What did St. Josemaría see on the day Opus Dei was founded?
On Oct. 2, 1928, “the Lord founded His Work; brought Opus Dei (The Work of God) into being,” wrote St. Josemaría Escrivá in his personal notes, as recorded by Andrés Vázquez de Prada in the Spanish-language volume of “The Founder of Opus Dei,” a definitive text on the Spanish saint’s life.
“The Work of God was not imagined by a man,” he would later say. “For many years, the Lord had been inspiring it in an inept and deaf instrument, who saw it for the first time on the Feast of the Guardian Angels.”
It was, the saint understood, the answer to the prayers he repeatedly addressed to God: “Domine, ut videam!” and “Domine, ut sit!” (“Lord, that I may see!” and “Lord, that it may come to be!”)
On that October day, the founder of Opus Dei was making a spiritual retreat at the Central House of the Vincentian missionaries in Madrid. “I received enlightenment regarding the whole Work ... Deeply moved, I knelt down, I was alone in my room in the interval between talks, and thanked the Lord; I recall with emotion the ringing of the bells of the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels.”
On that occasion, Vázquez de Prada notes, St. Josemaría’s mind “was illuminated with a clear, general idea of his mission.”
“The scattered notes the retreatant had brought with him to meditate upon during the retreat consisted of ideas that were, it seems, unsystematized. In the days that followed, he compiled them in an orderly fashion, in accordance with the general enlightenment he had just received regarding the whole work,” the author explains.
Building on that foundation, over the years St. Josemaría “drafted documents that he would later hand to his children in Opus Dei,” Vázquez de Prada continues.
In 1930, he wrote in a letter: “We have come to say with the humility of one who knows himself to be a sinner and of little account (“homo peccator sum” — I am a sinful man [Luke 5:8], we say with Peter), yet with the faith of one who allows himself to be guided by the hand of God, that holiness is not reserved for a privileged few: that the Lord calls all of us, that he expects love from everyone, from everyone, wherever they may be; from everyone, whatever their state in life, their profession, or their trade.”
“For that ordinary, everyday life without pretense can be a means of holiness; there is no need to abandon one’s state in life to seek God — if the Lord has not given a soul a religious vocation — since every way of life on this earth can be an occasion for an encounter with Christ,” the founder of Opus Dei said.
What is Opus Dei?
Its official Spanish-language website defines Opus Dei as “a hierarchical institution of the Catholic Church, a personal prelature, whose purpose is to contribute to the Church’s evangelizing mission.”
“Specifically, the aim is to spread a deep awareness of the universal call to holiness and the sanctifying value of ordinary work,” the website adds.
Among the faithful who discover a “vocation to Opus Dei” and request to join, a distinction is made between numeraries, who live apostolic celibacy and are fully available for the work of the prelature; associates, who also live apostolic celibacy but whose personal, family, or professional circumstances limit that availability; and supernumeraries, whether married or single, who do not commit to celibacy. Priests incardinated in the prelature are drawn from the ranks of numeraries or associates.
According to the most recent data released by Opus Dei, around 94,450 people are part of the institution, which is present in 68 countries across five continents.
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.
Brazilian court rules posts making false claims about conservative candidate must be removed
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court ruled on Sept. 30 to uphold the removal of false social media posts linking conservative Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a Liberal Party candidate for president, to an alleged initiative to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as the patroness of Brazil.
Under the decision reached in the virtual plenary session, content clearly linking Bolsonaro to the initiative must be removed. However, posts where there is reasonable doubt regarding the link to the candidate are to be preserved. This applies to a post by comedian Antonio Tabet, which was permitted to remain online by the reporting justice, André Mendonça.
The case began on Sept. 24 when Tabet posted an image of the dark-skinned Our Lady of Aparecida on X with the caption: “The militia family hates black women so much that they decided to attack Our Lady of Aparecida.” The post did not mention Bolsonaro by name. The senator is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, who was president of Brazil from 2019-2023.
The following day, Mendonça, the vice president of the Superior Electoral Court and the rapporteur for the case, ordered the removal of content that claimed Bolsonaro or his family intended to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as the patroness of Brazil.
Upon reconsidering his vote, the judge concluded there was doubt regarding the link between Tabet’s post and Bolsonaro and decided to allow the post to stay online.
“As it is reasonable to take the content to be ambiguous, I believe the solution most consistent with the criteria of minimal intervention [by the courts] and heightened protection of freedom of expression is to keep the post online,” Mendonça said.
According to the judge, the decisions ordering the removal of the content specifically naming Flávio Bolsonaro “do not amount to prior restraint” nor did they violate religious freedom.
“Confusing a ‘fake news’ report with a restriction on faith represents a distortion of the decision’s actual substance. Faith was not on trial,” Mendonça said. He further noted that “the insinuation that the decisions issued in these proceedings sought to prevent Catholics from expressing support for or devotion to Our Lady of Aparecida is particularly baffling” and emphasized: “Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the decisions warrants such a conclusion.”
He also stated that this change does not alter the other points of his decision and emphasized that he considers “objectively false” the claims that Bolsonaro “had authored, presented, proposed, supported, or concretely orchestrated an initiative aimed at removing Our Lady of Aparecida from her status as the patroness of Brazil.”
The president of the Supreme Electoral Court, Justice Nunes Marques, concurred with Mendonça and stated that the decision “protects religious freedom in its collective and democratic dimension.”
“In my view, the relief granted protects religious freedom in its collective and democratic dimension, as it prevents the faith of millions of Brazilians from being instrumentalized within days of the election [Oct. 4] through a claim without a factual basis designed to artificially stir up emotional reactions among the electorate,” Marques said.
He also highlighted that “the contested post did not need to name the candidate to attribute the claim to him; because it was disseminated at the height of the false narrativeʼs circulation — accompanied by the image of the patroness. Its message was only fully realized and achieved its intended effect due to the context of current news stories in which it was embedded.” Nevertheless, Marques’ difference of opinion regarding Tabet does not alter the effect of the ruling.
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.
Lithuanian bishops announce investigation into crimes against minors since 1990
The Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference will pursue an investigation into all crimes committed against minors and vulnerable adults within the Church since March 11, 1990, when the country became independent from the Soviet Union.
“The priority is the victim, not institutional reputation. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish how many such crimes have occurred in the past, since 11 March 1990,” the bishops said in a statement, according to a Sept. 28 Delfi report.
The investigation follows a case involving Father Tadas Švedavičius, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Vilnius who was charged in connection with 34 criminal counts of child sexual abuse, possession of child pornography, and distributing alcohol to minors over the course of 20 years, the report said. The conference will consult the Holy See and Lithuanian law enforcement during the investigation.
Filipino bishops back calls to ban political dynasties
Catholic bishops in the Philippines have voiced their support for a nationwide signature campaign calling for the end of political dynasties in the country.
“Public office must never become a family inheritance. It is a public trust entrusted to the people,” Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr. of Cubao said at a launch event for the anti-dynasty initiative known as “Dapat Isa Lang” at the Obispado de Cubao in Quezon City, according to a Sept. 30 press release from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
The conference at large backed the initiative in a pastoral statement on Sept. 25, declaring: “As pastors of God’s people, we cannot remain indifferent to matters that touch the moral foundations of our society, the dignity of our people, justice, equality, and the common good. For these reasons, we support the call to enact a genuine, meaningful, and effective Anti-Political Dynasty Law that will faithfully give effect to the mandate of our Constitution.”
2 synod calls expose tensions in Syriac Catholic Church
A dispute over two proposed meetings of Syriac Catholic bishops has brought internal tensions in the Church into public view. Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan called a synod for Nov. 17–20, while another invitation called bishops to meet Sept. 29–30.
The patriarchate said Church law gives Younan the first right to convene the synod and considers the separate September invitation unlawful. It has also rejected claims that the patriarch failed to call a synod in recent years, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Sept. 30.
An unnamed source cited by ACI MENA disputed that account and questioned the timing of Younanʼs invitation. The disagreement comes amid wider tensions involving the patriarch and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Vaticanʼs Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. Younan has publicly accused the cardinal of encouraging bishops to seek his removal, placing the synod dispute within a broader debate over leadership and authority in the Syriac Catholic Church.
Angolan bishop: Religious zeal must not come at expense of family responsibilities
Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of Angola’s Diocese of Caxito has cautioned Catholics against religious practices that could lead them to neglect their family responsibilities.
“Jesus does not ask for spending more time in the Church than caring for the family,” Camuto said in his homily during Mass at St. Anne’s Cathedral on Sept. 27, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported. “Religious involvement should not result in the abandonment of family responsibilities,” he said, citing situations in which “there are even wives whose husbands almost want to separate from them because they spend more time in the Church than at home, taking care of the family, taking care of the husband.”
The bishop further called for stronger formation and accompaniment of members of apostolic groups and movements, particularly through catechesis and participation in the sacramental life of the Church.
Japanese cardinal calls faithful to act on behalf of migrants and refugees
Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo is encouraging Catholics to go beyond words and take action on behalf of migrants and refugees.
Kikuchi echoed calls from Pope Leo XIV to move from “merely managing migration” to “full and immediate protection of human rights” in a Sept. 27 reflection, according to UCA News.
The reflection came on World Day of Refugees, Migrants, and Displaced Persons on Sept. 27. Kikuchi further urged Catholics to reflect especially on the pope’s appeal for children and to ask themselves, “What can we ourselves do for ‘these little ones’?”
Protestant march in Catholic Northern Ireland town permitted; archbishops respond
The Northern Ireland Parades Commission has reversed a ruling previously prohibiting the Protestant Orange Order from marching through the Catholic majority town of Portadown for the first time in nearly three decades, according to a Sept. 30 America Magazine report.
The Sept. 27 march resulted in a clash between Protestant members of the Orange Order and protesters blocking their path from Drumcree Church, according to the report.
Addressing the tension, Archbishop Eamon Martin of the Archdiocese of Armagh and Archbishop John McDowell of the Church of Ireland in Armagh issued a joint statement following the Sept. 27 march.
“As our community faces the crisis in Drumcree today, in which so many sincere views, painful histories and important issues are at stake, we cannot think of any time in the last 30 years when this simple message needs to be more urgently heard. How can we be good neighbors to each other?” the archbishops said. “We call for the urgent creation of a constructive, inclusive and reconciling initiative to patiently find a way through this current crisis. Too much is at stake.”
Christian parliamentarian raises security concerns as coalition mission ends in Iraq
The end of the international coalitionʼs mission in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region has renewed security concerns among Christians, according to Ramy Noori Syawish, an elected Christian member of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament.
Syawish told ACI MENA Sept. 30 that the continuing threat from ISIS, armed groups outside state control, and uncontrolled weapons raises questions about the ability of Iraqi and Kurdish forces to respond to another major security crisis. He said smaller communities could be particularly vulnerable because of their declining numbers and dependence on the state for protection. He also pointed to economic hardship and irregular public-sector salaries as factors driving emigration. Syawish said the next Kurdistan Regional Government should prioritize services in Christian areas and address long-running disputes over land and property.
Religion in public life sparks debate over Syriaʼs direction
A series of incidents during the summer has fueled debate over the growing presence of religion in Syriaʼs public life.
The controversies have touched womenʼs dress, education, employment, entertainment, and the way public institutions are being run, according to a Sept. 29 report from ACI MENA. Other disputes followed a dress code directive for female government employees, the separation of male and female students at a Damascus school, and religious questions reportedly included on an employment form.
The debate has also reached the arts, while questions over some public appointments have raised concerns about whether professional qualifications or other considerations are shaping hiring decisions. Some allegations surrounding these cases remain disputed or unverified.
10 years after Amoris Laetitia, bishops to discuss challenges of families at the Vatican
Pope Leo XIV has convened a gathering on the family at the Vatican from Oct. 7–14, during which bishops will listen to the testimony of 11 married couples from five continents.
These families will present to more than 150 bishops the challenges they encounter in passing on the faith in increasingly secularized societies.
The meeting is being organized on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the postsynodal apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in 2016.
The document sparked intense debate, especially after the bishops of the Buenos Aires Pastoral Region interpreted it as allowing, following a process of accompanied pastoral discernment, access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist for some Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried “when a person judges that he or she would fall into a further fault by harming the 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 after being incorporated into the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy See’s official bulletin.
According to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, participants in the meeting will include the heads of the 15 Eastern Catholic Churches “sui iuris” (14 represented by their patriarchs or highest authorities and one by a delegate), the presidents of the world’s 115 bishops’ conferences (those of Peru, Paraguay, Turkey, and Ethiopia will send delegates), two representatives of bishops from territories without a bishops’ conference, and 22 participants specially chosen by the Holy Father.
In addition, 67 other people will attend, including members of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, the General Secretariat of the Synod, and 26 experts and 16 facilitators.
Not an evaluation of Amoris Laetitia
During a presentation of the gathering at the Vatican, Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life since 2017, a laywoman, mother of five, and doctor of bioethics, emphasized that “this is not about evaluating a text but about deepening our understanding of the family and pastoral realities that have received and interpreted this document in different ways, just as the life of the Church is diverse in the various places around the world where it is present and rooted in the one Gospel.”
“The central point on which we must focus our attention is that the Church’s goal is not to see texts applied mechanically and uniformly in every reality, because each one has characteristics that are very different from the others,” she said.
She stated that the central question of the meeting is: “How is the faith transmitted today? How is faith passed on in families today, and how do families contribute to building up the Church?”
“Without families, the Church cannot renew its Christian roots. It is in families that children are born, where faith and values are transmitted, for better or worse, and where vocations arise,” she explained.
To illustrate the scale of the ongoing religious changes, Gambino offered several statistics. In Poland, religious marriages celebrated over the last five years have declined by 45%. In Australia, they have fallen from 88% in 1970 to 16% in 2024. In her view, these are signs that, in different contexts, highlight the urgency of better accompanying couples in their decision to marry and providing stronger support for the transmission of faith within the family.
Orietta Rachele Grazioli, a tenured professor of canon law and comparative family law at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences, and vice coordinator of the expert group, explained that the “methodology chosen by the Holy Father for this gathering is centered on two key words that complement one another: listening and discernment.”
5 major themes
The gathering will be structured around five major themes related to marriage, family life, and the transmission of the faith. Reflection will begin with “Families Today: Reality, Beauty, and Challenges,” dedicated to analyzing the current situation of the family, and will continue with “Young People and the Discovery of the Vocation to Marriage,” “Married Life: The First Years of Marriage, a Decisive Time,” and “In Life’s Difficulties: Accompanying and Supporting,” which will address the accompaniment of engaged and married couples at different stages of their journey.
The meeting will conclude with the theme “Christian Families as Subjects of the Church’s Mission,” focused on the evangelizing role of families and their contribution to ecclesial life.
Father Giacomo Costa, a consultant to the General Secretariat of the Synod, said that “the question is not what Amoris Laetitia says but what we have learned by trying to live it.”
He also recalled that the goal identified by Pope Leo XIV, who will be present at both the opening and closing of the gathering, is “to advance in mutual listening toward a synodal discernment about the steps we must take today to proclaim the Gospel with families. The composition of the assembly itself reflects this objective.”
Before the start of the proceedings, an introductory meditation will be given by Sister Helen Alford, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Each morning will be structured around three types of speeches: family testimonies, contributions from bishops, and reflections from experts.
‘The goal is not to eliminate differences’
“The goal is not to eliminate differences. We do not want to arrive at an artificial consensus,” Costa said. Each day will include a report summarizing the discussions, which will serve as the basis for extensive dialogue and debate sessions in the afternoon. He made clear, however, that “this is not a new synod on the family but a process guided by the synodal method, one that consciously draws upon the experience of the synods and other forums of the Church.”
Regarding the expected outcomes of the gathering, Costa insisted that “nothing has been predetermined.” A final summary will be prepared at the conclusion of the assembly, but no concluding document will be published. The text will be reviewed by a commission tasked with verifying that it faithfully reflects what emerged during the working sessions.
Afterward, the presidents of bishops’ conferences will be invited to promote initiatives in their local Churches aimed at opening new pastoral paths and further developing the proposals that emerge from the gathering.
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.
Unborn baby wins wrongful death lawsuit against abortionist
An aborted baby from New Mexico has won a wrongful death lawsuit against an abortionist.
The estate of a child killed in utero during the third trimester collected $200,000 under New Mexico’s wrongful death law.
The case, Wabbington v. Boyd, argued by Albuquerque medical malpractice attorney Mike Seibel, described the unborn baby as a “person” who was "entitled to equal protection under the law.” Seibel advocates for women who have been injured by abortion.
The baby’s mother had been under the influence of methamphetamine when she went to an abortion clinic in 2020 and was thus unable to give valid informed consent, but the abortion was provided anyway.
The lawsuit said that abortionists also failed to inform her of support available to her in the state or refer her to the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department.
Seibel told Live Action News that the case was the first time an abortionist was ever sued for the wrongful death of a baby.
3 states file lawsuit against telehealth abortion
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama have filed lawsuits against providers who ship abortion drugs into their states and against California, Massachusetts, and New York over their laws shielding abortion pill providers.
The states’ Sept. 30 lawsuit against abortion providers calls mail-order abortion “one of the most dramatic and sweeping interstate conflicts in modern history.”
“If state sovereignty means anything, it means that states like Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama cannot be forced to endure open violations of their laws, deaths of their babies, and harms to their women and girls simply because an out-of-state actor disagrees with their sovereign prerogative to choose life within their borders,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit names as defendants several abortion pill providers, including Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants Inc. in Massachusetts and A Safe Choice Network Inc. in California.
A separate lawsuit brought by the states asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the abortion shield laws of California, Massachusetts, and New York unconstitutional.
Poland opens first abortion pill delivery locker
Activist groups in Poland have launched a locker to distribute abortion pills, which they say is the first of its kind in the world.
Women Help Women, a global group that provides abortion pills without physicians, and the Polish abortion activism group Abortion Dream Team put the locker across from Parliament in Warsaw.
The organization gives women who are seeking abortion a six-digit code to open one of 22 numbered lockers.
Abortion is legal in Poland in cases of rape or incest or if there is risk to the mother’s life or health.
Respect Life Month prioritizes abortion pill
As Respect Life Month kicks off in October, the U.S. Catholic bishops are emphasizing the importance of opposing abortion pills.
Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ pro-life committee, released a statement on Sept. 29 describing the risks of injury and exploitation from abortion pills as “affronts to human dignity.”
“Today, with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks,” Thomas said. “This means that more women, many of whom have been misinformed about the nature and risks of the abortion pill, will have an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision. It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers.”
Thomas urged the faithful to pray and take action against abortion.
“Our Blessed Mother is our model for upholding the sanctity of all human life in every stage and circumstance,” Thomas continued. “We entrust all our efforts to protect mothers and babies to her motherly care, which we greatly need at this time.”
“I thank the many thousands of Catholics across the country who have embraced the nationwide invitation to prayer and action on abortion pills, and I ask that we continue our prayers and advocacy throughout the month of October,” Thomas said.
Bishop Burbidge calls for weekly fasting, rosary against abortion amendment
As Virginians prepare to vote on an amendment that could create a right to abortion in the state’s constitution, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington is calling on the faithful to take up weekly fasting and prayer throughout October.
The “Catholics Vote No” campaign urges Catholics to vote no on the Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment along with the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.
Burbidge asked Catholics to fast every Friday and pray the rosary each Sunday this October.
“Our Catholics Vote No campaign is rooted in prayer and fasting,” Burbidge said in a statement. “Therefore, On Fridays, I ask that you pray the Stations of the Cross. And fast—which means eating only one full meal and no meat.”
“On Sundays, I ask that you pray the Rosary and fast from social media for at least a few hours—especially before and after Mass,” he said.
“It would be a powerful force if all in the Diocese of Arlington were united in these efforts,” Burbidge continued. “We entrust them to the Lord’s amazing grace, so all that is just, right, and true will be done in this election.”
Belgian bishop renews push to ordain married men to priesthood
A Belgian bishop has renewed his push to ordain married men as priests in his diocese by 2028, despite no public Vatican authorization for the proposal.
In an interview in the October issue of Herder Korrespondenz, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp said he traveled to Rome in June to present the matter to the Dicastery for the Clergy and the General Secretariat of the Synod.
Bonny linked a possible arrangement to the Synod on Synodality’s implementation phase. “I trust that an appropriate arrangement can be found by the end of the synodal process in the fall of 2028,” Bonny said according to CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. “It would be a fatal blow to the credibility and implementation of the entire synodal process if no arrangement were reached by then.”
Bonny first outlined his plans in March. He also participated in the German Synodal Way as an observer.
At the German bishops’ plenary assembly in 2022, Bonny said that “Rome must learn to live with a healthy dose of Germanic culture.” He referred to an open style of consultation and discussion, not the ordination of married men; the address was also released as a podcast.
Confidence in Pope Leo
The Vatican has not publicly commented on Bonny’s most recent remarks or announced any decision concerning his proposal.
Bonny told the German magazine he was continuing discussions within the Belgian bishops’ conference and holding conversations with potential candidates about further formation.
He said the Flemish dioceses faced a serious shortage of priests and that any step toward ordaining married men would need the agreement of both the Belgian bishops’ conference and the Vatican.
“How this step could take place with the agreement of the bishops’ conference and the Vatican is a question for the coming months,” Bonny said.
Bonny said canonists had told him canon law offered various lawful ways to address the question, but he did not identify a specific canonical mechanism or say Vatican officials had endorsed one.
He also said his confidence rested partly on Pope Leo XIV’s exercise of his office as a bridge-builder and on conversations with bishops in several countries and continents whom he said faced similar circumstances.
Under Canon 1042 of the Code of Canon Law, a man who has a wife is impeded from receiving sacred orders except when he is legitimately destined for the permanent diaconate. A diocesan bishop cannot unilaterally set aside that impediment or introduce a different priestly-ordination discipline in his diocese.
David Long, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America and a canonist, told EWTN News in March that the question of ordaining married men “does not lie within the authority of a diocesan bishop acting on his own.”
“Any current change in practice in a Latin diocese would require action by the Holy See and could not be accomplished by a unilateral decision by a diocesan bishop, no matter how pastorally urgent the circumstances may be,” he said.
Pope Leo on AI art: Beyond aesthetics, ‘there is an ontological difference’
VATICAN CITY — There is a fundamental difference between the art humans create and what artificial intelligence can make based on the work of others, Pope Leo XIV told a group of artists on Friday.
“The Church needs you,” the pontiff said at the Oct. 2 encounter at the Vatican. “This is especially true in this age of artificial intelligence, in which we urgently need to distinguish human art from what is produced by machines.”
“There is an ontological difference — even before an aesthetic one — between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of the human, whereas ‘authentic culture and art preserve this spark,’” Leo said, quoting from his encyclical on AI, Magnifica Humanitas.
The pope said this is the reason why the Catholic Church wishes to renew its alliance with artists and cultural institutions.
Leo’s address to artists and curators in the Apostolic Palace was part of a meeting on “The Art of Possibility: Weaving Together,” organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
The pope pointed to St. Augustine and his testimony of the “restlessness of the human heart in search of truth.”
“Art, when it is authentic, is also animated by this restlessness. For this reason, the Church has never considered art to be merely decorative. Instead, for the Church, art nurtures the fundamental posture of listening, through which we can learn about humanity’s aspirations and wounds, our thirst for beauty, justice and peace, and our search for meaning,” he said.
In the age of search engines and their endless, instantaneous answers that only “give us what we already want,” art is different, he noted.
Art “does not proceed by indexing but by inquiry,” the pontiff said. “Indeed, its inquiry is a focused attention that is not satisfied with the mere sum of facts, for it never ceases to dig deeper, seeking the thread that unites them. Your art, when it resists homogenization, when it draws our gaze, when it compels us to pause before that which cannot be consumed, is a form of cultural and spiritual regeneration.”
Leo cited the homily of his predecessor St. Paul VI from a Mass with artists in 1964.
“St. Paul VI spoke words that remain a landmark for the Church’s relationship with artists: ‘We need you,’ he said. ‘Our ministry needs your collaboration. For, as you know, our ministry is to preach and to make the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of the ineffable, of God, accessible and understandable — indeed, inspiring. And in this task, which translates the invisible world into accessible, intelligible forms, you are masters,’” Pope Leo quoted.
Bishop Barron ordains 18 deacons from the North American College in St. Peter’s Basilica
VATICAN CITY — Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, ordained 18 men from the North American College in Rome as transitional deacons in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday.
The Oct. 1 celebration came after approximately seven years of rigorous spiritual, academic, and pastoral formation, marking a pivotal step for the men in the journey toward becoming fully ordained Catholic priests.
Transitional deacons are in their final stage of ministry as seminarians before their priestly ordination. For each candidate, the milestone signifies a lifelong commitment to humble service, preaching the Gospel, and assisting at the altar as they step into their ultimate calling as shepherds of the faith.
Reflecting on the weight and grace of the moment, candidate Nicholas Vande Hey of Green Bay, Wisconsin, told EWTN News that he “feels humbled and I feel hungry at the same time ... for what [the Lord is] going to do in the future.” Vande Hey is joined by peers representing dioceses across the United States, all of whom have spent years preparing in the heart of the Church.
In his homily, Barron, founder of the Catholic ministry Word on Fire, reminded the candidates of their fundamental and seminal role as preachers of the word.
Drawing on sacred tradition, he emphasized that the young deacons must bear Christ’s mission in mind as they complete their studies in Rome and prepare to take what they learned back home to their local parishes.
Christ himself said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,” Barron said.
The bishop went on to say that “when Christ’s words resonate through you to his people, things change. Hearts are set on fire.”
Graham Fassero of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, on the eve of his ordination, said: “Rome has been able to give me this habit of thinking as a pilgrim, and I would love to bring some glimmer of that to the people back home too.”
For new deacon Brendan Finnegan of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, this ordination is “a fulfillment” as he continues to “learn to be a man in service,” leaning on his experiences in Rome to effectively govern and sanctify the people of his parish.
As the 18 men complete their final year of preparation, they carry with them the unique grace of having been ordained in the spiritual center of the universal Church.
Barron closed his homily with this phrase: “Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you preach.”
Vatican doctrine office to release document on transmission of the faith in October
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish a new document on the transmission of the faith, titled Venite ad Me, in mid-October.
According to a source from the dicastery with direct knowledge of its content, who confirmed the information to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the text “addresses various paths and different possibilities to encourage reflection within each diocese on the difficulties and new opportunities we have for transmitting faith in Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters.”
Venite ad Me, which means “Come to Me” in Latin, responds to a request made by Pope Francis and embraced by Leo XIV, aimed at stimulating debate and reflection within the Catholic community.
“Given that in many parts of the world the faith is transmitted with increasing difficulty, the question is how we can successfully pass on the faith to others in the world in which we live,” the same source added.
In preparing the document, the Vatican consulted bishops’ conferences from around the world. According to the Vatican source, 70% of them responded.
“This gives the text a strongly universal character that reflects a wide variety of concerns and contexts regarding the transmission of the faith,” the source noted.
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.
Pittsburgh diocesan consultant reports rising exorcism requests
A lay member of the Rome‑based International Association of Exorcists said he has seen what he considers a significant rise in requests for exorcisms over the past five to eight years.
Adam Blai, a lay adviser in the Pittsburgh Diocese on cases involving alleged demonic activity, told “EWTN News Nightly” on Oct. 1 that the number of cases there has risen sharply in the past five years. He said he and his team pray with people weekly and that exorcists he works with nationwide report being extremely busy.
“For some reason, there’s an increase,” said Blai, who also teaches priests how to perform exorcisms at the Pope Leo XIII Institute at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. “But the more important, beautiful part is the Holy Spirit is raising up this ministry.”
Blai said warding off attack from demonic spirits starts with avoiding occult or other practices that invite in the spirits. “They need permission,” he said. “The evil spirits need permission from God to do what they do.”
“When we play with the occult, with divination, with ghost hunting, with Ouija boards, we are reaching out to random spirits and saying, ‘I want my comfort or my information from you right now on my terms, Iʼm not going to wait on God, Iʼm not going to trust God, Iʼm not going to trust his providence or his grace, I’m going to seek out other spirits,’” Blai continued. “And when we do that, we form a relationship with them. And thatʼs the root of these extraordinary demonic problems.”
Blai said the Church has learned to “carefully discern” whether something is a spiritual problem, medical problem, misunderstanding, or even a false claim of possession.
“If we start saying these dramatic prayers over a person with mental illness that has delusional ideas, we could encourage those ideas,” he said.
Ultimately, Blai noted that the bishop has sole authority to determine which priests may say exorcism prayers. “Every priest has the power to do exorcisms in their ordination. What they donʼt have is permission to pick up the exorcism rite and pray it over somebody until the bishop gives that to them,” he said.
“Now, all that being said, is it wise to have a priest who is pious, has a good, solid spiritual life, is well known to the bishop? Absolutely. And do some priests have gifts of discernment that may help them in the ministry? Yes, but itʼs not required,” he concluded. “Jesus tends to provide the other people and gifts and support around the ministry that that exorcist needs.”