NFL legend Mike Ditka was a Catholic coach
Former professional football coach Mike Ditka, a practicing Catholic who occasionally served as lector at the 7 a.m. team Mass on game-day Sundays during his decade leading the Chicago Bears, died Friday. He was 86.
“Iron Mike,” as Ditka was known, had a famously explosive temper, which often boiled over on the sidelines and in postgame press conferences. Ditka, who led the Bears to a Super Bowl XX victory in 1986, once broke his right hand after punching a hard object over frustration with the play of a rookie offensive lineman — then, before the next game, told his team to “win this one for Lefty.”
Less well known was Ditka’s commitment to his Catholic faith, for which he credited his convert mother and the nuns of his parochial school in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where he was raised.
“Growing up, the most important thing was the sacraments with my family,” Ditka told an interviewer with the Catholic website “One Peter Five” in August 2018. “We loved everything about the faith. Going to Catholic school and learning the faith, I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
“I don’t care how many times I got hit by a nun,” Ditka said, “it was good for me.”
Football success
Born Michael Dyczko in 1939, Ditka was the son of a non-churchgoing Ukrainian and Polish steelworker father and an Irish and German mother who converted to Catholicism.
He played tight end for the University of Pittsburgh and then in the NFL for the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys. In 1988 Ditka was honored as the first tight end ever to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
After retiring from playing, Ditka served as an assistant coach before getting his unlikely chance as the head coach of the Bears in 1982.
His 1985 Bears went 15-1 during the regular season and stomped their way through the playoffs to a Super Bowl victory. So confident were the players of that dominant team that they recorded a rap song called “The Super Bowl Shuffle” during the regular season. (Ditka later said he didn’t know about it, but he didn’t criticize the players for doing it.)
Ditka’s success, toughness, temper, and sense of humor made him a cultural phenomenon, inspiring a recurring skit (and guest appearances) on “Saturday Night Live” and launching a career as a motivational speaker.
When the team’s fortunes plummeted, he was fired in 1992. He later coached the New Orleans Saints but was fired after three years.
Off-field philanthropy
Ditka made millions as a pitchman for dozens of products after he left football, and he used some of that wealth to help others.
“Ditka was very supportive of Misericordia and other charities that supported children with special needs and disabilities,” Mary FioRito, an attorney, lifelong Chicagoan, and Cardinal Francis George Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News.
And not just with checks.
“He spoke at fundraisers, and surprised observers could catch him privately visiting with residents he knew by name,” reported the suburban Chicago Daily Herald.
Ditka was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and participated in the organization’s charitable activities.
‘Constant turmoil’
In his 1986 autobiography “Ditka,” published at the peak of his success, Ditka admitted to having had “no spiritual life at all” during the 1970s, before two other coaches got him involved in a Bible study that reintroduced him to God.
“I always had faith, but I never had understanding,” Ditka said. “I always knew what was going on in life. I was raised right. I did all the things you were supposed to do. But I never understood why I was supposed to do them, because I never had a total understanding of what was going on.”
He also acknowledged what he called “constant turmoil inside,” and he compared himself unfavorably to longtime Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry (1924–2000), whom he admired for always keeping his cool on the sidelines and for his involvement in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
“My priorities can get mixed up. I don’t think he ever gets his priorities mixed up,” Ditka said in the book.
Ditka said he discovered that following his faith was hard work.
“Sometimes you take for granted that your faith will always be there and everything will be fine. But without making the effort, that’s just not a fact. You have to make a real effort to live your faith daily,” Ditka said in the book.
“Nobody is going to do it every day. Nobody is going to do it perfectly,” he continued. “But unless you make the effort you’ve got no chance at all.”
Ditka married in 1961, got divorced in 1973, and then remarried in 1977. Both wives survive him, as do his four children, according to an obituary in the Daily Herald.
“I’m far from perfect now, and I’m never going to be perfect,” Ditka said in his autobiography. “When I die, I’m going to be still trying to get better than I am.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Transnational online scam operations on the rise, U.S. State Department says
The State Department released its 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on Oct. 8, showing criminal organizations and repressive governments are using trafficking for profit in new ways.
The report, released more than three months after the June 30 deadline, said the spread of industrial-scale online scam operations “pose a direct threat to US national security.”
Transnational crime organizations, mostly run by Chinese nationals and long based in Southeast Asia, have moved into Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, destabilizing local communities and cheating people out of billions of dollars each year, according to the report.
Fraudulent online romance, gambling, and cryptocurrency schemes have defrauded people in more than 125 countries, with Americans, the primary targets, losing at least $18.2 billion in 2025 to compounds operating out of Southeast Asia, according to the report.
The organizations recruited people from at least 80 countries over the past few years through fraudulent schemes, often pushing them into forced labor and holding them in guarded compounds and manipulating them through violence, sexual exploitation, intimidation, and other acts. They are often coerced into committing crimes, the report found.
The report, an annual assessment required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, covers April 1, 2025, through March 31.
The State Department said it relied on information from embassy reporting, government officials, nongovernmental and international organizations, published reports, news articles, and other sources.
The State Department said that governments that fail to punish traffickers and protect victims should be held accountable.
12 governments cited
Twelve governments are cited in the report for a “policy or pattern” of state-sponsored human trafficking: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan. This designation covers “trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers.”
Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, the department listed 14 countries whose forces or state-backed militias recruited or used children in any capacity during hostilities, including as sex slaves: Afghanistan, Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Among country rankings reported so far, Israel returned to Tier 1, the highest category, for the first time since 2021, after five years on Tier 2. The Republic of Congo was downgraded to Tier 3, the lowest, for failing to meet minimum standards and not making significant efforts. A Tier 3 listing can restrict certain U.S. assistance, including security assistance, the report said.
A Tier 1 ranking does not mean that a country has no human trafficking. Instead, according to the report, “a Tier 1 ranking indicates that a government has made efforts to address the problem … and met the TVPA’s minimum standards.”
Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, said in a statement on Oct. 8 that the report’s findings are “a stark reminder that modern-day slavery remains a global scourge — and that governments must be held accountable when they fail to protect vulnerable people.”
“Human trafficking is an assault on human dignity and freedom,” the congressman wrote. “The United States must continue to use every tool at its disposal — including the TIP Report — to expose human trafficking whenever it rears its ugly head, protect survivors, and press foreign governments to end this blight upon humanity.”
“China remains on Tier 3 — the lowest ranking,” Smith continued, “reflecting its continued failure to meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use and enabling of forced labor — including the systematic exploitation of Uyghurs and other persecuted minorities — is deeply troubling and deserves the greatest level of scrutiny.”
“Moreover, the horrific, ongoing consequences of China’s one-child per couple policy can still be seen and felt today, as the Report notes that a gross disparity — tens of millions more boys than girls — has driven the demand for commercial sex trafficking and coercive marriages in the country,” Smith wrote.
“Governments on Tier 3 — including China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Burma, Belarus, Cambodia, Cuba, Laos, Nicaragua, Sudan, South Sudan, and Venezuela — can and must do more. Tier 3 must never become a permanent designation; it should serve as a dire warning and a call to action,” Smith wrote.
Guadalupe expert appointed to lead Mexico’s preparations for 500th anniversary of apparitions
Father Eduardo Chávez has been named representative of the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico for the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which will take place in 2031.
In a letter signed on Sept. 22, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, primate archbishop of Mexico, appointed Chávez, the magisterial Guadalupan theologian of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, “representative of this particular church, especially in everything concerning the content of this marvelous Guadalupan event, in the preparation and in the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the apparitions of Holy Mary of Tepeyac.”
He said he made the decision in light of Chávez’s “preparation and experience in the subject of the Guadalupan event.”
In the letter, the cardinal recognized the Mexican priest’s work as postulator of the cause of St. Juan Diego, the visionary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as his leadership of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies, which for more than 25 years has borne “fruit in continuing research, in the formation of formators, and in spreading the message of love to so many peoples.”
“May God, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and St. Juan Diego continue to enlighten, inspire, and strengthen you in this mission,” Aguiar wrote.
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and 12, 1531, asking him to intercede with the first bishop of Mexico, Friar Juan de Zumárraga, so that a “sacred little house” would be built at the foot of Tepeyac Hill to exalt God: “he who is my compassionate gaze, he who is my help, he who is my salvation.”
On Dec. 12, as proof for the bishop that the apparitions were true, the Virgin sent Juan Diego with roses that had miraculously bloomed on the barren Tepeyac, carried in his tilma, or cloak. When the Indigenous man opened his tilma before de Zumárraga, the image of Mary had been miraculously imprinted on the cloth.
Nearly 500 years later, St. Juan Diego’s tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is still preserved in her shrine in Mexico City.
‘A great honor, but also a great responsibility’
In remarks to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on Oct. 7, Chávez, known as the leading expert on the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said Aguiar’s appointment fills him “with tremendous enthusiasm.”
“It is a great honor, but also a great responsibility,” he said. “It will be a lot of work, but work done with so much affection that you hardly feel it. It is joyful work for Our Lady of Guadalupe.”
The celebration of the fifth centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he said, is meant to promote “the exaltation of, devotion to, and above all adoration of Jesus, her beloved Son, because that is the center of her message.”
He said the celebration, now only five years away, “should unite us all: unite us in love and in enthusiasm to celebrate her who is our Mother and who offers us, gives us, and entrusts to us her Son Jesus Christ.”
“She is our Mother, she protects us, and she is the source of our joy,” he said.
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.
Bishops of El Salvador ask Pope Leo to proclaim Saint Óscar Romero a Doctor of the Church
The bishops of El Salvador asked Pope Leo XIV to proclaim St. Óscar Arnulfo Romero a doctor of the Church and to visit the Central American country to pray at the tomb of the martyred archbishop.
The requests were made during an audience on Sept. 11 as part of the ad limina visit the Salvadoran prelates made to Rome from Sept. 7–11.
The Episcopal Conference of El Salvador announced the request in a press release issued Oct. 4 that noted the meeting with the Holy Father “was marked by closeness, fraternity, and the paternal character of the Pontiff.”
In that setting, the bishops presented both petitions concerning St. Óscar Romero, who was assassinated on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in the chapel of Divine Providence Hospital in San Salvador and who was canonized by Pope Francis on Oct. 14, 2018.
According to Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador, president of the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador, the Holy Father received the proposals with “a very positive and welcoming attitude.” The prelate explained, however, that “both decisions require a process of consultation and discernment before a definitive response can be given.”
Pope Leo XIV’s devotion to St. Óscar Romero
During the meeting, Leo also told the Salvadoran bishops of his particular devotion to St. Óscar Romero.
Escobar said the pope used to carry “a holy card of Monsignor Romero together with a third-class relic and commended himself daily to his intercession.”
During the meeting, the bishops of El Salvador gave the pope a first-class relic of St. Óscar Romero.
What is a doctor of the Church?
The title “doctor of the Church” recognizes canonized men and women who possessed deep knowledge, were outstanding teachers, and contributed significantly to the theology of the Church.
Traditionally the title has been granted on three conditions: evident holiness of the candidate, confirmed by canonization as a saint; eminence in doctrine, shown by a body of teaching that made significant and lasting contributions to the life of the Church; and a formal declaration by the Church, usually by a pope.
There are currently 38 doctors of the Church.
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.
U.S. Catholic bishops condemn ‘barbaric’ plan to livestream military execution
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) condemned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the military execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter, Nidal Hasan, will be livestreamed for the public to view.
“It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the USCCB, said in a statement on Oct. 9.
“Our God is the God of life,” he said. “In no way can Hasan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
Coakley quoted Romans 12:17, which commands: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.”
“The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,” the archbishop said. “I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.”
Hasan, a man from Arlington, Virginia, was convicted of murdering 13 people and injuring 32 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009, while working as a psychiatrist for the Army. Public witnesses said he screamed “Allahu Akbar” immediately before he began firing. He had email communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda recruiter.
On Oct. 2, President Donald Trump approved a military execution via firing squad for Hasan, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood. On Oct. 8, Hegseth said in an interview with the news outlet Real Americaʼs Voice that the execution will be livestreamed and later reaffirmed this plan on social media.
The announcement of the execution and livestream also faced criticism from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Archbishop Timothy Broglio reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty in a statement to EWTN News.
“Catholic teaching about the death penalty is clear,” Broglio said. “Already the Catechism of the Catholic Church, even before its revision by the late Pope Francis, indicated that in a country such as the United States where the means exist to protect society from such criminals, the death penalty was inadmissible.”
The archbishop said that now, “the teaching is even clearer and more universal” and cited CCC 2267: “Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”
Broglio added: “Even in the case of the most heinous crimes, the Church begs for clemency.”
‘A grotesque display of hatred’
The Catholic Mobilizing Network, which works closely with the USCCB on efforts to oppose the death penalty, condemned both the decision to execute Hasan and the decision to livestream his death.
“Beyond the fact that executions do not deter crime or increase safety, it’s appalling that a public official would try to introduce it as a livestream arcade,” Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in a statement.
“It’s been almost a century since our country’s last public execution, and we must not fall into the abyss of such a vengeful practice,” she said. “We undermine our own humanity when we treat another person’s death as something to watch, celebrate, or use for entertainment. It is [reminiscent] of the horrors of lynching in our nation’s past, and would be a grotesque display of hatred witnessed in the public executions of some authoritarian countries today.”
Murphy quoted a Sept. 28 address from Pope Leo XIV, in which he said “the greatness of a civilization is not measured by its material achievements, but by the way it cares for, protects, and upholds the human person.”
She warned that “we violate human dignity” with every execution “because every person is created in the image of God.” She said “the Church instructs us to not seek cruel retribution, but a justice that holds people accountable without perpetuating the cycle of death.”
“What Mr. Hasan did at Fort Hood in 2009 ought not be condoned in any way,” she said. “He inflicted horrible pain and caused terrifying trauma. … But we must not be blinded by bloodlust. The macabre spectacle proposed by Secretary Hegseth is not what our Lord asks of us—it will neither honor victims nor bring healing.”
Iowa bishop calls for government to release immigrant mother facing deportation
Bishop Dennis Walsh of Davenport, Iowa, is joining a chorus of voices calling for the federal government to release an immigrant mother facing deportation as advocates argue that she is legally permitted to be in the country.
Walsh said in an Oct. 2 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that Iowa City resident Fatou Traore has resided in that community for more than two decades and has been a legal resident since a 2011 withholding of removal order. A withholding of removal order bars deportation to a country where an immigration judge found the person would likely face persecution.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Traore on Sept. 24. The federal agency told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that she “admitted to using a fake birth certificate and fake passport” to enter the U.S.
Traore’s family has denied those allegations. Walsh, meanwhile, said in his letter that Traore “has raised her family [in Iowa], lived peacefully, and has no criminal history.”
Traore’s family has said the government is preparing to deport her to Sierra Leone, a country with which, Walsh said, “she has no connection and where violence and human rights violations remain serious concerns.”
The bishop said he was “deeply troubled” by the government’s actions, which he argued were proceeding “despite the absence of any lawful or humanitarian justification.”
“Proceeding with this deportation is [a] grave violation of [Traore’s] human dignity and the rights that are intrinsic to each one of us,” the bishop said. He urged the government to stay the deportation and allow Traore to return to her family.
Walsh in his entreaty joined several other religious and community leaders in Iowa in urging the government to hold off on the deportation. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is not the first time the leader of the Davenport Diocese had advocated on behalf of immigrants.
In 2020, then-Bishop Thomas Zinkula — now the Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa — urged the government to release several Guatemalan immigrants from custody, citing the risks of COVID infection while in detainment.
Priest in Ireland admits to over 100 child sex offenses as bishop seeks Vatican dismissal
A priest from the Diocese of Derry in Ireland has admitted to 109 child sex offense charges from June 22, 2023, to April 18, 2025.
Bishop Michael Router said he would ask the Vatican to dismiss Father Edward Gallagher from the clerical state after he admitted to the charges, which include possession of child pornography, attempted solicitation of sexual activity from a child, and attempted sexual communication with a minor, the BBC reported Oct. 5. Gallagher awaits sentencing on Dec. 9.
"I have already instructed that the documentation required by the Holy See be finalized and transmitted without delay,” Router said in a statement on Oct. 5, according to a BelfastLive report.
“The Church cannot undo the harm that has been caused. Nor can any canonical penalty remove the suffering experienced by victims and survivors. Nevertheless, the Church has a responsibility to respond truthfully, justly, and decisively.”
New Vatican ambassador appointed to United Arab Emirates
Polish priest Monsignor Grzegorz Piotr Bielaszka has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV to be the Vaticanʼs new ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), raising him to the rank of archbishop, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Oct. 5.
Born in Poland in 1974 and ordained in 1999, Bielaszka entered the Holy Seeʼs diplomatic service in 2006. His assignments have included Iraq, Panama, Hungary, Peru, and Gabon. He succeeds Archbishop Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis, who was appointed the Vaticanʼs permanent observer to the United Nations in July.
The appointment comes amid continuing tensions in the Gulf following military confrontation involving Iran, Israel, and the United States. The Vatican has repeatedly called for dialogue and negotiations, while maintaining close diplomatic relations with the UAE, particularly since Pope Francis' historic 2019 visit to Abu Dhabi and the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity.
Catholic Church in Korea switches to Italian, Australian liturgical wine
Parishes across Korea will no longer use domestic wine for liturgical celebrations after the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea announced on Oct. 7 that an Australian and an Italian brand would become the country’s official liturgical wines.
"Starting from this yearʼs Advent season (the four weeks before Christmas), the Australian ‘Seven Hill’ and Italian ‘Alagna Vini’ wines have been selected as the liturgical wines to be used in all Catholic Masses across Korea,” they said in a statement, according to an Oct. 8 Chosun report.
The change is due to aging grape farmers and diminishing land in Korea, the report said. It marks the first in 49 years since the conference signed a contract in 1977 to use local Majuang liturgical wine.
Ethiopia bishop urges reconciliation amid renewed fighting
Bishop Lisane-Christos Matheos Semahun of Ethiopia’s Eparchy of Bahir Dar-Dessie has urged Christians to reject hatred and refrain from rejoicing over the suffering or death of those they regard as enemies as renewed fighting intensifies in parts of the country.
“Every life lost is a tragedy,” the bishop said in an Oct. 3 reflection, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported. Lisane-Christos further called on Catholics to pray for their enemies, care for people affected by the conflict, and support efforts toward dialogue, justice, reconciliation, and peace.
The bishop’s statement comes as BBC reports that Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” in northern Tigray, and Eritrea says in response that it is facing “an unprovoked war of aggression” by Ethiopia.
Hundreds of Catholic young people celebrate care for creation in Baghdad
More than 300 young Catholics gathered in Baghdad for a spiritual event marking the Season of Creation, an annual Christian observance dedicated to prayer and care for the environment.
Through Scripture readings, prayer, and reflections on Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', participants were encouraged to see protecting nature as part of their responsibility toward God and others, ACI MENA reported Oct. 5. Father Amir Kammu explained that environmental problems are also spiritual and moral concerns, particularly because their consequences often fall hardest on the poor.
At the end of the gathering, each participant received a small plant or fish to care for, turning the message of environmental responsibility into a personal commitment.
Glasgow Archdiocese to reduce parishes by half
Archbishop William Nolan has announced widespread cuts to the Archdiocese of Glasgow in Scotland amid dwindling attendance and a shortage in available priests.
“For years now there has been much talk of the need to restructure and reduce the number of parishes in the archdiocese. A plan for that restructuring has now been drawn up, reducing the number of parishes by half and seeing the closure of two dozen churches,” Nolan said in an Oct. 7 statement on Facebook.
The statement noted the number of parishes will be reduced by half and 24 churches will be closed as part of the restructuring plan.
“There are too many parishes but too few people, too many churches but too few priests,” he said. “As for priests, I have been archbishop for less than five years and the number of our active priests is down by a third in that time. Only one of our priests is under the age of 45, most are over the age of 60. Thank goodness we have foreign priests and religious willing to serve in the archdiocese, otherwise the situation would be even more critical than it is.”
Irish priest blocks Nathan Carter concert from taking place at parish
A concert by country music singer Nathan Carter set to take place at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Boyle, Ireland, has been canceled after its parish priest objected to the event.
Father John Gannon contacted Carter and informed the musician he could no longer perform at the church after approval had been given to the singer by the parish’s former pastor, according to an Oct. 5 report from the Irish Independent.
Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran backed up the priest’s decision, telling the Irish Independent that the diocesan policy barring such concerts was to “preserve the sacredness of the church as a place of worship.” He added: “That does not mean that it has to be specifically liturgical music, but it should be spiritual, and where singing is involved, the lyrics should be consistent with the message of the Gospel.”
Catholic Church in Egypt opens beatification cause for former Coptic patriarch
The Catholic Church in Egypt has formally begun the cause for the beatification and canonization of Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, who served as Coptic Catholic patriarch of Alexandria from 1986 to 2006.
The Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Egypt, led by Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac, has invited the faithful to submit information about Ghattas, who died in Cairo in 2009, ACI MENA reported Oct. 6. The request includes testimonies both supporting and questioning his reputation for holiness, as well as personal writings, letters, and other documents that could assist the investigation.
The opening of the cause marks an important step in examining the life and legacy of the former patriarch but does not mean he has yet been declared blessed or a saint.
Canada hosts rosary rallies across the country
A Catholic group in Canada is hosting rosary rallies across the country on Oct. 10 to pray for its conversion.
The campaign from Canada Needs Our Lady started in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, and has grown from 1,083 to more than 1,550 rallies, according to an Oct. 8 report from Independent Catholic News. “The reaction from Canadians has been very encouraging,” Joseph Gensens, Fatima custodian for Canada Needs Our Lady, said in the report. “We hear from people who are so grateful to have the opportunity to come together and pray the Rosary publicly — not only for Canada, but for their families and their communities.”
Canada Needs Our Lady is an organization that advocates for a return to Christian values in Canada.
Vatican meeting examines why young people are reluctant to marry
VATICAN CITY — Why are fewer young people choosing to marry in the Catholic Church, and how does contemporary society understand the relationship between sexuality, procreation, and the sacrament of marriage?
Those are among the questions being addressed at an international gathering on the family at the Vatican, taking place behind closed doors through Oct. 14 with the participation of presidents of bishops' conferences from around the world.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said in his presentation Friday, Oct. 9, that in his country, and possibly many others, “the concept of a necessary link between sexual activity and procreation, and the importance of this in Christian marriage is no longer widely understood or accepted.”
To illustrate the problem, he cited the observations of a religious education director in Western Australia who is married and has teenage children.
“Many of our young people have inherited cultural assumptions about sexuality that differ substantially from those of the Church — they may understand the Church’s position, but they do not find it easy to embrace,” the educator told him.
Costelloe said this reflects a tension between Church teaching and prevailing cultural attitudes, reinforced by social media, entertainment, peer culture, and online influencers, which frequently promote relationships that prioritize “personal fulfillment, autonomy, and immediate happiness over permanence, sacrifice, and covenant.”
Moral failures of Church leaders
Compounding the problem, Costelloe said, many young people have experienced painful circumstances, including broken marriages in their own families, domestic violence, inequality between men and women, and the moral failures of Church leaders whose credibility has been damaged.
“We are competing with many other approaches to the meaning of marriage,” he acknowledged.
Despite these difficulties, the archbishop emphasized that many young people continue to seek lasting relationships that bring out their best qualities and provide a solid foundation for a meaningful future.
He called for supporting these aspirations and accompanying young people as they seek to build stable relationships.
At the same time, Costelloe observed, the prevalence of divorce and failed relationships has led many young people to question “whether lifelong commitment is possible or even desirable.”
In this context, he emphasized the importance of the example provided by stable marriages and families.
As one married couple told him: “The most persuasive argument for Christian marriage is often a married couple living it well.”
Costelloe suggested that parishes and dioceses should find ways to make such examples more visible, including through marriage preparation programs and Catholic schools.
He also advocated presenting the Churchʼs teaching on marital intimacy positively, as an ideal worth pursuing rather than merely a set of rules and prohibitions.
Understanding why young people reject marriage
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, warned participants that marriage rates are declining worldwide, both for civil marriages and those celebrated in the Church.
“We cannot ignore the fact that the number of marriages is currently declining throughout the world, both civil marriages and marriages celebrated in the Church,” he said. “We will seek to interpret this phenomenon, taking into account whether its causes are the same everywhere.”
The gathering marks the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in 2016 following two synods marked by intense debate over the Churchʼs pastoral approach to families.
The documentʼs proposals for accompanying newlyweds and couples experiencing marital difficulties were partly overshadowed by controversy over its implications for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.
Bishops from the Buenos Aires pastoral region interpreted the document as permitting some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist following a process of accompanied pastoral discernment, including in circumstances in which a person believes that abstaining from sexual relations would cause further harm to children of the new union.
In 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that this interpretation forms part of the authentic magisterium, having been published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy Seeʼs official record.
Farrell noted that priests are not alone in worrying about young peopleʼs reluctance to marry. Many Christian parents share that concern as they watch their children struggle with loneliness and uncertainty about lifelong commitments.
“Pastors are not alone in facing this concern. It is felt first and foremost by the many Christian parents whose children suffer from loneliness, remain hesitant to make a lasting commitment, or categorically reject the path that their parents themselves had embraced with joy,” he said.
Among the factors contributing to this trend, Farrell cited divorce, different forms of cohabitation, and prevailing cultural attitudes.
“But at a deeper level, we might ask whether God has perhaps ceased to speak to the hearts of young people, stirring in them a desire for marriage,” he said.
The cardinal said participants would look for signs of hope and consider initiatives, individuals, and circumstances that could open new paths toward marriage.
“We will also consider how attentive our communities are to the witness of those who, despite everything, choose marriage — whether early in life or later on — and how their experience can help us understand and present the vocation to marriage more effectively.”
What are young people seeking when they speak of love?
Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Fernandes of Bombay, India, argued that the Churchʼs central challenge is not simply to ask why young people are reluctant to marry but to understand what they are seeking in relationships.
“The challenge before the Church, therefore, is not to begin by asking why young people are failing to accept marriage, but rather what are they seeking when they speak about love, freedom, dignity, and their future,” he said.
Fernandes explained that young people experience relationships in a cultural environment very different from that of previous generations.
“The culture of immediacy and continual choice can enter their experience of intimacy, while marriage requires patience, presence, forgiveness, and perseverance,” he observed.
He also pointed to economic insecurity as a significant obstacle to marriage, citing employment difficulties, housing costs, migration, and social instability.
“For some, therefore, postponing marriage is not simply a rejection of marriage. It can reflect a crisis of confidence in the possibility of building a stable and enduring life with another person,” he said.
Fernandes stressed that many young people have not abandoned the desire for lasting love, even if they increasingly doubt that it is attainable.
“Young people have not ceased to thirst for love. What has weakened for many is confidence that love can endure,” he said.
He urged the Church to listen more carefully to young peopleʼs experiences and to present marriage not simply as an obligation or social institution but as a vocation grounded in freedom, fidelity, and mutual self-giving.
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.
EWTN names Ursula Murua to succeed Montse Alvarado as head of EWTN News
EWTN Global Catholic Network on Friday named Ursula Murua, a longtime leader of digital strategy, as the next president of EWTN News, effective Nov. 1.
Murua, a native of Peru who is director of digital strategy and social media for EWTN News, succeeds Montse Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News since 2023, whom Pope Leo XIV appointed in June as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. Alvarado takes up the Vatican post the same day.
A story that began with Mother Angelica
Murua’s path into journalism is linked to EWTN’s foundress. When Mother Angelica visited Peru, she gave a talk that Murua, then 20, covered for the then-fledgling ACI Prensa, EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael P. Warsaw told staff in a message announcing the appointment.
“Mother could not have known that one of the young women listening to her would someday help take that same message around the world and eventually be entrusted with leading one of the divisions of the apostolate she founded,” Warsaw wrote. “In many ways, it feels designed by Providence.”
Murua’s career in Catholic media spans more than 30 years and predates EWTN’s acquisition of ACI Prensa. At EWTN, she has held leadership roles across digital, editorial, and broadcast operations, including on the team of “EWTN Noticias,” the network’s flagship Spanish-language nightly newscast.
She played a central role in launching the network’s social media presence and has led digital coverage of three papal conclaves, multiple World Youth Days and jubilees, International Eucharistic Congresses, and Synods of Bishops.
“Ursula understands both the mission of EWTN and the rapidly changing ways people encounter news, faith, and one another,” Warsaw said in a statement. “She has helped shape the digital transformation of EWTN News from within while remaining deeply committed to the truth of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church.”
In a first comment on her appointment, Murua said: "I have had the extraordinary privilege of watching Catholic media transform from radio and broadcast to websites, social media and mobile platforms, and now confront the challenge and promise of artificial intelligence.”
“But the reason we do this work has never changed. People are hungry for truth, for meaning, and ultimately for Christ. Our responsibility is to understand where they are, how they are searching, and how we can faithfully meet them there.”
Speaking of her successor, Alvarado noted Murua, in her role as president of EWTN News, will “continue the work we began together, expanding EWTN News’ digital presence and developing new ways to reach audiences while strengthening our commitment to journalism rooted in fidelity to the Gospel.”
“I have watched Ursula devote particular attention to understanding audiences at every point in their journey of faith, from deeply engaged Catholics to people encountering the Church, or even the Gospel, for the first time. That audience-centered approach has shaped EWTN News' digital strategy and offers a powerful model for how digital missionary discipleship can be done well.”
From EWTN News to the Vatican
Alvarado joined EWTN in 2021 as host of “EWTN News In Depth.” As prefect, she will be the first woman who is not a religious sister to head a dicastery of the Holy See. She succeeds Paolo Ruffini, who has led the dicastery since 2018.
Her tenure brought a global overhaul of EWTN News. In January, EWTN brought Catholic News Agency and the ACI Group under a single EWTN News identity and launched EWTNNews.com. Spanish- and Portuguese-language versions of the site are due to launch next.
About EWTN
In its 46th year, EWTN is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. EWTN’s 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 435 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.
About EWTN News
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News is the global, multilingual news service of the EWTN Global Catholic Network. With language teams based in the United States, Peru, the Vatican, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Iraq, along with correspondents throughout the world, EWTN News delivers coverage in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, and Arabic, serving Catholic audiences worldwide on its new platform: ewtnnews.com. EWTN News operates leading digital and print platforms including ChurchPOP and the National Catholic Register, a nearly 100-year-old biweekly newspaper with a robust digital presence. It also produces television news programs such as “EWTN News Nightly,” “EWTN Noticias,” “EWTN News In Depth,” “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” and “Vaticano.”
Pope Leo XIV to open international congress on infertility in Rome
ROME — Pope Leo XIV will open an international congress on fertility and infertility on Oct. 16, bringing together specialists from a range of disciplines to address the scientific, anthropological, and ethical challenges related to sexuality and human reproduction.
The conference, titled “The Splendor of the Human Person: Safeguarding Fertility, Healing Infertility,” will be held Oct. 16–18 at the Rome campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.
According to the Vatican, the Holy Father will inaugurate the event during an audience at the Vatican following a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
The congress will mark the 25th anniversary of the International Scientific Institute Paul VI (ISI), which conducts research on human fertility and infertility in support of responsible procreation, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Center for Natural Fertility Regulation.
The initiative is being promoted by the ISI-Paul VI Foundation, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, the Toniolo Institute of Higher Studies, and the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital Foundation, along with other academic and cultural institutions linked to the Church.
Following the audience with Pope Leo XIV, the congress will officially begin at the university auditorium with an opening address by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, on “the dignity and beauty of procreation in the Church’s magisterium.”
Organizers have structured the program around four main themes: “The Transmission of Life Between Society and Science,” “The Fertility Roadmap for Couples,” “Preconception Health and the Prevention of Infertility,” and “Safeguarding the Human Person Amid Hypertechnology and the Culture of Waste.”
In addition to academic presentations, the event will feature scientific and interdisciplinary panels aimed at sharing clinical research, medical experience, and testimonies from health professionals, married couples, and parents.
Participants will reflect on the causes of infertility, therapeutic approaches compatible with Christian ethics, and ways to foster a culture that values human life from conception.
The congress is intended to continue the teaching of St. Paul VI on human fertility and responsible procreation, later developed by St. John Paul II. According to the organizers, the event seeks to highlight the importance of protecting fertility and accompanying married couples who face difficulties conceiving, while encouraging integration between scientific research, medical care, and a Christian anthropological vision.
The concluding session will be led by Bishop Claudio Giuliodori, president of the ISI Foundation and general ecclesiastical assistant of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and Professor Tullio Ghi, director of the Obstetrics and Obstetric Pathology Unit at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
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.