Pope Leo XIV appoints Sister Mary Barron president of Pontifical Mission Societies
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Sister Mary Teresa Barron as adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, while also entrusting her with leadership of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the Irish religious sister will assume her new responsibilities on Jan. 4, 2027.
Barron, superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, will take on one of the most significant leadership positions in the Church’s missionary activity. As president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, she will coordinate and promote missionary cooperation among local Churches throughout the world, particularly in regions where the Church is growing and facing significant pastoral challenges.
In 2024, during a press conference following Synod on Synodality discussions, Barron, then president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), which represents approximately 600,000 religious sisters in 80 countries, addressed the question of women who experience “a call to priesthood.”
While discussion of women deacons is often framed in terms of whether women can be ordained in the Church today, Barron argued that the issue should also be approached from another perspective.
“I think we have to look at the question very much from … the Spirit. ‘Is the Spirit calling women?’ Because some women do sense a call to priesthood or diaconate,” she said on Oct. 7, 2024.
Barron also said that, “even if at the moment we may not be looking at ordained ministry” for women, discussion on the issue should continue.
The Irish religious sister further emphasized that opportunities for women to assume positions of governance in the Church continue to depend in large part on cultural factors. She said women are able to take on broader leadership roles in some societies, while doing so remains more difficult in others because of cultural realities.
“I think we have to look at broader than just can or can we not from a theological or a canonical point of view, but in terms of the spirit calling to ministry today and in terms … of the needs of mission today,” she said.
Barron concluded by calling for continued reflection on the issue: “Are those calls there and can we continue the discussion? I think thatʼs what we would be asking at this point in time. Can we continue the discussion in relation to that?”
ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, attempted to contact Barron for clarification regarding her views but did not receive a response by publication time.
Missionary work in Africa
Born in Donegal, Ireland, on Nov. 7, 1968, Barron has academic training in public administration and international development. She earned a masterʼs degree in health administration from Dublinʼs Institute of Public Administration and a masterʼs degree in international development from the Kimmage Development Studies Centre.
Since 2018, she has served as superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, a congregation dedicated to evangelization and missionary service, especially in several African countries.
Her leadership experience also includes prominent roles in international organizations connected to consecrated life and missionary activity. From 2022 to 2025, she served as president of the Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission (SEDOS), and from 2023 to 2025 she led the UISG, the international organization representing superiors general of womenʼs religious congregations worldwide.
Growing presence of women in Vatican leadership
Barron becomes one of the highest-ranking women in the Roman Curia and the first woman to lead the pontifical missionary network operating in more than 120 countries.
Her appointment is part of a series of appointments by Pope Leo XIV that have strengthened the trend of placing women in senior Vatican leadership positions.
The popeʼs first major appointment of a woman came on May 22, 2025, when he named Sister Tiziana Merletti secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
The presence of women in leadership roles continued to expand on April 1, 2026, when Paola Fanelli was appointed director of human resources for the Holy See.
Another significant appointment came on June 2, 2026, when Leo XIV named María Montserrat Alvarado, currently president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication. The Mexican-American journalist and scholar is scheduled to become, on Nov. 1, the first woman to lead the department responsible for coordinating the Holy Seeʼs communications system, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, LʼOsservatore Romano, and Vatican digital platforms.
On June 30, the pope also appointed Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli, 51, as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Smerilli, a professor of political economy, had served as secretary of the dicastery since 2021 and was already the first woman to reach that level within the department.
Pope Leo XIV received representatives of the Association of Vatican Lay Workers and the Women in the Vatican Association on Monday. During the meeting, he said that “the presence of women” in the Vatican “is a valuable asset that must be increasingly recognized and appreciated.”
The pope added that women “bring not only a special sensitivity toward people and relationships but also the full range of human, professional, and intellectual talents inherent in the female experience and perspective.”
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.
Notre Dame religious liberty scholars urge Supreme Court to strike down Texas Ten Commandments law
Religious liberty scholars at the University of Notre Dame are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a Texas law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law in June 2025. The measure ordered that a “durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” be hung in each Texas public elementary or secondary school classroom.
The law has been subject to legal challenges since its passage. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blocked the law in August 2025, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the law, finding that it does not violate the First Amendment.
In an amicus filing on Sept. 28, scholars with the Lindsay & Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic at the Notre Dame Law School urged the Supreme Court to take up the case, arguing that the high court can provide “urgently needed guidance” regarding the extent of the establishment clause in the First Amendment.
The Texas law “forces state-sponsored religious instruction on children” and “strikes at the heart of the Constitution’s protections” while going against Supreme Court precedent, the filing says.
The appeals court ruling “misstates the history underpinning the First Amendment, defies [Supreme Court] cases, and imperils religious freedom,” the brief argues.
The placement of the Ten Commandments per the state’s rule “guarantees” that students will be effectively coerced into religious instruction, it says.
The purpose of the law is to “teach government-approved religious truth,” the scholars say, in violation of the Constitution and U.S. precedent.
The Supreme Court has ruled on public displays of the Ten Commandments in multiple cases. In 2005 it held that a display at the Texas Capitol was constitutional, though in the same year it struck down Ten Commandments displays at multiple Kentucky courthouses.
In 2024, meanwhile, a federal judge blocked a Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed the ruling, finding that Supreme Court precedent left the constitutional question unresolved.
Pope Leo XIV says unity is necessary for evangelization
VATICAN CITY — “Being a Christian ... is a life in union with Christ,” and true evangelization stems directly from this spiritual bond, Pope Leo XIV said in a special message for the 100th anniversary of World Mission Day, Oct. 18.
"The more united we are in Christ, the better able we will be to carry out together the mission that he entrusts to us," the pope wrote. “This spirituality constitutes the daily expression of missionary discipleship."
Leo himself served for years in Peru as an Augustinian missionary priest and bishop, and has often called on Catholics “to proclaim the Gospel without fear, to be missionaries.”
Pope Pius XI established World Mission Day in 1926, following the publication of his landmark encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae, which promoted the idea that supporting missions was the responsibility of all Catholics.
The centennial observance will be marked by Masses all over the world, with the pontiff celebrating the canonization of seven blesseds on Oct. 19 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
In his message, the pope highlighted historical figures of faith, including Blessed Pauline Marie Jaricot, who established the Association of the Living Rosary 200 years ago to mobilize prayer and support for missionaries.
The pope urged the faithful to draw inspiration from the zeal of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Until death and beyond, she declared that she would continue her mission: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved.”
“If unity is the condition of mission, love is its essence,” the pope wrote. “Let us commit to contributing to the great mission of evangelization — which is a work of love.”
South Sudan church leaders call for halt to hostilities, civilian protection
Church leaders in South Sudan have called for an immediate halt to hostilities and urgent action to protect civilians amid worsening insecurity, killings, abductions, and displacement across the country.
In a statement issued Oct. 5, members of the South Sudan Council of Churches — which includes representatives of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference — said the suffering of South Sudanese people had reached a point where “silence is no longer an option.”
“We, the church leaders of the South Sudan Council of Churches, express our grave concerns over the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the country,” they said.
The leaders called on the government, traditional authorities, armed groups, and communities to end violence and revenge attacks, secure roads and river transport corridors, and guarantee “safe and unhindered humanitarian access” to affected populations.
They also urged the strengthening of local peace and reconciliation mechanisms, calling on parties to the conflict and communities to choose “restraint over retaliation, dialogue over confrontation, and reconciliation over revenge.”
“We have endured decades of conflict,” they said, adding that South Sudanese “deserve to live without fear of being killed on the roads, displaced from our homes, abducted from our communities, or caught between armed forces and armed youth.”
This year, South Sudan has reportedly experienced renewed fighting between government forces and armed opposition groups, alongside intercommunal violence and the mobilization of armed youth. In parts of Jonglei and Upper Nile, insecurity has driven displacement and disrupted humanitarian operations.
In June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that months of fighting in eastern Jonglei had forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
In an April report, UNICEF said more than 330,000 people had been displaced by ongoing fighting and airstrikes as of March, the vast majority of them women and children. Displacement was also spreading into neighboring Lakes and Upper Nile states, placing pressure on communities and basic services.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan documented 206 incidents of conflict-related violence affecting 1,388 civilians between January and March.
According to its June 30 press release, 767 civilians were killed, 457 injured, 93 abducted, and 71 subjected to conflict-related sexual violence.
In their Oct. 5 statement, South Sudan church leaders highlighted killings, abductions, and displacement across several parts of the country, saying unsafe roads and restricted humanitarian access were worsening conditions for affected communities.
In Upper Nile State, they identified Nasir and Ulang counties as areas where renewed armed confrontations and the mobilization of armed youth had caused deaths, displacement, and disruption of humanitarian access.
They also reported civilian deaths and displacement linked to fighting, intercommunal violence, and the mobilization of armed youth in Nyirol, Uror, Ayod, Akobo, Twic East, and Duk in Jonglei state, as well as in the Pibor Administrative Area.
The leaders raised concern about insecurity around Bentiu in Unity state and in the Ruweng Administrative Area, citing its effects on displaced and vulnerable communities. They also highlighted intercommunal and revenge-related violence in Tonj North and Gogrial East in Warrap state, and in the Abyei Administrative Area.
In the Equatoria region, they said insecurity and attacks along the Juba-Mundri, Juba-Torit, and Juba-Bor roads were threatening civilians and humanitarian operations.
Parts of Yei River County and communities in Western and Eastern Equatoria “continue to experience the effects of armed insecurity, confrontations, and displacement,” they added.
The Christian leaders urged South Sudanese to reject hatred, retaliation, and violence, and to work together for peace, reconciliation, and the protection of their shared destiny.
They prayed that God would “heal our wounded nation” and grant wisdom to its leaders, expressing hope that every community in South Sudan could live “in peace and dignity.”
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Archbishop Weisenburger promotes poll chaplains as groups train for elections
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, people of various faiths are training to serve their communities as poll chaplains — an unofficial role that seeks to offer a peaceful presence at voting locations to ease tensions and ensure every person’s voting rights are respected.
Poll chaplains, sometimes called peacekeepers, volunteer outside of polling locations to help provide nonpartisan election information to voters, seek to mediate tensions that arise, and peacefully intervene and document attempts to intimidate voters or infringe on voting rights.
Even though a poll chaplain is not an official Church or government position, Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said during a virtual conference in late September that Catholics should be proactive in the democratic process, which includes the protection of voting rights with the help of nonpartisan poll watchers and poll chaplains.
We are in an especially fraught and significant moment in our nation’s history, with active, and, at times, successful attempts to gerrymander the vote or suppress turnout in areas that might not be favorable to a preferred candidate.”
Archbishop Edward WeisenburgerArchdiocese of Detroit
“We are in an especially fraught and significant moment in our nation’s history, with active, and, at times, successful attempts to gerrymander the vote or suppress turnout in areas that might not be favorable to a preferred candidate,” Weisenburger said.
“The Church is well within its theological mandate to be an instrument of activity, seeking out voters and registering them to vote, especially in areas that are being targeted for voter suppression or where tactics of intimidation might be used to discourage voting,” Weisenburger said at the Participation, Dignity, and Elections conference on Sept. 16.
“Inviting and training people to be nonpartisan poll watchers or poll chaplains, and to stand firm in the face of intimidation [is also part of that mandate],” the archbishop said.
The conference, organized by Catholics in Communion, included panels about voter support, electoral participation, political polarization, and the Church’s relationship to democracy, along with other subjects related to elections.
“Democracy can be a vehicle for Godʼs care for the human family, but it requires a state that understands its limitations and is not overreaching in its responsibility to create public good order,” Weisenburger said.
“It requires citizens and freely created associations and groups to recognize the responsibilities and duties that flow from freedom,” he said. “It requires a Church that is willing to boldly proclaim the Gospel and apply that Gospel to the task of building a just and thriving society.”
“May we all embrace that responsibility so that our Democratic Republic of the United States can be such an instrument of Godʼs care for us all,” the archbishop said.
Poll chaplains train for midterms
Various organizations have been recruiting and training people to serve as poll chaplains for the 2026 midterm elections. It is a role that has developed within faith communities in the past few election cycles.
The Rev. Jim Wallis, an evangelical preacher who directs Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, told EWTN News that the center has trained more than 1,000 of numerous faith backgrounds to serve as poll chaplains for the November elections through the coalition Faiths United to Save Democracy. The last scheduled training is on Oct. 15.
“This isn’t political or partisan for us,” he said. “It’s really theological.”
Wallis, who works to articulate the moral and theological framing for why poll chaplains go to voting locations, said the mission is rooted in Genesis 1:26, when God says, “Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness,” which expresses the inviolable dignity of every person.
“This foundational biblical teaching about the dignity of every human being made in the image of God is fundamental to all of our human rights, civil rights, and voting rights,” he said. “... To suppress a vote is to assault the image of God.”
Wallis said the center trains people of all faiths and participants include Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists. He said they have trained a “good mix” of laypeople and clergy, which include Catholic priests. Clergy are encouraged to wear religious garb.
Apart from the usual de-escalation training, Wallis expressed concerns about what he called “threats” from President Donald Trump’s administration to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the National Guard to polling locations.
“Polling places have lots of people,” he said. “There’s partisan actors, there’s poll workers. The administration has suggested there be people monitoring elections. … [The chaplains are] a calming presence, they’re often a trusted presence and they’re there to intervene if necessary if intimidation occurs.”
One of the Catholic activist groups involved in recruiting poll chaplains is the Franciscan Action Network (FAN), which alone has recruited 321 volunteers, which include friars, sisters, and lay Franciscans, along with other lay Catholics and Christians.
Robert Christian, director of strategy for FAN, told EWTN News that poll chaplaincy is “deeply compatible with our mission and Franciscan values,” noting that the order is “known for their commitment to peace.”
“Free, fair, peaceful elections allow for the peaceful resolution of differences,” Christian said.
He said “every single person has dignity” and a “right to participate economically, socially, and politically.” Within FAN’s network, he said there’s strong care for “the integrity of elections” and volunteers “want to do their part to make sure everyone feels comfortable showing up on Election Day and [don’t] have to worry about their vote being counted or being turned away.”
Christian said the training focuses mostly on partisan tensions boiling over into the voting line or conflicts between poll workers and a voter. He also said talks about federal intervention, such as ICE agents stationed near voting locations, have caused people to be “nervous.”
“There have been growing concerns around democratic norms and people accepting the outcome of elections,” Christian said. “... It’s a pretty tense atmosphere in the lead-up to the elections.”
The 2026 midterm elections are less than one month away on Nov. 3. Every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection and there are 35 Senate elections. Many states have local elections and ballot referendums, and there are 36 gubernatorial elections.
U.S. bishops call Catholics to prayer and action ahead of Mental Health Sunday
Every year, Catholics are invited to pray for those struggling with mental health and reflect on how to better engage the issue, which affects many people around the world, on Mental Health Sunday, which falls on Oct. 11 this year.
Mental Health Sunday is part of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops’ (USCCB) National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, a year-round initiative of the U.S. bishops that encourages the faithful to respond and bring awareness to the growing mental health crisis in the country.
While the campaign is a year-round initiative, a special emphasis is placed on the issue Oct. 10–18. During that week, the Novena for Mental Health is prayed. The novena begins on World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10), includes Mental Health Sunday — which takes place on the Sunday that falls within the time frame of the Novena for Mental Health — and ends on the feast of St. Luke (Oct. 18), the patron saint of healthcare.
The novena includes themes related to mental health to reflect on and uses a pray, learn, act structure, which means that each day includes a prayer, a section where participants can learn about mental health issues and about those suffering, and a call to action where participants are encouraged to get involved or do more to spread awareness.
The petitions in the novena include praying for the removal of stigma, the mental health ministry, families, youth and young adults, childhood, the effects of racial discrimination, poverty, suicide awareness, and grief.
In preparation for Mental Health Sunday, parishes and dioceses are being encouraged to launch a mental health resource or provide resources in the narthex after Masses, take part in the novena as a parish community, invite parishioners to bring their petitions about mental health issues to pray as a community, include mental health issues during the Prayer of the Faithful at all Masses, or offer a blessing for those who work in mental health ministries.
The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, is answering this call through the launch of its Mental Health Ministry, which will be introduced to the diocesan community on Oct. 10. Bishop Earl Fernandes will celebrate Mass at the St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus and will recognize individuals with mental health challenges, caregivers, and mental health professionals.
Pope Leo XIV also called upon the faithful to join in prayer during the month of October for mental health ministry.
“Melancholy, bad character, confusion of senses — today, we understand that behind these old labels lies a deep, silent suffering not only of those affected by mental disorders but also of their loved ones and their communities,” Pope Leo said in a video released Oct. 1 on X.
He added: “We live in a world full of tensions, and even as solutions grow so does the number of people in crisis. This October, let us pray for the mental health ministry — an urgent and ever-more-needed service in our Church and in the world.”
In the full video shared on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recited an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention. The prayer can be found here.
Cornell Catholic Community issues letter after campus protests
Catholic clergy at Cornell University issued a pastoral letter encouraging students to engage in “difficult public discussions” with charity and courage, after campus protests over the universityʼs handling of alleged sexual assaults involving members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024.
The Cornell Catholic Community, led by Associate Director Deacon Matthew Hall and priest-chaplains Father Daniel McMullin and Father David Cataline, said in an Oct. 7 statement that campus ministry is offering prayer, pastoral care, and support to students affected by sexual violence.
A former Cornell student’s civil lawsuit alleges fraternity members sexually assaulted her at the Ithaca, New York, campus, leading to scrutiny of Cornell’s disciplinary process. New York Attorney General Letitia James has opened a criminal investigation into the handling of allegations.
The pastoral letter, “Salt, Leaven, and Light,” reflects on Catholic teaching concerning marriage and sexuality, the theology of the body, the principles of Catholic moral reasoning, the relationship between freedom and authority, and the vocation of Christians to contribute to the moral life of the communities in which they live and work, the statement said.
“We are not called to retreat from difficult conversations because our neighbors do not yet speak the language of Catholic theology,” the pastoral letter said. “Much less are we permitted to stand aloof, as if their plight were not our problem. We are called to help our neighbors see more clearly what they may already see in shadow: that human beings are endowed with an infinite dignity; that sex is sacred; that our choices have real moral meaning; that some things are objectively good and some objectively evil; and that freedom is not simply the power to choose whatever we want, but the capacity to choose what is truly good.”
The letter further offers students nine suggestions for “Seasoning, Leavening, and Enlightening Cornell” amid the ongoing scandal, including prayer before speaking, knowing the Church’s teachings on sexual ethics and consent, rejecting relativism, using personal influence for good, and entering the public square only “when you have something true and charitable to say.”
“Prelims are upon you. The last thing you need is national news cameras filming B-roll as you try to go about your day. Nor do you need 29 paragraphs of extra reading,” the letter said.
“For some of you, the events of these weeks will cause particular bitterness, anxiety, and sadness, as they bring to mind your own experiences of sexual violence, accusations, sins, and other painful experiences. We know too well what it means to call this life a ‘vale of tears.’ But God ‘comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.’ (2 Cor 1:4) Let us bear gently and kindly with one another. Please know of my prayers for you,” the letter said.
Hall said in an email sharing the pastoral letter: “We must enter the discourse as Christians: prayerfully, thoughtfully, charitably, and with confidence that the Catholic faith has something true and beautiful to say to the whole world.”
“We do not want our Catholic students to retreat from difficult conversations,” Hall said. “We want our students to have the intellectual and spiritual resources to enter those conversations charitably and courageously. We need to be able to affirm what is true, recognize human dignity, and help one another pursue what is genuinely good.”
On Oct. 9, the memorial of St. John Henry Newman, patron of Catholic communities at secular universities, the Cornell Catholic Community will observe a day of prayer, the statement said.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett headlines Benedictine College library dedication
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett gave the keynote address at the dedication of Benedictine College’s Independence Hall library Sept. 26.
“My hope is that this library will help the students of Benedictine College defend the American project today,” Barrett said during her remarks, according to a Sept. 28 press release. “And I hope that it will bring them together to discuss new ideas, forge friendships and, importantly, learn to disagree respectfully. In a time of hyper-polarization, many have limited interactions with those whose beliefs they do not like. But citizens must learn to disagree about ideas without making enemies of the people who hold them. The success of the American project depends on it.”
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, also delivered remarks. “We change the world one soul at a time, and one citizen at a time,” he said. “It happens here every day at Benedictine College … If we could judge the world and its future by what happens here at this college, we can have a very warm spot in our heart and a very bright sense of hope.”
Other speakers at the event included the college’s president, Stephen Minnis; Michael Kuckelman, chairman of the board of directors; Kimberly Shankman, dean and provost of the college; recent alumni Jeffery Schremmer and Arturo Hernandez; and Abbot James Albers of St. Benedict Abbey, who led prayers.
Chicago Archdiocese urges Illinois to join federal education tax credit program
The Archdiocese of Chicago is calling on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to opt the state in to a new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit program that could bring up to $2 billion in additional education funding to Illinois schools.
“Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Treasury released draft guidelines for the Education Freedom Tax Credit program. They offer a clear opportunity for Illinois to join the program and open the door to much-needed education funding for all schools in the state,” the archdiocese said in an Oct. 2 press release.
Under the program, individuals could receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700, while couples filing jointly could receive up to $3,400, for donations to recognized scholarship-granting organizations. The program would not require state or local funding or taxes.
Most of the funding generated through the program would support public school students, while some could provide scholarships for students attending Catholic and other nonpublic schools, according to the archdiocese. The funding also could support tutoring, education technology, school supplies, and transportation.
“If our state does not opt-in, polls indicate that up to $1 billion in Illinois donations would flow to other states, funding that could benefit our own students. It is imperative that Gov. Pritzker opt Illinois into the program to help secure this new funding source for our state’s students,” the archdiocese said.
Bishop David M. O’Connell, CM, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, similarly called the federal scholarship tax credit “a transformative opportunity for children across the country” in an Oct. 2 statement.
Australian Catholic school system to cut ties with religious order after abuse scandal
The Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia is considering severing the national network of Catholic schools’ connection with the Christian Brothers after a fallout over the compensation of sexual abuse victims.
Edmund Rice is seeking to part ways with the order that runs the 61 schools in its network as the relationship between the organization and the religious order have “become strained,” according to an ABC News report.
The move comes after the Christian Brothers attempted to avoid paying sex abuse survivor claims by transferring over $50 million worth of property assets to Edmund Rice over a decade in symbolic $1 dollar transfers.
Bishop Emeritus Frank Dewane, who led Diocese of Venice in Florida for nearly 20 years, dies at 76
Bishop Emeritus Frank Dewane, who led the Diocese of Venice in Florida for nearly two decades until his retirement earlier this year, died on Oct. 7 at 76 years old.
His death was confirmed in a news release by current Bishop Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap, who was appointed to that role in May.
“It is with profound sadness, yet with faith in the promise of the Resurrection, that I announce the passing of the Most Reverend Frank J. Dewane, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Venice in Florida,” Agüero said.
Dewane died at 3 a.m. at Sarasota Memorial Hospital “surrounded by close family and friends,” the prelate said. A cause of death was not immediately given.
Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on March 9, 1950, Dewane was ordained in that diocese on July 16, 1988. Prior to his ordination he worked for NBC in Moscow and also worked at a subsidiary for Pepsi in New York.
Among his roles prior to his consecration as bishop, Dewane served as a member of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York and as the undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
He was named a coadjutor bishop of the Venice Diocese in 2006 by then-Pope Benedict XVI and was ultimately installed as bishop there on Jan. 19, 2007. He retired from that role on May 13 after nearly 20 years of service there.
Among his other roles in the U.S. Church were chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ domestic justice committee as well as on the bishops’ ad hoc Committee Against Racism.
Near the end of his tenure, in 2025, he spoke out against what he described as the “corrosive” rhetoric of U.S. federal officials who were intending to build a detention facility in the Everglades meant to house immigrants in the country illegally.
“Decency requires that we remember individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives,” the bishop said at the time.
Holy See presses development, poverty, women’s issues at UN
The Holy See’s permanent observer to the U.N. raised global development, poverty, and women’s equality as topics of concern during the 81st General Assembly.
Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, the Holy See’s apostolic nuncio to the U.N., called for “true equality” for women, and for global economic and technological advances to prioritize the human person and the common good during remarks delivered at the Oct. 6 session.
El-Kassis, who was appointed to the position in July, spoke during the U.N.’s Third Committee, which focuses on social, humanitarian, and cultural issues, as well as the Second Committee, which focuses on economic and financial issues.
Drawing from Pope Leo XIV’s statement that “development is truly human when it places people at the center instead of the accumulation of wealth,” El-Kassis noted that eradicating poverty must come with the development of a system that does not treat the poor “merely as passive recipients of assistance.”
“Instead, they should be active participants and protagonists in the measures and programs designed to help them in their own lives,” he said. “To achieve the objectives of poverty eradication, full employment and decent work, and social integration, as set out in Copenhagen and reaffirmed in Doha, will require sustained cooperation, creativity and a renewed commitment to a political, economic, ethical and spiritual vision for social development based on human dignity.”
During another session on sustainable development and global economic change, El-Kassis called for the world’s economy to embrace “fairer and more inclusive international financial architecture.”
“The circumstances of a person’s birth should not determine the respect for one’s inherent God-given dignity or the opportunities an individual is able to access,” he said. “Similarly, the economic circumstances of a country should not limit its ability to meaningfully participate decisions that shape its development.”
El-Kassis similarly quoted Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas when speaking about women and emphasized that “equality for women cannot be achieved as long as violence against women remains widespread.” The Holy See’s U.N. representative further decried human trafficking and said other technological and medical developments have enabled forms of exploitation, including surrogacy.
The Holy See reiterated its opposition to surrogacy, arguing that it treats gestation as “a negotiable service,” which violates the dignity of both the child and the mother.