenary meeting marking International Day Against Nuclear Tests.
“The suffering caused by nuclear testing should have reinforced the common conviction that peace cannot be preserved by developing ever more destructive weapons,” Murphy said. “However, today renewed reliance on nuclear deterrence, increasingly aggressive nuclear rhetoric and attempts to question the long-standing international norm against nuclear testing risk undermining this conviction.” Murphy further called for an entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
St. Charbel communities in Poland call Catholics back to prayer
The sixth national gathering of St. Charbel communities in Poland focused on a simple question: Can people become so occupied with religious activities that they leave little time for God?
Maronite priest Father Fabio M. Lattouf warned against replacing a personal relationship with God with a search only for inner peace, constant Church activities, or an endless stream of religious content, ACI MENA reported on Sept. 8.
Bishop Andrzej Siemieniewski presented St. Charbel as another way forward, pointing to the Lebanese saintʼs long hours of silence before the Eucharist as an example of a spiritual life centered on Christ rather than activity.
At Bkerke, 26 couples choose marriage amid Lebanonʼs difficulties
Twenty-six brides and grooms took part in the 17th collective wedding organized by the Maronite League at Bkerke, continuing an initiative launched in 2009 to help young Lebanese couples establish families despite growing financial pressures.
The collective weddings have so far helped form 404 families, which now include 521 children, ACI MENA reported Sept. 6.
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai told the newlyweds that forming a family in difficult circumstances is an “act of faith in the future” and prayed that their homes would be marked by love, fidelity, forgiveness, faith, and peace.
Catholic professor calls families to reclaim the home in a technological age
John Cuddeback, a professor of philosophy at Christendom College, says families today don’t often know how to achieve what they desire in their homes and family life. As a remedy, drawing from both ancient and modern thinkers, he has released "The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” a book that outlines eight pillars for reclaiming the home as a place of human flourishing.
“Families today are struggling to achieve what they so badly want: to have the kind of relationships we’re made for, beginning in the home, especially between spouses and between parents and children,” Cuddeback said. “They know they want something different, something better, but they feel hamstrung. In a culture that works against them in many ways, they are frustrated because they lack clear vision and examples to pattern themselves after.”
Cuddeback, who teaches a course on family and household and is also the author of “True Friendship,” spoke to EWTN News about how he hopes his book conveys that “[a]nyone can choose to be intentional about their household and make real progress with dramatic fruits in the lives of those we love most.”
EWTN News: What do you see as the biggest challenge to building and maintaining an intentional home?
Cuddebach: It all begins with priorities. As a society we have turned away from the intense focus that our household requires — and this is evident in how we struggle in marriage, raising children, and relating to the elderly. Even many traditionally-minded folks struggle to realize and enact the demanding, even while ordinary, aspects of God’s plan for our homes.
Aristotle says that a society tends to produce the kind of people it honors. We do not honor those who prioritize home life — either women or men. This means that many of the structures, practices, and assumptions of our age are at odds with the real good of home life. This is especially evident in our obsession with the latest technologies.
This book is a call to all of us to do something radically different and profoundly better — while always recognizing we must be people of our time and place. It calls us to discover that looking first to what our children and our elderly really need is the high road to deeper fulfillment for all of us.
How has Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas influenced your thought on how technology should be incorporated in the home?
Pope Leo makes clear that we have come to a crisis point. The time is now to be honest, serious, and persistent in examining our use of technology in view of real human flourishing. This must start in the home. No one else is going to do this for us.
But as the pope makes clear, right practice must flow from an understanding of who we are and what we’re made for. “The Intentional Household” offers the rich and positive view of daily life in the home that grounds such an examination. It gives the “yes” that strengthens the “nos” we need to say. It gives direction for rising to the challenges of our age, including how to channel technology to true human flourishing.
Approaching homelife intentionally — especially attending to the ordinary in good work and true leisure as essential to our relationships — we can take real steps to become those biblical good stewards so honored by the Lord.
How does this apply to those across all walks of life, including single people, married couples without children, those who are divorced or separated?
The principles of a vibrant home life are both perennial and flexible. Wherever we find ourselves we can discover how the plan that God wrote into human nature is much better than we have realized.
Brokenness and suffering today are widespread. God’s plan encompasses these realities. By the grace of God, anyone who is humble and willing to take an intentional approach can affect real, and indeed dramatic change by applying the book’s eight principles. We can all take real steps to make our homes a place of vibrant life, with deep belonging, connection, and presence.
One of the thinkers you cite in your book is Wendell Berry. In light of his recent passing can you speak to his influence on your life and thinking?
Wendell Berry saw clearly how the loss of activities of work and leisure in the home has led to our experience of disconnection and isolation. Home should be a place of deep connection: between us and loved ones and neighbors, between soul and body, between us and the earth.
One of Berry’s pivotal insights is the key role of a certain kind of work in the home. Berry has pointed out that the work of traditional home arts is much more important than we have realized. He argues that as the breakdown of home life came especially through the loss of good work, the renewal will likewise come through a rediscovery of work that connects us to one another as it connects us to our bodies and to the earth, and ultimately to God.
Wendell Berry was a prophet of the extraordinary beauty and importance of the ordinary. Making our home an intentional household means rediscovering the power of ordinary things, such as mealtimes with the whole household, shared work in the kitchen and other home arts, and “porch time” and other such leisure times. Attention to these things can transform our marriage, parenting, and other key relationships.
Filmmakers bet on human craft over AI for animated St. Francis musical
A 3D animated musical trilogy on St. Francis of Assisi is taking shape in Singapore, with its creators choosing a human-led animation process over AI at a moment when the industry is racing toward it.
Director Benjamin Tanaka, executive producer Gabriel Patrick, and composer Ethan Hsu call the project “The Francis Chronicles.” It marks a reunion for Tanaka and Hsu, who first worked together two years ago on “One Church, One People,” the official theme song for Pope Francis’ visit to Singapore in September 2024 — his last Asia-Pacific apostolic visit before his death seven months later. Patrick, a secondary school friend of Tanaka, joined the project in January 2026.
“It does feel like God’s providence — the way our paths crossed and intertwined over the last couple of years. We were each called individually first. Ben and Gabriel were both working on an animated short series about Catholic saints, while I was mulling over a faith-based musical project. When we met up late last year at a separate event, we realized the commonalities in our ideas — that was when the seeds for this project were first planted,” recalled Hsu, who is directing the music for the trilogy.
St. Francis, a 13th-century Italian friar from the town of Assisi, has become an enduring symbol of simplicity, peace, and care for creation — echoed in Pope Francis’ second encyclical, Laudato Si’, “On Care for Our Common Home.”
Eight months later, the trio set up Cantiva Studios, a Singapore film production company focused on animated features of cultural and spiritual significance for international audiences, with “The Francis Chronicles” as its flagship project.
With Pope Leo XIV declaring this year the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi, the trio felt the time was right to begin the project. “His life has greatly impacted our faiths individually, and what better way to honor him than to use the gifts we have been given in storytelling and music to do just that,” Tanaka said from Cantiva Studios’ newly established production office, when asked why they decided to go ahead with a musical instead of a straight drama. They chose animation over live action, he added, because they hope to reach families with young children.
Choosing craft over convenience
The decision to animate the film by hand, using traditionally trained artists, was not an easy one. AI models can now produce polished visuals in minutes and promise significant savings in time and cost. Patrick, however — a designer by training — argued that nothing matches what human hands bring to a film: “Nothing still beats human-crafted movies in offering the viewer and the artists behind the making of the film the greatest range and freedom of authentic expression.”
After extensive consultation with the Franciscan friars in Singapore, who assisted with research into the saint’s life, the trio chose a human-led production process, with artists and animators shaping the film from concept to final frame.
Tanaka, who is making his feature directorial debut with “The Francis Chronicles,” added that Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, released in May, helped crystallize the team’s decision.
“Pope Leo XIV’s timely reminder of ensuring the dignity of human labor really struck a chord with us when we finally made the call on whether to use AI,” he said. “We are proud to be making this animated musical in the most human way possible.” For the filmmakers, this decision is not a rejection of technology but one that keeps human judgment and artistry at the center of the creative process.
A medieval saint for the modern world
Friar John-Paul Tan of the Custody of St. Anthony sees the timing as significant. “The last decade or so has been a telling sign about the effects of St. Francis and what his life meant then and to our generation today,” he said, speaking from the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Singapore.
He pointed to a remarkable convergence of milestones: the first pope in history to take the name Francis and a series of 800th-anniversary milestones running from the Rule of St. Francis in 2023 through his canonization in 2028. “I think all these milestones culminate to something significant that God is trying to tell us at this moment in history.”
Friar Derrick Yap, custos of the Custody of St. Anthony, said he hopes the films will carry that message beyond the Church: “May the eyes of the world be opened to the beauty of creation and come to see it as St. Francis did: Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Fire, and Sister Mother Earth.”
From Singapore to the world
For a small domestic film industry, the ambition is unusual. Singapore-made films represent only a fraction of titles screened locally and face a challenging commercial landscape. A homegrown Catholic animated feature would itself be a rarity. “The Francis Chronicles” aims to go further, telling the story as an international trilogy designed for theatrical and streaming audiences beyond Singapore.
To help finance development of the first film, “Francis and the Voice of Creation” — covering his early years and call from God — the trio launched a worldwide Kickstarter campaign on Sept. 8. The funds raised will go toward research, script writing, character designs, and storyboards before animation begins.
The second and third films are planned to carry the story through the founding and growth of the Franciscan movement and St. Francis’ final years, when he became the first documented saint in history to receive the stigmata.
Aaron Leong is a film and video producer who has been hired by Cantiva Studios for commercial video work on “The Francis Chronicles.”
Catholic tech leaders urge ethical boundaries for AI
Catholic leaders discussed rising benefits and concerns of technology and how faith and ethics apply when using artificial intelligence.
Bringing together leading technological officers from around the globe, Montse Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, spoke with industry professionals about the growing use of AI in a Sept. 9 special, “Beyond Fear: A Catholic Vision for Artificial Intelligence.”
Pope Leo XIV framed the intensifying debate over AI with the May 25 launch of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Tech leaders said AI is rapidly reshaping society and the Church, offering powerful tools for ministry while also requiring firm ethical boundaries, human‑centered leadership, and faith‑guided discernment to ensure the technology strengthens human dignity.
“There’s a good side to that exponential innovation because it helps us get to the most vulnerable people faster,” said Joel Chakra, president of Tim Tebow Foundation and venture capitalist in AI technology companies.
“It can it can really rob us of our true humanity, or it can enhance our lives. And the choice is ours,” said Arthur C. Brooks, American author and academic who wrote the foreword to Magnifica Humanitas.
Brooks said the technology can either diminish or deepen human dignity, depending on how it is used. He added that despite real concerns about job loss and disruption, he remains optimistic because humans are “unbelievably ingenious” and made to solve problems.
“Iʼm not a pessimist. Iʼm an optimist. I do realize that thereʼs displacement. I do realize that thereʼs a lot to be concerned about. But I also know that humans are unbelievably ingenious that the Lord made us to solve problems,” Brooks said.
Vic Gundotra, former senior vice president at Google and a Catholic convert, said: “AI helped in my conversion to becoming Catholic. I was raised as a Jehovahʼs Witness and I had never read the early Church Fathers, but AI showed me what the Catholic Church taught was mirrored in the early Church Fathers.”
While AI shaped his own path to Catholicism, Gundotra also cautioned that the same technology can magnify human failings, noting that “any tool can be used to amplify the worst in human capability” and “augment and worsen the worst human characteristics as well.”
Gundotra warned that AI carries real risks for young people and said parents still need to guide how it’s used, noting that the technology is powerful but comes with clear downsides.
Sara Anderson of Pushpay, a digital‑giving and church‑management platform, said her team uses AI to streamline parish administration so staff can spend more time on ministry. The goal is not to replace human connection but to free priests, volunteers, and parish workers from tedious data entry and outdated systems, she said.
“There’s a moment in our Catholic Church where there’s so many people wanting to to join the Church to learn about the Church and … the tools are outdated,” Anderson said. “Technology is making their lives better.”
Chakra and Anderson are encouraging faith-filled individuals to hold more technological leadership positions as artificial intelligence becomes more apparent in our daily lives.
“I think for too long, we have taken a back seat to some of the highest leadership positions and taken a back seat to innovation, when in reality, our faith and our heritage is driven by some of the smartest people to ever exist in the world,” Chakra said.
“That is one of the things I try to help the parish admins and the office staff learn to be brave. We need them to explore; we need them to meet the moment of technology and faith. We need them to be leaders,” Anderson said.
As AI spreads, speakers said the Church needs more leaders engaged in technology while also setting clear limits to ensure digital tools support, not replace, human ministry.
“Boundaries are needed to help create the best use [of] technology. And the other way is through AI policies, ethics, and framework,” Anderson said.
Aparecida shrine in Brazil set to unveil more artwork linked to Rupnik
On Sept. 12, Brazil’s National Shrine of Aparecida is set to unveil the mosaics on the basilicaʼs west façade. The artwork was created by the Aletti Center, a school dedicated to promoting sacred art that was founded in Rome by the former Jesuit priest and artist Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.
The artwork, which bears the unmistakable hallmarks of Rupnik’s style, completes the “Biblical Journey” project, an initiative that covered the shrineʼs four façades with mosaics depicting biblical scenes.
Rupnik faces accusations of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse against dozens of nuns — incidents that, in some cases, occurred within the context of his artistic work. He was expelled from the Society of Jesus in June 2023 for disobeying a superiorʼs order not to preach publicly and is currently facing a canonical trial before the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In contrast to the basilicaʼs decision to retain Rupnikʼs art, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France plans to cover all of Rupnikʼs mosaics on the façade of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary ahead of the visit by Pope Leo XIV, scheduled for Sept. 26–27.
The bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, Jean-Marc Micas, stated that the measure was taken out of consideration for abuse victims and that the mosaics will remain covered following the popeʼs visit.
Works by Rupnik and the Aletti Center can be found in various religious sites, such as the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vaticanʼs Apostolic Palace as well as the shrines of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in Italy and Fátima in Portugal.
Biblical Journey Project
Work on the Brazil shrineʼs exterior began in 2019. The north façade, inaugurated in 2022, depicts the Exodus and the liberation of the people of Israel; the south façade, completed in 2024, portrays the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ; and the east façade, inaugurated in 2025, presents scenes of creation from the Book of Genesis.
The west façade, set to be inaugurated Sept. 12, is dedicated to the Book of Revelation, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Last Judgment. According to the shrine, the scenes represent “Godʼs victory over evil.”
The most recent façade work began in 2025. It features nearly 4,000 square meters of mosaics designed and executed by 39 artists associated with the Aletti Center. The stones used in the project come from countries such as Brazil, Italy, Greece, and Afghanistan.
Rupnik remains listed as part of the team on the Aletti Center’s website. The institution identifies him as the director of the Spiritual Art Atelier since 1995 and head of the Theology Atelier since 2008.
The project was funded by the “Devotees' Campaign,” consisting of donations from Our Ladyʼs devotees across Brazil. The shrine announced that the unveiling of the façade would take place during a “catechetical celebration,” featuring a special program and a live broadcast by the Rede Aparecida media network.
In 2024, when ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News, asked the National Shrine about the projectʼs continuation following the allegations against Rupnik, the institution did not directly answer the questions but issued a statement noting that the “work on the façades of the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida continues under the leadership and execution of the Aletti Center."
The shrine went on to indicate that since 2020, the project has been directed by Italian artist and theologian Maria Campatelli. “Its leadership team comprises 12 women and nine men, alongside dozens of artists of various nationalities who are directly involved in the project,” the shrine added in a statement.
In addition, the shrine noted that the Vicariate of Rome — to which the Aletti Center is accountable — issued “a finding following a canonical visitation, attesting ‘clearly to a healthy community life at the Aletti Center, free from specific issues.’”
ACI Digital contacted the shrine’s press office to request information regarding the inauguration and to inquire about Rupnik’s role in creating the mosaics as well as the criteria that led Aparecida to retain the artwork, whereas Lourdes decided to cover them out of consideration for abuse victims.
The press office stated that coverage would be restricted to the shrine’s official channels and requested that questions be submitted via email. However, no response was received by the time of publication.
This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pro-life, pro-family champion takes helm of Colombia’s Education Ministry
Ilva Myriam Hoyos Castañeda has been tapped to lead Colombiaʼs Ministry of Education following the resignation of Vivian Morales for personal reasons.
The announcement was made by President Abelardo de la Espriella, who thanked the outgoing minister and stated that Hoyos is distinguished by “her talent, strength, integrity, and steadfast defense of values.”
In her new role, Hoyos will have to make decisions regarding the measures left by her predecessor, including the review of school textbooks to remove “woke” ideology from schools and a draft decree that would allow private entities — including religious organizations — to support the provision or administration of educational services in areas with limited state presence.
The proposal sparked a debate regarding the role of churches in public education and the secular nature of the state.
“We are interested because religious education, moral education, and ethical aspects have not received due attention in recent years,” Father Edilberto Estupiñán, director of the Bishops' Conference Department of Education, told EWTN News.
However, the appointment of Hoyos has drawn criticism from feminist and leftist circles, including former President Gustavo Petro, due to her past work with former Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez, Colombiaʼs current ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) and a staunch opponent of abortion.
The new minister also faces the challenge of improving educational quality, particularly following recent national test results that showed Colombian youth regressing in reading and mathematics, with only slight improvement in science.
Additionally, she will face the challenge of restoring infrastructure damaged by the Aug. 10 earthquake, which affected more than 3,500 educational centers and left nearly 400,000 students without classrooms.
Who is Ilva Hoyos Castañeda?
Hoyos was born in Bogotá on Oct. 19, 1959. A lawyer who also holds a doctorate in law, she previously served as dean of the law school and director of the Institute of Humanities at the University of La Sabana. She has also taught at various higher education institutions in Colombia and abroad.
Between 2009 and 2016, Hoyos served as the delegate inspector general for the defense of the rights of children, adolescents, and the family. She also served as an adviser to the Pontifical Council for the Family, participating as a lay expert in the fifth general conference of the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean held in 2007 in Aparecida, Brazil. In addition, she served as an auditor at the first Synod on the Family convened by Pope Francis in 2014.
In Colombia, Hoyos chaired the Episcopal Conference’s National Council for the Culture of Care for seven years, participating in the design and implementation of strategies for the prevention of and response to abuse and violence, as well as in the training of diocesan teams and religious communities.
Hoyos is the author of books such as “Religious Freedom in the 1991 Constitution,” “Freedom and Fidelity in University Education,” “On Dignity and Human Rights,” and “The Legal Dimension of the Human Person,” among others.
Stance on family and abortion
More than a decade ago, during the legal debate regarding same-sex unions, Hoyos stated before the Constitutional Court that “marriage and the family, as institutions and fundamental units of society, are central pillars of the legal system.”
On the subject, she noted that “the characteristics of heterosexuality and procreation — which have been heavily criticized here and which define marriage in Colombia both constitutionally and legally — should not be viewed as grounds for suspecting unjust discrimination against the fundamental rights of individuals or couples with a homosexual orientation.”
Hoyos has consistently expressed opposition to the decriminalization of abortion and defended the right to freedom of conscience, noting that it is “expressly recognized in Article 18 of the Constitution.”
Throughout her career, both academically and professionally, she has been closely linked to the defense of the rights of children and the family as a central part of society.
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.
Surrogate mother petitions Supreme Court to ensure lifesaving care for newborn
A surrogate mother filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure a newborn baby will have access to lifesaving treatment for a heart condition amid her concerns that the biological parents may not continue treatment.
McKenna West, an Alaska nurse and surrogate mother, gave birth to the baby boy on Aug. 12. She is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a court order that recognized the boy’s biological parents as having full custody and being the authority in medical decisions.
The unborn child was diagnosed with a treatable heart defect at about 20 weeks into pregnancy. His biological parents demanded West abort the child because of the defect and threatened her with financial penalties if she did not, according to the petition filed by West’s lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom.
West refused and fled to Texas because the state’s pro-life laws prohibit most abortions. The boy is receiving lifesaving medical treatment at this time due to a court order in Texas. However, the petition states the biological parents “refused to commit to authorizing any life-saving care” for as long as needed to treat the condition.
“Since [West] is now completely excluded from the life of the medically fragile infant she brought into the world, much less from the ability to make critical health decisions that protect him, time is of the essence,” the petition states.
The petition warns that without immediate Supreme Court action, “the child could be removed from the Texas hospital and taken to California for hospice — despite his treatable condition — around September 17, if not sooner.”
“Relief is all the more warranted here, given that the stakes involve the child’s life,” the petition adds.
Apostolic nuncio calls for ‘moral voice’ in AI development
Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, discussed the need for a “moral voice” in artificial intelligence (AI) development during a panel discussion hosted by Georgetown University on Sept. 9.
The panel, titled “AI, Catholic Social Teaching, and Pope Leoʼs Invitation to Dialogue with the World,” examined Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and its call for a shared human effort to develop technology that serves the common good rather than harms it.
Speakers noted that the Holy Father’s encyclical stopped short of prescribing specific policy ideas for addressing the moral and ethical concerns, but the nuncio said “there is the perception that we need a moral voice” on the subject.
“A moral voice is what?” he said. “Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice.”
Caccia stressed that decisions affecting human lives should not be handed over to AI, citing distinctions between AI algorithms and the human conscience, as the Holy Father discussed in Magnifica Humanitas.
Leo drew a distinction between artificial intelligence and human intelligence in the encyclical, focusing on how each approaches moral questions. The pope wrote that he rejected ideas of “artificial moral agents” and the notion that a machine can “distinguish between right and wrong with greater consistency than a human being.”
“Moral judgment cannot be reduced to calculation, for it involves conscience, personal responsibility and the recognition of the other as a person,” Leo wrote. “Therefore, it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.”
Caccia said during the panel discussion that, as a society, “we have to keep the value of the human relationship.”
“The problem is that [if] life and death is decided by a machine, not by the human being, who is accountable?” he said. “So these are very important, important questions. But I am confident, as I said, that together we can face this situation and find a way.”
The nuncio said he has similar concerns about the use of AI in other types of decision-making that impacts humans.
“I hear very troubling accounts of algorithms that can block access to healthcare, employment, and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice,” he said. “And Iʼve heard the silence of those who have no voice. When decisions are made, decisions [are] likely to generate new forms of exclusion and suffering.”
Quoting the encyclical, Caccia affirmed the pope’s call that AI “needs to be disarmed.”
“The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity,” he said. “This is more or less a framework in which we can go on with the conversation.”
Speaking to EWTN News after the panel, Caccia said the pope’s call to address moral concerns of AI is not just a call to Church leadership but to every Catholic.
“There is, of course, the voice of the bishops,” he said. “But there is also the voice of Catholic people who are in the business or are engineers who are in the economy, who are in the field. So itʼs not just for those who have pastoral responsibility, but for the bigger community.”
Pope’s impact on AI discussion
Several panelists discussed the importance of Magnifica Humanitas in providing a type of moral guidance on AI development that focuses on the common good of humanity.
Jasmine Sun, a journalist who writes about AI and Silicon Valley, said she “was actually surprised by how much folks I knew in Silicon Valley, in the AI industry did pay attention to Magnifica Humanitas.”
“It was a lot more engagement, I think, than I expected,” she said. “And once again, I think itʼs because there is this sense that the profit motive that has driven Silicon Valley, that continues to drive Silicon Valley, is not enough.”
Molly Kinder, CEO of the Breakwater Initiative, said the Church provides “wisdom and moral leadership” and believes its broad focus on humanity is why people listened.
“Iʼm struck that in the opening pages of the Bible, there is a discussion of Adam and Eve being put on Earth to till the land as our fundamental reason for existing,” she said. “And it feels to me sometimes when Iʼm in Silicon Valley … they almost talk about almost a new Garden of Eden that AI is going to bring about, that maybe our purpose is not to work, or maybe itʼs leisure or a check and a hobby.”
Caccia too said he was “positively surprised” by the reaction to the encyclical, saying “it seems that there was a need to do something about this.”
“It didnʼt pretend to have the answers,” he said, “but he put questions, common questions that we have to tackle together to decide where we want to go.”