Bangladesh Christians form human chain demanding Easter public holiday
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Christians in Bangladesh formed a human chain and rally in the capital March 31 demanding that the government declare Easter Sunday a public holiday.
The Bangladesh Christian Association organized the demonstration in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka, calling on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to add Easter to the government’s official holiday calendar.
Easter Sunday falls on April 5 this year. Bangladesh’s roughly 600,000 Christians — less than 1% of the country’s approximately 170 million people — currently receive only one public holiday for a Christian feast: Christmas Day.
Catholic bishops support the demand
The Catholic Church in Bangladesh has also voiced support for the campaign.
Archbishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze, OMI, of Dhaka, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh, expressed his solidarity with the demand for a holiday on Easter in an interview with EWTN News on March 30.
“Since we do not have a government holiday on Easter Sunday, we cannot all celebrate this day together. Many cannot go to the villages, and we cannot all observe the religious customs that are in place before Easter,” D’Cruze told EWTN News.
“I also demand from the government to declare a public holiday on Easter so that we Christians can celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ together in family, social, and religious ways,” the archbishop added.
‘A heavy heart’
Bangladesh Christian Association President Nirmal Rozario said the demand for the holiday is long-standing.
“We have come here with a heavy heart and are standing in front of the Press Club. Easter Sunday is very important to us after Christmas. Jesus is the only person in the history of the world who has risen after death. We are demanding a public holiday on this important and significant day, Easter Sunday,” Rozario said.
He added that the Christian community “has made considerable contributions to the formation of Bangladesh” in the areas of education, health services, and development, and questioned why the government has not granted the holiday.
Rozario called on Rahman to add Easter Sunday to the government holiday calendar beginning next year and to grant a holiday for this year through an executive order.
Unequal holiday allocations
Muslims, who make up roughly 91% of the population according to the 2022 census, receive multiple public holidays for their major religious celebrations, including several days for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Hindus, who constitute about 8% of the population, have two days off for their main religious festival, Durga Puja.
Christians, however, have only one public holiday — Christmas Day.
Manju Maria Palma, secretary of The Christian Cooperative Credit Union Ltd. in Dhaka, a 48,000-member organization, was present at the human chain.
“Christ was resurrected on this day. This day is very important. If this public holiday is given, not only the Christian community will benefit but also our brothers and sisters of other religions will understand the significance of this day,” Palma said.
Lawmaker expresses hope
EWTN News contacted at least three members of Parliament, including Abdul Aziz, a member of Parliament from the Natore-4 constituency, which includes a historic Christian settlement.
Aziz told EWTN News: “Since we respect all religious ceremonies, including Christian activities, and since Christians have expressed their demands, our government will definitely consider the matter.”
He also expressed hope that the government will soon discuss the issue of a holiday on Easter Sunday.
European soccer body says Red Star fine was for profanity, not Orthodox icon
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) told EWTN News that a 40,000-euro (about $46,000) fine on Serbian soccer club Red Star Belgrade was for a banner containing offensive language directed at the organization, not for a massive display featuring an Orthodox Christian icon, which drew international attention.
The case follows a Europa League match between Red Star Belgrade and LOSC Lille (Lille Olympique Sporting Club) on Feb. 26, when UEFA’s Control, Ethics, and Disciplinary Body imposed multiple fines on the Serbian club totaling 95,500 euros (about $110,000). These included a 40,000-euro penalty for transmitting a message deemed not fit for a sports event and bringing the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute.
The sanction drew political attention after reports suggested it may have been connected to a stadium display featuring an Orthodox Christian icon alongside a religious message invoking faith and victory.
In response to an inquiry from EWTN News, UEFA said the fine was linked to a banner containing the phrase “F*** UEFA” and not to the religious display. It added that there is no sanction related to the choreography itself.
MEP raises concerns
Greek member of European Parliament (MEP) Emmanouil Fragkos said the case raised broader concerns about the application of rules governing religious expression in European football.
“UEFA and all UEFAs must learn to be accountable to the football fans and all the real people,” Fragkos told EWTN News, adding that he supports religion, tradition, and the right of people to speak freely. He also emphasized the need for greater awareness among supporters of their “collective power” in shaping how such decisions are received.
In a letter to Glenn Micallef, the European commissioner for intergenerational fairness, youth, culture, and sport, Fragkos said the case “raises serious concerns” about UEFA’s approach, questioning how “a peaceful expression of faith and identity” could be deemed inappropriate and calling for “consistent and transparent application” of the rules governing messages displayed at matches.
Christian symbolism debate
Reports had also pointed to a separate sanction involving LOSC Lille following its Europa League match against Aston Villa on March 12, where a banner depicting St. Joan of Arc was displayed. UEFA told EWTN News those claims were inaccurate, stating that any sanction in that case was related to insulting chants directed at an opposing goalkeeper and not to the imagery.
The episode comes amid ongoing debates in Europe over the place of religious symbols in public life, including a case before the European Court of Human Rights, Union of Atheists v. Greece, concerning the display of Orthodox Christian icons in Greek courtrooms. The applicants argue that such imagery may affect perceptions of judicial neutrality and religious freedom.
How does Pope Leo choose his monthly prayer intentions?
Leo XIV records his “Pray with the Pope” video each month, but how does he choose the intentions he wants the Church to pray for?
“They’re absolutely the pope’s intentions; however, he does it in a very synodal way,” after gathering input from many sources, Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (PWPN), told EWTN News.
The prayer network, established as a Vatican entity by Pope Francis in 2018, recently undertook a lengthy consultation process with its national directors in 94 countries and members of the Roman Curia.
“Last year, we received about 300 proposals in different languages,” Fones said. “We categorized them, we summarized them, and then the [prayer network’s] international office proposed 16 of them to the pope to facilitate his work.”
“In December, I passed him these 16 proposals … he put another one that wasn’t part of the [original] proposals and changed the order,” he continued.
“He’s quite involved in this process. For him it is critical,” he said.
Every month, Pope Leo records three versions — English, Italian, and Spanish — of his monthly prayer intention.
“It’s a lot of work,” the PWPN director told EWTN News. “He’s committed to this because he knows it is important and because he wants to pray with people.”
According to Fones, Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of Pope Francis, who recorded the first video of the monthly intentions in 2016, but the current pope has put his own stamp on the practice.
“[Pope Leo] wanted to invite people not only to pray for the intention but to pray with him,” he said. “So he wanted a video where he was praying and people could join him.”
“He’s teaching us how to pray at the same time,” Fones said, “by saying ‘hello’ to the Lord, pausing a little bit, and meaning every single word.”
Fones said Pope Leo asked the global network to help people cultivate a “friendship” with God through the various multimedia resources they offer.
“He said to me, ‘Please teach people how to pray,’” Fones said. “He’s very conscious that we may be Catholics but not have this kind of relationship with Jesus.”
“Prayer is not something that we do or something that we say, but it’s a relationship that we build up — not with something — but with someone,” he added.
In addition to the “Pray with the Pope” campaign, the Vatican foundation also offers a nine-step spirituality program called “Way of the Heart.”
At Leo’s request, PWPN launched the “Pray with the Pope” campaign in January with the desire to teach people “intercessory prayer” that is focused on “Christ and the challenges of humanity.”
“The closer we are to the heart of Jesus, the closer we are to the pains and sufferings of the world who are at the core of his heart,” Fones said.
“The important thing is to be compassionate with so many challenges we are facing around the world, very critical, that obviously are in the heart of the pope, as [they are] in the heart of so many people who are suffering those problems, and … certainly in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said.
Pope Leo on the dignity and mission of the laity: They are the body of Christ
The laity are not “a formless mass, but the body of Christ,” endowed with dignity and responsibility in the Church and in the world, Pope Leo XIV said in his catechesis at the general audience on Wednesday.
After riding around a packed St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile on April 1, the Holy Father recalled the nature and mission of the laity, who for centuries had been defined simply as “those who are not part of the clergy or the consecrated life” in a reflection based on the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium.
Dignity and mission of the laity
The pope explained that Vatican II broke with the former understanding of the laity by affirming the equality of all the baptized and emphasizing both the dignity and the mission of the laity in the Church and in the world.
“Naturally, the greater the gift, the greater the commitment too,” the pontiff said.
In light of Lumen Gentium, Leo affirmed that, by virtue of baptism, “the lay faithful participate in the very priesthood of Christ.”
He recalled the apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici, in which St. John Paul II emphasized that “the council, with its rich doctrinal, spiritual, and pastoral patrimony, has written as never before on the nature, dignity, spirituality, mission, and responsibility of the lay faithful.” In this way, the saintly pope “relaunched the apostolate of the laity,” Leo noted.
He also stressed that the vast field of the lay apostolate “is not confined to the Church but extends to the world” and that the Church is present “wherever her children profess and bear witness to the Gospel.”
As examples, he cited workplaces, civil society, and all human relationships, “wherever they, through their choices, show the beauty of Christian life, which foretells here and now the justice and peace that will be accomplished in the kingdom of God.”
Quoting Lumen Gentium, the Holy Father stated that “the world needs to be permeated by the spirit of Christ, and more effectively fulfill its purpose in justice, charity, and peace.” He added: “And this is possible only through the contribution, service, and witness of the laity!”
This, the pontiff explained, is the invitation to be the “outgoing” Church spoken of by Pope Francis: “a Church embodied in history, always open to mission, in which we are all called to be missionary disciples, apostles of the Gospel, witnesses of the kingdom of God, bearers of the joy of Christ whom we have encountered!”
During his greeting to pilgrims, Pope Leo XIV encouraged them to remain close to the tomb of Christ and to be faithful in the hour of silence and trial.
He also encouraged the faithful to strengthen their faith during Holy Week and to ask the Lord that the paschal mystery renew in them the grace to be joyful witnesses of the Risen One, confident that love and peace are stronger than death.
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.
84-year-old woman speaks out after being offered euthanasia while visiting Canadian ER for back pain
Miriam Lancaster’s story sparked “outrage” after she shared that she was offered medical assistance in dying (MAID) after arriving at a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hospital with back pain.
In 2025, 84-year-old Lancaster was taken to Vancouver General Hospital via ambulance after waking up with intense back pain. She was taken out of the ambulance and placed into the emergency room.
“The first person that I remember coming to speak to me was a young lady doctor. And this is where the story begins,” Lancaster recalled in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” “The very first thing she said to me was, ‘I would like to offer you MAID.’”
MAID is the euthanasia and assisted suicide law in Canada that allows a physician or nurse practitioner to administer or provide a drug that causes death to the patient.
After the doctor offered MAID, “I said: ‘No, thank you,’” Lancaster said. “I was certainly taken aback, and there were so many other things on my mind.”
Lancaster said she was thinking: “Yesterday I was feeling fine. I got out of bed this morning, and suddenly I am not feeling fine. I am in horrendous pain. So I need to know what’s causing the pain. Let’s not talk about end of life please.’”
“My husband, three years previously, had also been offered MAID. He turned it down,” Lancaster said. As “practicing Catholics, there is no way that we are going to take measures to end our life. That is in the hands of the Lord. So he turned down MAID when he was in hospital, and a few years later, there I am in the same hospital, and I gave the same response.”
Later, Lancaster was moved to the UBC Hospital. “By this time they knew that I had a tiny crack in my sacrum. That’s a little bone at the base of the spine,” she said. “There’s no surgery possible, so I was in bed, with some exercises of course, for three weeks.”
“When I got home, I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve been given a second chance here. I am going to make the most of whatever time is left,’” she said.
Lancaster said she and her daughter decided to travel to Cuba in the fall and to Mexico and Guatemala in the spring. While on her trip, Lancaster even went horseback riding on a volcano.
Offering MAID ‘defeats a person’s sense of self-worth’
Amanda Achtman, who works to humanize the conversation around suffering and death through the Dying to Meet You Project, told “EWTN News Nightly” she hopes Lancaster’s story “emboldens other seniors to speak out too” who have had similar experiences.
“Your story has gone totally viral in media all around the world because people are rightly outraged at the suggestion that you could have been offered death when you have so much life to live,” Achtman said to Lancaster.
People who are opting for MAID “are being killed by having a lethal injection administered by a doctor or nurse directly,” Achtman said. “And now in Canada, 1 in 20 deaths is the result of this premature hastening of an end of life.”
MAID “is the suggestion that is being made more and more often to Canadian seniors,” she said.
Achtman also works with Canadian Physicians for Life on ethics education and she teaches a bioethics course for St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry. She was recently invited by the bishop of the Diocese of Victoria, Canada, to Vancouver Island, which she said is “literally the euthanasia capital of the world.”
“And while there, I met Miriam, but also others who shared with me experiences about unsolicited offers of euthanasia within the health care system,” she said.
One woman shared her story with Achtman about “having had euthanasia brought up by her family doctor, by a cancer specialist, and even by the funeral home.”
“Now, bringing up euthanasia is not prohibited in Canada, according to the Canadian Association of MAID Providers and Assessors — the government-funded group that is promoting this,” Achtman said. “There’s no prohibition, and they stress that.”
“However, what I would stress is that simply having euthanasia offered already kills a person, because it deflates and defeats a person’s sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and of value,” she said.
Syria’s churches scale back Easter celebrations after attack on Christian town
A tense calm hangs over the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah in Syria’s Hama countryside after it was attacked on Friday, March 27, by armed groups from outside the town, leaving widespread damage to public and private property.
Footage documenting the destruction — filmed by the attackers themselves or secretly recorded by residents — showed acts of vandalism and theft targeting cars, shops, cafes, and other property, accompanied by threatening chants and insults.
The assault was not an isolated incident. Local sources reported that another attempted attack was thwarted the next day by general security personnel, deepening residents’ fears that such assaults could happen again.
In immediate response, the town’s residents staged a protest sit-in, raising clear demands, most notably rejecting a “single-color army” (a force dominated by one religious or ethnic group), insisting on compensation for the damage, and calling for those responsible to be held accountable, including members of General Security, whom protesters accused of taking part in the attack.
The demonstrators also stressed their rejection of uncontrolled weapons and sectarianism, affirming that public and private freedoms are a “red line.” They voiced frustration with some media coverage that described the incident as merely an individual dispute, holding signs denouncing “false media” and refusing to give interviews to state-run outlets.
On the ecclesial level, reactions were swift and firm. The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, together with most Churches in Syria, announced that Easter celebrations would be reduced to prayers inside churches only, citing “the current discouraging circumstances.”
At the same time, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East strongly condemned what happened, saying that incidents targeting the Christian community cannot be dismissed as “individual incidents” and warning against the dangers of fueling sectarian tendencies.
The patriarchate also called for an official investigation, accountability for those responsible, and compensation for those affected. It stressed that responsibility for maintaining security rests solely with the state and its institutions, along with the need to control the spread of weapons outside state authority. It further emphasized the importance of upholding citizenship and integration among all components of Syrian society, far from the logic of majority and minority.
For its part, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Hama described what happened as an attack carried out by “outlaw groups,” calling for strict legal measures, including the formation of a judicial investigative committee, accountability for those involved and those who failed in their duties, enforcement of laws restricting weapons to the hands of the state, and guarantees of equality among citizens.
At the same time as the Al-Suqaylabiyah incident, a U.N. report said more than 1,700 people were killed and around 200,000 displaced during a single week of violence in the south of the country in July 2025, most of them Druze civilians. The report warned that the humanitarian situation remains fragile and documented violations that may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
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.
Trump to continue supplying Title X grants to Planned Parenthood for another year
The Trump administration, citing legal challenges, said it will continue to give Title X grants to Planned Parenthood for another year — a move pro-life leaders see as a “betrayal.”
The administration first restored Biden-era Title X funds to Planned Parenthood in January, to the outcry of pro-lifers. News broke March 31 that the administration would extend the grants for another year, just a day before they were set to lapse.
Thanks to the grants, Planned Parenthood and some other clinics will continue to be able to submit reimbursement receipts to the federal government for low-income patients who received birth control and other non-abortion services.
While grants won’t directly cover abortion — the Hyde Amendment prevents the federal government from doing so — grants will subsidize an organization that performs hundreds of thousands of abortions yearly.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said the agency will issue Title X grant notices for 2027 “matched with agency priorities.”
The Trump administration had initially paused the grants in 2025, but after facing legal challenges from Planned Parenthood, HHS released the grants in January. Most pro-life groups decried the decision, though a few defended it by saying it was the administration’s only viable option as 42 U.S. Code Part 300, the rule governing family planning grants, had not been amended.
National pro-life groups have denounced the decision to keep funding Planned Parenthood. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the move “an inexplicable slap in the face to the pro-life GOP base.”
“This is a clear abandonment as the first Trump administration enacted the Protect Life Rule to stop Title X funding of Planned Parenthood,” Dannenfelser said. “It should have been ‘Day 1’ policy in the second administration. Instead, we are 14 months in and this hasn’t been prevented.”
Dannenfelser called the move “political suicide.”
“Three out of four GOP base voters support defunding Planned Parenthood,” Dannenfelser said. “One-third of those voters say they’d be less enthusiastic about voting this November if the GOP abandons pro-life policies.”
“This comes on the heels of the administration undermining GOP states by allowing the shipping of abortion drugs into their borders, violating their laws,” Dannenfelser continued. “And it comes after the president suggesting the GOP should be ‘flexible’ on the Hyde Amendment. This spells disaster for November.”
Jennie Bradley Lichter, who heads the March for Life, said that “funding Planned Parenthood is not, by any stretch of the imagination, Making America Healthy Again.”
“Absolutely maddening that [the HHS] is continuing to fund an org whose business model is built on ending human lives, misleading pregnant women into thinking abortion is their only option, and delivering substandard health care even in the rare cases when abortion is not involved,” Lichter said in statement provided to EWTN News.
Live Action called on the Trump administration to reverse the decision.
“The Trump administration has decided [to] CONTINUE supplying Title X funds to Planned Parenthood,” the statement read. “This is the largest abortion corporation in the country. They don’t need our tax dollars. They don’t deserve our tax dollars. This decision MUST be reversed.”
“Over 400,000 unborn children are killed by this corporation every year, making them the largest abortion chain in America,” Live Action President Lila Rose said. “The blood of these babies cries out. Taxpayer dollars should never fund the killing of innocent human beings.”
“The Trump administration’s decision to keep Title X federal funding going to Planned Parenthood is unacceptable,” Rose said in a statement shared with EWTN News. “Taxpayer dollars should never be used to prop up America’s largest abortion business. Planned Parenthood exists to end the lives of preborn children, and every dollar it receives helps sustain an industry built on violence against the innocent.”
“This decision is a betrayal of the pro-life Americans who expected this administration to stand firmly against abortion and against the forced public funding of those who commit it,” Rose continued. “The American people should not be made to subsidize abortion businesses under the guise of women’s health. Title X funds should go to real health care providers that serve women and families without taking innocent human life. The administration should reverse course immediately and fully defund Planned Parenthood.”
Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pope Leo makes Holy Week appeal to Trump, world leaders to end Iran war
Pope Leo XIV has renewed his appeal for peace in a world wounded by conflict and violence.
In remarks to journalists on March 31 outside the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo, the pope reminded that “Easter should be the holiest, most sacred time of the year. It is a time of peace, a time for much reflection, but as we all know, once again in the world, in so many places, we are seeing so much suffering, so many deaths, even innocent children.”
The pope said he had been told President Donald Trump wants to end the war in the Middle East and expressed hope that Trump is seeking a way to decrease the violence.
Pope Leo asked everyone, “especially Christians,” to “live these days recognizing that Christ is still crucified today, that Christ still suffers today in the innocent, especially those who are suffering from violence, hatred, and war.”
“Let us pray for them, for the victims of war, let us pray that there may truly be a new, renewed peace, which can give new life to all,” Pope Leo urged.
“We make continuous appeals for peace, but unfortunately many people want to promote hatred and violence, war,” the pope said.
Hope for a truce
He expressed hope for a truce during Easter, saying: “I’m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war. Hopefully he’s looking for an ‘off ramp.’ Hopefully he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created and that’s increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere.”
The pope addressed all world leaders, urging them: “Come back to the table, to dialogue. Let’s look for solutions to problems, let’s look for ways to reduce the amount of violence that we’re promoting, that peace — especially at Easter — might reign in our hearts.”
In response to a question about his plans, announced today, to carry a cross during the Good Friday Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome, the pope said: “I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents: a spiritual leader in today’s world, a voice to say that Christ still suffers. And I carry all these sufferings in my prayers as well.”
He asked “all people of goodwill, to people of faith, to walk together, to walk with Christ who suffered for us, to give us salvation, and to seek to be bearers of peace ourselves.”
Catholic priest fundraises, gives gift cards to unpaid TSA workers amid partial shutdown
A Catholic priest raised money and gave gift cards to employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) while a partial government shutdown forced most of the workforce to work without pay.
Father Jim Sichko, a papal missionary of mercy, held a 24-hour fundraiser for the workers that he advertised across social media platforms, raising about $20,000. The act coincided with his effort to perform random acts of kindness for those in need.
Some of TSA’s funding is on hold as lawmakers debate broader funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees TSA. Democrats are trying to include reforms to immigration enforcement in the funding package as Republicans are resisting any language that could curtail President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Trump signed an executive order on March 27 to provide some back pay to TSA employees, and future payments remain in limbo amid the congressional deadlock.
Sichko, who travels frequently by air, told EWTN News he delivered gift cards to TSA workers during flights he already scheduled. He gave a bundle of gift cards in denominations of $10 and $20 to workers in Lexington, Kentucky, and Chicago, providing a total of $11,000 worth of gift cards to employees.
The donated gift cards comply with federal regulations that prohibit employees from accepting direct cash gifts but allow them to accept small amounts of money in gift cards for restaurants, grocery stores, and a few other products.
Sichko is holding onto the remaining $9,000 because TSA workers have begun to receive back pay. He plans to resume gifting the rest of the gift cards to TSA workers if their pay is disrupted again. Otherwise, he said he will probably donate them to Catholic Charities.
“It was a justice issue for me,” Sichko said when asked why he decided to launch the fundraiser for TSA employees.
“They’re working, with families who need to be fed, bills that need to be paid, utilities that [are] … due and, as a priest, as a person of God, I think it’s my duty to help them,” he said. “... These people were working without pay and they have families and they already are in a stressful job.”
Sichko said he relies on TSA for his ministry because he frequently travels by airplane, and these employees are “keeping me safe to be able to do the ministry to which I’m called.” He said he considers TSA workers “partners with me in the ministry to which I am called because they keep me and my fellow passengers safe.”
He thanked those who contributed to the fundraiser and said the acts of kindness are “a way of evangelizing.” He said the fundraising “allows people the opportunity to be co-ministers, to really fulfill their baptismal promise of being ministers.”
“To see how people responded, it really shows us that we truly can be kind, we truly can be Christ to one another,” Sichko said.
During the previous government shutdown, when TSA employees were working without pay, Sichko provided them with meals.
Sichko often raises money to perform other acts of kindness and to help people in need. This includes help to those affected by hurricanes in southeast Texas, flooding in eastern Kentucky, tornadoes in western Kentucky, and fires in eastern Tennessee.
He has also raised money to support the cost of funerals for people, including the children and workers who died in the July 2025 flooding of Camp Mystic in central Texas.
“This is part of the ministry of being a papal missionary of mercy,” Sichko said.
Religious freedom panel warns of attacks against Christians in central Africa
Violence is escalating against Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the Islamic State group, a militant organization, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
USCIRF said in a March 31 report that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Democratic Republic of Congo (ISIS-DRC), have been “carrying out a sustained pattern of attacks in eastern DRC that represents a direct assault on religious freedom, particularly for Christian communities in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.”
“Early 2026 has brought no respite from ADF violence, as the group has continued to carry out attacks on predominantly Christian areas,” the report said. “In one display of its depravity, the group executed around 70 civilians in a Christian village in North Kivu in February, beheading men, women, children, and elderly victims alike.”
The report said the latest attacks are part of a continuing trend of violence, which it traced to 2024, when it said ADF fighters “reportedly carried out multiple assaults on predominantly Christian villages and church gatherings in and around Beni, North Kivu, including attacks on prayer meetings and the killing of local pastors and congregants.”
The report also noted attacks that occurred in July of that year, with ADF fighters killing an estimated 40 Christians, in addition to numerous abductions and forced displacement, “that prompted some churches to suspend services or close altogether.”
The pattern of violence escalated in 2025, the report said, with attacks on Christian villages in North Kivu and in Kasanga in February, as well as “a major assault on worshippers attending a night vigil at a Catholic church in Komanda, Ituri province, killing dozens of men, women, and children gathered for prayer.” Further attacks took place over the course of the year, the report said, including strikes on Christian villages, funeral wakes, and facilities.
The commission noted the Trump administration’s efforts to address security concerns in the DRC through the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity between the DRC and Rwanda, as well as targeted sanctions against human rights offenders and militant groups, but noted “insecurity remains high.”
“The ADF and other nonstate actors represent persistent threats to religious communities in the area, as mass killings, abductions, and attacks on places of worship continue to generate widespread fear, drive displacement, and disrupt communal religious life,” the commission said in the report. “These challenges highlight the pressing need for sustained security operations, strengthened accountability, and robust civilian protection measures in the DRC to ensure that all are able to live, worship, and practice their religion or belief freely.”
Members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) have condemned violence in the region, pledging not to remain silent in the face of the worsening security and humanitarian crisis in a statement following their March 23–25 plenary assembly.
“Our goal is to contribute, among other things, to the promotion of the inalienable dignity of the human person and to the well-being of the Congolese people. Therefore, in the face of the degrading security and humanitarian situation of our country, we will not be silent,” the faith leaders said.