Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

null / Credit: NMKStudio@Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).

A federal judge in California will allow a class action lawsuit to proceed for potentially millions of parents and teachers regarding school district rules that hide child “gender transitions” from parents. 

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled Oct. 15 that the lawsuit Mirabelli v. Olson will proceed as a class action, becoming what the Thomas More Society said is potentially “one of the largest civil rights class actions” in California history. 

Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm, said in the group’s Oct. 16 press release that parents have a “fundamental right” to direct their children’s education and moral upbringing, and that California school officials “cannot override that right by keeping parents in the dark about major issues and developments in their child’s life.” 

In his ruling, Benitez said the lawsuit satisfies the criteria for class action status. School districts in California, he said, “are ultimately state agents under state control,” and thus the issue of settling “statewide policy” means the class action structure is “superior to numerous individual actions by individual parents and teachers.”

The class action ruling comes ahead of a Nov. 17 hearing in the same court, one that the Thomas More Society says may “potentially deliver a final ruling” on the dispute, including whether secretive school transgender policies violate parents’ constitutional rights. 

“Parents should never be treated as strangers in their own children’s lives,” Breen said. 

The legal group said the suit will now represent “all California parents and teachers affected by school district policies that conceal children’s gender transitions from their families.” 

Those policies have been at the center of ongoing debate over transgenderism and gender ideology in recent years. LGBT advocates and school leaders around the country have argued that teachers and school administrators should be permitted to exclude parents from knowing if their children begin “identifying” as the opposite sex. 

Activists have also argued that school officials should be allowed to facilitate child “gender transitions” without informing parents. 

Rules allowing teachers to hide such sensitive information from parents have come under fire from advocates in recent years, including the Trump administration. 

In February the White House launched an investigation into five school districts in northern Virginia to determine whether their transgender policies violated executive orders forbidding schools from facilitating “gender transitions.”

In 2023, meanwhile, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued directives affirming that parents in the state would enjoy broad oversight of their children while they are enrolled in public schools, reversing earlier rules that allowed teachers to keep children’s transgender “identities” secret from parents.

U.S. Catholic bishops urged Congress to end the federal government shutdown, but only if lawmakers ensure that tax credits are not used for abortions. / Credit: Traci L. Clever/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C., Oct 17, 2025 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

America’s Catholic bishops are urging Congress to end the nearly three-week federal government shutdown by extending taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the Affordable Care Act — but only if lawmakers ensure that the so-called Obamacare tax credits are not used for abortions or other procedures that violate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life.

"The premium tax credits established by the ACA are an important tool for ensuring affordable access to health care for millions of Americans by lowering their premiums on the ACA marketplaces; but they also fund health insurance plans that cover elective abortion," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to members of Congress. The enhanced premium tax credits "should be extended but must not continue to fund plans that cover the destruction of human life, which is antithetical to authentic health care."  

The letter marked the strongest indication yet that while the bishops’ conference largely agrees with congressional Democrats that Obamacare subsidies should be extended beyond their year-end expiration, it will oppose any deal that allows the premium tax credits to fund insurance plans that pay for abortions.

The bishops said U.S. health care policy should ensure that “all vulnerable people — born and preborn” — have access to affordable, comprehensive, and high-quality health care. Church leaders said such a policy would both extend the enhanced premium tax credits sought by Democrats and “apply full Hyde Amendment protections.”

The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.

With its letter, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops entered the nearly three-week-long political battle between Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans over how to resolve the standoff over reopening the federal government, which has been shuttered since Oct. 1. 

The critical divide between Democrats and Republicans centers on enhanced premium tax credits that, Democrats argue, help Americans pay their premiums purchased through the Obamacare insurance marketplaces. Democrats say that without a deal to extend the premium subsidies, Americans will see their insurance costs skyrocket over the next several weeks.

The Affordable Care Act, since it was enacted in 2010, has provided premium subsidies for people below certain income levels. In 2021, however, during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden and a Democratic-controlled Congress said they were temporarily expanding ACA premium subsidies to increase the amount of government assistance to cover more people during the coronavirus emergency. Later, in August 2022, Biden and congressional Democrats again extended the enhanced subsidies for a period of three years, with the heightened tax benefits expiring at the end of 2025. Congressional Democrats now say they want again to extend enhanced health care premiums before open enrollment for Obamacare insurance plans starts on Nov. 1. 

Republicans counter, however, saying the enhanced premium credits were intended only to be a temporary emergency measure during the pandemic. They say more debate and discussion of details is needed to negotiate a long-term solution to the question of how best to enact enhanced ACA premium subsidies.

Republican leaders say Democrats are not interested in a bipartisan agreement. Instead, GOP leaders suggest Democrats are exploiting the issue to justify continuing the government shutdown to hurt President Donald Trump’s approval ratings ahead of the 2026 congressional midterm elections.

Republicans instead are calling on Democrats to help GOP lawmakers pass a “clean" continuing resolution that would immediately fund and reopen the government until at least Nov. 21. Only then, Republicans say they will sit down with congressional Democrats to negotiate proposals to improve and extend the enhanced federal premiums.

Democrats, however, have repeatedly rejected that approach, providing little hope the stalemate will end soon. On Thursday, Senate Democrats for the10th time since the onset of the shutdown used the so-called 60-vote rule — which allows a minority of senators to block legislation through a filibuster — to refuse to back a continuing resolution passed largely along party lines by the GOP-led House on Sept. 19. The vote to reopen the government with a short-term, GOP-backed stopgap measure was 51-45, well short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill. 

Three non-Republican senators — Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, along with Sen. Angus S. King Jr. of Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats — voted to end the shutdown. One Republican – Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky – voted with Democrats in rejecting the GOP-backed funding bill to reopen the government. Four senators did not vote.

With both sides seemingly unwilling to budge, some Catholic health ministries and neighborhood relief organizations say the true victims of the impasse are vulnerable communities across the country.

Catholic Health Association also applying pressure

“The shutdown and standoff are just causing pain across the country, and both sides need to come together and do their jobs to fund and run the government,” said Lisa A. Smith, vice president for advocacy and public policy for the Catholic Health Association of the United States. “The longer this drags on, the more difficult it is for our Catholic facilities to care for everyone.” She said it is “critical” that Congress act to extend the ACA premium tax credits before open enrollment begins on Nov. 1.

In a break with the U.S. bishops’ stance, Smith said there are already “adequate protections in the current law to ensure taxpayers are not paying for abortions.” She said the laws already on the books prohibit the use of federal funds, “including premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions, to pay for abortion services except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment—as defined by the Hyde Amendment.”

Pope Francis with Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery of Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, at the consistory in St. Peter's Basilica, Aug. 27, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Cardinal Arthur Roche, who leads the Vatican’s administrative body on the liturgy, encouraged American parishes to better familiarize themselves with Pope Francis’ guidelines on the Mass and ensure the former pontiff’s writings inform the liturgical formation of clergy and parishioners.

Roche, who has served as prefect for the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments since 2021, offered the recommendations at a three-day meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC).

“Pope Francis did not set out to give a systematic treatment of liturgical formation,” Roche told the more-than 230 participants in the meeting, according to an Oct. 15 FDLC news release.

“What he was wishing to do was to take the Church by the hand and lead her toward the center of the mystery we celebrate, towards the heart of Christ which burns with his ardent desire that we should draw nigh, take his Body and drink his Blood, to worship the Father with hearts and minds made new through having been washed in the blood of the Lamb,” he said.

Roche said the celebration of the Mass must be “grounded in the Paschal Mystery of Christ” and he reaffirmed Francis’ 2017 comments that “the liturgical reform [of the Second Vatican Council] is irreversible.” He quoted Francis’s 2017 apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi and said the document should be “more widely available to parishes” and there should be more help to “organize guided readings of it.”

In that document, the Holy Father wrote that “every aspect of the celebration must be carefully tended to,” including the space, time, gestures, words, objects, vestments, song, and music. He wrote: “Such attention would be enough to prevent robbing from the assembly what is owed to it; namely, the paschal mystery celebrated according to the ritual that the Church sets down.”

Roche said: “The depth and breadth of his liturgical vision offers us countless opportunities to pause for reflection in order to appreciate the great gift that has been handed onto us in the liturgical books.”

“I do not hesitate to encourage you to be bold, but always charitable in promoting the unique lex orandi [law of prayer] of the Roman Rite,” he said. “Discourses on the liturgy that lack a spirit of charity come from a spirit other than that of Christ.”

The FDLC was established by the American bishops in 1969 to assist in implementing liturgical reforms that stemmed from the Second Vatican Council and continues to train clergy and laity. The 56th annual national meeting was held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in Baltimore, Maryland.

FDLC Executive Director Rita Thiron told CNA the document is a “beautiful, beautiful text” and that the FDLC offers a study guide for parishes that offers discussion questions and reflections on the document. She noted that the document explains how modern man has lost the ability to associate with symbols and that it “encouraged us to use symbols more ritually,” such as more abundant water at baptisms.

She pointed out that the liturgy offers spiritual formation for all those gathered, and that when clergy celebrates Mass properly, “people will be in tune better to the rich text and rich theology contained in the liturgy.”

Father Anthony Ruff, a theology professor at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary who focuses on liturgical music, told CNA that Roche “has made an excellent suggestion” and called Desiderio Desideravi “a beautifully written and inspirational document.” 

“It helps all of us understand the Church’s vision of liturgy based on the Second Vatican Council — especially how the reformed liturgy can be the living source for our entire prayer life and our Christian discipleship,” he said. 

Traditional Latin Mass not discussed at length

Roche did not discuss Francis’ restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass at length, but he did promote the documents that speak to those restrictions.

Francis penned Desiderio Desideravi a year after issuing the 2016 motu proprio Traditionis custodes, which restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Ruff said the second letter “follows naturally upon” those restrictions “for those who still struggle to accept the Church’s official liturgy as it was reformed after Vatican II.”

In Desiderio Desideravi, Francis said non-acceptance of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms “distracts us from the obligation of finding responses to the question that I come back to repeating: how can we grow in our capacity to live in full the liturgical action? How do we continue to let ourselves be amazed at what happens in the celebration under our very eyes?”

Francis wrote that it would be “trivial” to see the tensions about the Traditional Latin Mass “as a simple divergence between different tastes concerning a particular ritual form.” He wrote that he does not understand how one can recognize the validity of the council “and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform.”

When asked whether Roche commented about whether Pope Leo XIV will follow Francis in the restrictions or make any adjustments, Thiron said: “He did not speak to that at all.”

Thiron said Roche alluded to “the role of the council that would not be reversed” and that Roche “noted that Desiderio Desideravi was a follow-up to Traditionis custodes to encourage people to better understand the liturgy better as it is and as the council intended it to be.”

Churches in Jerusalem. / Credit: Amizor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Jerusalem church leaders welcome Gaza ceasefire

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem has hailed the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange, describing it as a “first real step toward ending the war,” CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported Oct. 16. 

The statement thanked the international community, particularly mediators at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, for helping secure the deal and called for rapid humanitarian access to food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.

The church leaders also voiced alarm over growing violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, insisting that peace talks must lead to an independent Palestinian state living in safety beside Israel. They praised Christians in Gaza for their steadfast faith, calling the communities of St. Porphyrius Orthodox and Holy Family Catholic churches “a living witness of hope amid suffering.”

Tokyo archbishop calls for end to death penalty

Cardinal Isao Kikuchi, archbishop of Tokyo, is calling on Japan to abolish the death penalty and grant clemency to two men charged with murder, according to a report by Crux. 

“The Catholic Church in Japan opposes capital punishment, calling for the protection of all life as a gift from the Creator. The Church urges the government to abolish the death penalty and reform the Japanese criminal justice system,” the cardinal said, adding: “I fundamentally believe that if we uphold the value of human life and dignity, we must not employ the same method as the criminals by taking a life away.” 

Protests in Cameroon overshadow presidential election despite bishops’ call for peace

Despite repeated appeals by Catholic bishops for peace and transparency ahead of Cameroon’s presidential elections, protests reportedly erupted in some cities in the country, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Oct. 16.

In the country’s capital of Douala, angry demonstrators accused authorities of electoral fraud in the Oct. 12 vote. This comes after members of the Cameroon bishops’ conference called on authorities to address any electoral insecurities they said could possibly mar the country’s presidential elections. 

“Every human life is sacred and must be protected. It is everyone’s duty to ensure that the sanctity of human life is preserved before, during, and after the upcoming elections,” they said, adding: “We call on the competent authorities of the Republic to use their powers to prevent electoral insecurity and ensure a favorable environment, free from fear and intimidation.” 

Results for the election are expected by Oct. 26. 

Pope Leo XIV meets Jordan’s King Abdullah II: a renewed friendship

Pope Leo XIV welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Rania to the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City this week, their first meeting since the pope’s election earlier this year, ACI MENA reported Oct. 14. 

The encounter reaffirmed the long-standing friendship between the Holy See and the Hashemite Kingdom, centered on interfaith dialogue and shared concern for peace in the Middle East. The visit comes as King Abdullah tours Europe, including Italy, Hungary, and Slovenia, for talks on regional stability. 

Observers note that the strong personal rapport once shared between Pope Francis and the Jordanian monarch is likely to continue under Pope Leo, whose pontificate has already signaled continuity in humanitarian outreach and mutual respect.

Korean Catholics call on government to protect workers under new law

Catholic officials are welcoming a change to Korea’s labor laws that will help protect workers by strengthening unions and adding protections for workers in Korea’s segmented labor market, according to an Oct. 15 report from UCA News. 

“Nothing is more important than the happiness, well-being, and protection of the lives of workers and their families, so it is natural for the Church to stand on the side of workers,” said Father Alexander Lee Young-hoon, the Bishops’ Conference of Korea’s secretary of labor.

“When the Church speaks out on labor and social issues, many believers perceive it as a political stance,” said John Park Young-ki, attorney and member of the Seoul Archdiocese Labor Ministry Committee. “The path of a Church that stands with the poor and the vulnerable, as Pope Francis has said, is not to follow secular logic but to show concern for the vulnerable.”

Germany names its head of foreign intelligence service as ambassador to Holy See

Pope Leo XIV received Bruno Kahl, Germany’s new ambassador to the Holy See, on Oct. 11, according to a Vatican press bulletin. 

Kahl presented Leo with his credential letters during the meeting, marking the official start of his post. The new ambassador has been in Rome for several weeks, according to reports, and previously met with Leo during a private audience with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. During his stint as head of German intelligence, Kahl was in Ukraine when Russia invaded at the start of the war and had to be evacuated by special forces from the country via car, according to several reports.

St. Ignatius of Antioch with the child Jesus. / Credit: Lorenzo Lotto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Oct. 17, the Roman Catholic Church remembers the early Church Father, bishop, and martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch, whose writings attest to the sacramental and hierarchical nature of the Church from its earliest days.

Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate his memory on Dec. 20.

In a 2007 general audience on St. Ignatius of Antioch, Pope Benedict XVI observed that “no Church Father has expressed the longing for union with Christ and for life in him with the intensity of Ignatius.”

In his letters, the pope said, “one feels the freshness of the faith of the generation which had still known the apostles. In these letters, the ardent love of a saint can also be felt.”

Born in Syria in the middle of the first century A.D., Ignatius is said to have been personally instructed — along with another future martyr, St. Polycarp — by the apostle John. When Ignatius became the bishop of Antioch around the year 70, he assumed leadership of a local Church that, according to tradition, was first led by St. Peter before his move to Rome.

Although St. Peter transmitted his papal primacy to the bishops of Rome rather than Antioch, the city played an important role in the life of the early Church. Located in present-day Turkey, it was a chief city of the Roman Empire and was also the location where the believers in Jesus’ teachings and his resurrection were first called “Christians.”

Ignatius led the Christians of Antioch during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, the first emperor to proclaim his divinity by adopting the title “Lord and God.” Subjects who would not give worship to the emperor under this title could be punished with death. As the leader of a major Catholic diocese during this period, Ignatius showed courage and worked to inspire it in others.

After Domitian’s murder in the year 96, his successor, Nerva, reigned briefly and was soon followed by the emperor Trajan. Under his rule, Christians were once again liable to death for denying the pagan state religion and refusing to participate in its rites. It was during his reign that Ignatius was convicted for his Christian testimony and sent from Syria to Rome to be put to death.

Escorted by a team of military guards, Ignatius nonetheless managed to compose seven letters: six to various local Churches throughout the empire (including the Church of Rome) and one to his fellow bishop Polycarp, who would give his own life for Christ several decades later.

Ignatius’ letters passionately stressed the importance of Church unity, the dangers of heresy, and the surpassing importance of the Eucharist as the “medicine of immortality.” These writings contain the first surviving written description of the Church as “Catholic,” from the Greek word indicating both universality and fullness.

One of the most striking features of Ignatius’ letters is his enthusiastic embrace of martyrdom as a means to union with God and eternal life.

“All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing,” he wrote to the Church of Rome. “It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth.”

“Now I begin to be a disciple,” the bishop declared. “Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: Only let me attain to Jesus Christ.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch bore witness to Christ publicly for the last time in Rome’s Flavian Amphitheater, where he was mauled to death by lions.

“I am the wheat of the Lord,” he declared before facing them. “I must be ground by the teeth of these beasts to be made the pure bread of Christ.”

His memory was honored, and his bones venerated, soon after his death around the year 107.

This story was first published on Oct. 14, 2012, and has been updated.

The Trump administration will expand access to in vitro fertilization drugs and procedures. / Credit: sejianni/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 18:53 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump is expanding access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments by partnering with pharmaceutical companies and expanding insurance options. 

According to a White House announcement on Oct. 16, the Trump administration is working with major pharmaceutical companies to bring IVF drugs to the U.S. at lower prices. The administration is also expanding insurance coverage for fertility care.

The agreement with leading pharmaceutical group EMD Serono will make IVF drugs available “at very, very heavily reduced prices — prices that you won’t even believe,” Trump said on Thursday in a livestream from the Oval Office. 

According to the announcement, women who buy directly from TrumpRx.gov, a website that will launch in January 2026, will get a discount equivalent to 796% of the negotiated price for GONAL-F, a widely used fertility drug.

The FDA will also be expediting its review of an IVF drug that is not yet available in the U.S., which Trump said “would directly compete against a much more expensive option that currently has a monopoly in the American market, and this will bring down costs very significantly.”

In addition, the Trump administration will enable employers to offer separate plans for fertility issues, comparable to the standard life, dental, and vision plans typically available from employers.

“This will make all fertility care, including IVF, far more affordable and accessible,” Trump said. “And by providing coverage at every step of the way, it will reduce the number of people who ultimately need to resort to IVF, because couples will be able to identify and address problems early.” 

“The result will be healthier pregnancies, healthier babies, and many more beautiful American children,” Trump continued. 

These fertility benefits will include both IVF and other fertility treatments “that address the root causes of infertility,” according to the Oct. 16 announcement. 

“There’s no deeper happiness and joy [than] raising children, and now millions of Americans struggling with infertility will have a new chance to share the greatest experience of them all,” Trump said. 

IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs in a laboratory to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and freeze them. Undesired embryos are routinely destroyed or used in scientific research.

Lila Rose, a devout Catholic and founder of the pro-life group Live Action, condemned the administration’s action, noting that “IVF kills more babies than abortion.”

“Millions of embryos are frozen, discarded, or destroyed,” Rose said in a post on X on Oct. 16.

“Only 7% of embryos created survive to birth,” she said. IVF is “not a solution to fertility struggles.”      

In response to Trump’s announcement, the March for Life celebrated the White House’s focus on children and fertility, while cautioning the administration to protect human life at all its stages, even as embryos. 

“March for Life appreciates that President Trump has heard and is responding to so many Americans who dream of becoming parents,” the March for Life said in a statement shared with CNA. “The desire for parenthood is natural and good. Children are a blessing. Life is a gift. The White House’s announcement today is rooted in these core truths.” 

The March for Life noted that “every human life is precious — no matter the circumstances” and urged policymakers to protect human life. 

“We continue to encourage any federal government policymaking surrounding IVF to prioritize protecting human life in its earliest stages and to fully align with basic standards of medical ethics,” the statement read. 

The group also welcomed “the administration’s commitment to making groundbreaking advancements in restorative reproductive medicine more accessible and available to American women.”  

Catholic institutes such as the Saint Paul VI Institute have pioneered a form of restorative reproductive medicine called NaProTechnology. “Naprotech” aims to discover and address the root cause of fertility issues via treatment and surgery if necessary. Some conditions that can affect fertility include endometriosis — which affects nearly 1 in 10 women — and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the leading cause of infertility.

“RRM aims to resolve rather than ignore underlying medical issues, increasing health and wellness while also restoring fertility, and responding to the beautiful desire for children while avoiding any collateral loss of human life,” March for Life stated.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. / Credit: Office of Senator Josh Hawley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 18:12 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Senator introduces bill to ban Obamacare-funded abortions

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, on Oct. 15 introduced a bill to protect unborn children from abortion and minors from so-called gender transition.

The bill would prevent taxpayer dollars from going toward abortions or transgender procedures for minors via Obamacare. While the Hyde Amendment already prohibits federal funding of abortion, Hawley’s bill would “write Hyde language directly into the federal coverage terms of health plans,” according to a press release from Hawley’s office.

Jamie Dangers, director of federal affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, expressed gratitude “to Sen. Hawley for recognizing that Obamacare funds abortion and must be fixed.”

“This bill would do what should have been done 15 years ago by applying the Hyde Amendment to Obamacare so that health care plans don’t pay for elective abortions with taxpayer dollars,” Dangers said. 

“Until a bill like this becomes law, however, Republicans must make Hyde protections nonnegotiable in any funding for Obamacare, which currently uses taxpayer dollars to fund abortion on demand,” Dangers concluded.

Louisiana woman sues FDA after boyfriend pressured her into a chemical abortion 

A Louisiana woman who was pressured into abortion by her then-boyfriend is joining the state of Louisiana in a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In October 2023, Rosalie Markezich, out of fear for her safety, took abortion drugs that her boyfriend at the time had obtained via mail from a doctor in California.

An in-person visit used to be a baseline requirement for obtaining abortion drugs, but under the Biden administration, the FDA removed the safeguard in 2023. 

“If the Biden FDA had not removed in-person dispensing, my then-boyfriend would not have been able to obtain abortion drugs and pressure me to take them against my will,” Rosalie said in a statement.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the “FDA’s reckless actions also opened wide the door for women to suffer reproductive coercion and assault.”

“We are simply asking the FDA to restore this basic safety standard for women’s health,” Murrill said in a statement. 

Florida bill would allow for wrongful-death lawsuits for unborn children 

A Florida bill could allow parents to file wrongful-death lawsuits for the death of an unborn child. 

Proposed by Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, the bill defines an unborn child as “a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.” 

The bill wouldn’t allow civil suits to be brought against medical personnel, such as in cases related to in vitro fertilization (IVF). 

In addition, Boca Raton House Democrat Kelly Skidmore filed a bill that would nix a Florida program that provides funding for crisis pregnancy centers.

Abortions are illegal in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy, a time when many women do not yet know they are pregnant.

Referring to the crisis pregnancy centers, Skidmore asked: “What crisis pregnancies are they helping with?”

“When we live in a state that has a six-week ban, how many crisis pregnancies do you think there are that we still need to fund $29.5 million for these centers?”

The Florida Pregnancy Support Services Program reportedly helped provide more than 20,000 women with more than 130,000 counseling services and more than 18,000 pregnancy tests, according to recent data.

null / Credit: esfera/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 16:11 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) at an Oct. 16 hearing heard recommendations from lawmakers and advocates for addressing “severe violations of religious freedom” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“For decades the U.S. government has been a leader for combating China’s religious freedom violations,” said Asif Mahmood, vice chair of the commission. He said it “has sanctioned Chinese government officials” and “supported independent media and nongovernment organizations denouncing violations.”

USCIRF “urges the U.S. government to continue prioritizing religious freedom by designating China as a country of particular concern, raising religious freedom issues with Chinese officials, and supporting independent civil society,” Mahmood continued. He said the U.S. “cannot afford to sit on the sidelines on this issue” because “the lives and well-being of millions are at stake.”

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the CCP imposed mandates that “reflect socialist core values and push to harmonize religion with party-approved Chinese culture.” 

“For a religious organization to even exist in China, that organization must apply for and obtain a permit from the government,” Risch said. But the government has “forcibly eradicated religious elements that are not in line with the CCP’s agenda.” 

This includes “destroying access [to] churches and replacing images of Jesus Christ with Xi Jinping,” Risch said. “China jails thousands of practicing Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians each year for their religious beliefs, with many subjected to forced indoctrination and torture.”

Risch said the aftermath of the country’s “phony” national security law meant “Hong Kong authorities targeted pro-democracy religious groups and activists like Jimmy Lai — a devout Catholic who has tragically been denied holy Communion in prison.”

Sen. Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, said American leadership must continue to be “critical in denouncing persecution of Christians and other religious groups around the world.” It is crucial because the CCP “has no interest in protecting freedom of religion … it continues to restrict religious practice, destroy churches, and imprison religious minorities,” Budd said.

“Every day, they torture and target Uyghurs, Thibetans, Catholics, Protestants, and Falun Gong practitioners. The spirit of religious persecution is evidence of the CCP’s disregard for human life and natural law,” Budd said.

“Until China changes course, it should be the policy of the United States to hold them accountable for their severe violations of religious freedom,” Budd said. The U.S. should continue to designate China as a country of particular concern, he said.

Other speakers, including Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, said the U.S. must protect religious liberty within its own nation as it works to help other countries. He asked: “How can Americans expect to be taken seriously on the world stage if our leaders are failing to defend religious freedom here at home?” 

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said: “The CCP doesn’t just threaten American interests. It threatens the very idea that human beings are born free, the truth exists beyond the reach of the state, and that no government can claim ownership of the soul.”

“Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has declared war on faith itself. Across China today, the party is carrying out the most systematic campaign of religious persecution since the Cultural Revolution,” Moolenaar said. “They call it sinicization of religion, but what it really means is subjugation.”

Panelists and suggestions

Annie Boyajian, speaking on behalf of Freedom House, an organization dedicated to fighting for democracy and human rights, told the commission that “first and foremost,” Freedom House agrees that China should be redesignated as a country of particular concern when it comes to religious freedom threats.

“Individuals can face up to 14 years in prison for knowing that someone has committed so-called treason … meaning that priests could be forced to choose between going to jail or divulging information shared with them by parishioners during confession,” Boyajian said.

Freedom House maintains “a global database that documents direct physical incidents of transnational repression, and 22% of the cases … documented since 2014 were committed by the Chinese government,” Boyajian said. 

These instances include “unlawful deportations, assaults, and harassment in 30 countries as well as surveillance, intimidation, coercion of family members, mobility controls, detention, and interval abuse,” Boyajian said. “Religious and ethnic minorities are prime targets for transnational repression.”

“The U.S. government should work to expose transnational oppression by coordinating with allies to monitor, document, and counter China’s unlawful deportations, harassment of diaspora communities, and abuse of Interpol red notices, and take special care to not facilitate the perpetration of transnational repression,” Boyajian said.

Boyajian offered a number of other recommendations to the committee, including that the U.S. “work to enforce accountability” by “imposing targeted sanctions on officials and entities responsible for a severe religious persecution.” She also suggested that policymakers “strengthen asylum protections and humanitarian pathways” for those facing religious persecution.

Corey Jackson, a Presbyterian pastor from Kerry, North Carolina, who previously lived in China, recounted his experience: “The CCP attempts to control every aspect of life, including the freedom of religion of Christians.”

He explained that for Christians, “building or renting spaces for churches is prohibited, and Bibles cannot be sold in bookstores or made publicly available.” Leaders within unregistered churches “are particularly vulnerable,” he said, and are often placed under house arrest or imprisoned on broad national security charges such as subversion of power.

Jackson asked the commission and the U.S. government to “exert pressure on the CCP” to release political prisoners arrested for their faith including Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri and the other 21 prisoners arrested last week at an underground church. He also recommended that Congress impose religious freedom tariffs on China alongside other economic tariffs. 

Boyajian said that “despite China’s religious persecution, millions of believers continue to practice their faith, often at immense personal risk.”

She added: “Their resilience reminds us that religious freedom is not a secondary concern. It is central to human dignity, to civil society, and to the defense of democracy worldwide.”

The number of young Americans who are self-identifying as transgender or nonheterosexual declined in 2024 and 2025, according to an Oct. 10, 2025, report. / Credit: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).

The number of young Americans who self-identify as transgender or nonheterosexual declined in 2024 and 2025, according to a report from the Centre for Heterodox Social Science (CHSS), which compiled data from undergraduate student surveys and broader surveys of young people.

The Oct. 10 report, titled “The Decline of Trans and Queer Identity Among Young Americans,” found an overall decline in people who identify with the broader “LGBTQ+” community, with a bulk of the decline in those who identify as bisexual, transgender, and queer.

Eric Kaufmann, director of CHSS and a politics professor at the University of Buckingham, led the study.

The report noted a surge in young people identifying with those segments in the 2010s and the 2020s, which peaked in 2023. Since then, the report concluded that “trans, queer, and bisexual identities are in rapid decline among young educated Americans.”

It found that the number of young people identifying as “nonbinary” — neither male nor female — dropped significantly in three of five data sources reviewed in the report. Both of the other surveys, however, showed stability in “nonbinary” identification.

According to the report, the Andover Phillips Academy survey saw the total number of students identifying as “nonbinary” drop from 9% to 3% from 2023 to 2025. A much larger sample from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) saw a decline from 6.8% to 3.6% in the same time period. The Brown University student survey showed a drop from 5% to 2.6%.

The other data sources — the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) and the Cooperative Election Study (CCES) — alternatively found “nonbinary” identification to be stable.

According to the report, the number of students identifying as “gay” and “lesbian” was stable in the time period measured, but researchers found a decrease in other nonheterosexual identification, such as “questioning,” “asexual,” “pansexual,” and “other.”

The report noted the Andover survey showed nonheterosexual identification peak in 2023, when 63.5% of the student body identified as heterosexual.

In that survey, identification as bisexual peaked in 2023 at 17% of the student body and decreased to 12% by 2025. “Queer” and “other” identifications also peaked in 2023 to 17%, dropped to 9% in 2024, and went back up to 12% in 2025. 

According to the FIRE data, identification as heterosexual was at 68% in 2023 and increased to 77% in 2025, with strong decreases in the “queer” and “other” categories of sexual orientation.

The HERI data showed heterosexual identification drop to 77% in 2023 and increase to 82% in 2024, which is the most recent year data is available. The Brown survey found that heterosexual identification reached its low point of 60% in its 2022-2023 data and increased to 68% in fall 2025.

The General Social Survey saw heterosexual identification drop to its low point of 71% in 2022 and rise to 81% in 2024. The CCES survey alternatively showed a stable increase in nonheterosexual identification through 2024.

“To the extent that the youngest represent the leading edge of new trends, this suggests that trans, bisexual, and queer identities are declining in popularity with each new cohort,” the report noted.

The report concluded the decline is not likely related to political, cultural, or religious beliefs, but suggested a correlation with improved mental health, which “appears to be part of the explanation for the decline of BTQ+ identification.”

“Only time will tell if the substantial decline of BTQ+ identification will continue among young Americans,” the report’s conclusion read. “If so, this represents a momentous and unanticipated post-progressive cultural shift in American society.” 

Mary Rice Hasson, director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA the research “is interesting and somewhat encouraging, but I wouldn’t pop the champagne corks and celebrate a victory yet.”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a “troubling rise” in transgender identification among high schoolers, Hasson said.

“Even with a possible decrease, young Americans are still self-identifying as ‘trans’ in radically higher numbers than in past generations, when only a fraction of a fraction of a percent self-identified as ‘trans,’” she added. 

Even with the decrease in nonheterosexuality among college students, Hasson said “the ‘improvement’ still leaves nearly a quarter of our youngest generation as self-identified ‘nonheterosexuals’ … which means they reject the nature and truth of the body and human sexuality.”

“The overall concern remains — too many young people do not know the truth of ‘who they are’ and don’t accept the sexual identity God has given to them,” Hasson added. “So, it doesn’t change the work we do — we continue to pray and speak the truth, to reach those who are lost and searching for the truth and love that only God can give.”

Nigerian security officers during a military operation ahead of the gubernatorial elections in Benin City, Edo, Nigeria, on Sept. 17, 2020. / Credit: Oluwafemi Dawodu/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).

Christian leaders delivered a letter to President Donald Trump on Oct. 15 urging him to redesignate Nigeria as a country of particular concern on the U.S. government’s international religious freedom watch list. 

“We fervently urge you to redesignate Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’ (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom [IRF] Act, as you did in your first term,” the letter states. “The last several years have seen a burgeoning of violent attacks specifically targeting rural Christians in the country’s Middle Belt, while the government in Abuja barely lifts a finger to protect them.” 

The letter’s signatories included San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone; Nina Shea, Hudson Institute senior fellow and director for the Center for Religious Freedom; Kelsey Reinhardt, CatholicVote president and CEO; Robert Royal, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing; and Luke Moon, executive director of the Philos Project. 

“The Nigerian government is directly violating religious freedom by enforcing Islamic blasphemy laws that carry the death penalty and harsh prison sentences against citizens of various religions,” the letter continued. “It also demonstrably tolerates relentless aggression uniquely against Christian farming families by militant Fulani Muslim herders, who appear intent on forcibly Islamizing the Middle Belt.”

In a statement to CNA on Monday, Shea said the Nigerian government “refuses to enforce the law against Fulani militants who are relentlessly and systematically invading rural Christian areas in the Middle Belt and massacring and driving out the civilians while crying the jihadi war cry “Allahu Akbar.” 

“Many Middle Belt Christian leaders are reporting that this is a concerted land grab from Christian communities in order to forcibly Islamicize Nigeria,” she added. The letter describes the Fulani herdsmen as “the biggest threat facing Nigeria’s Christians.” 

The letter called attention to “innocent Muslims and Christians alike” who have been “brutally victimized by Boko Haram and other Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked terror groups seeking religious and political domination within that country.”

Citing research from various groups, the letter noted that 52,000 Christians have been killed and over 20,000 churches attacked and destroyed since 2009. In addition, it said, thousands of Christians have been murdered and raped in 2025, and “over 100 Christian pastors and Catholic priests have been taken hostage for ransom.”

“We are concerned that your administration may be considering listing Nigeria on the IRF Act’s ‘Special Watch List’ instead of designating it as a CPC,” the letter said, noting the decision, likely influenced by the “misconception” that a CPC designation requires the U.S. to sanction Nigeria, would be a mistake.

“In fact, the IRF Act does not mandate automatic sanctions and, moreover, provides for a sanctions waiver and cites a range of other possible policy responses,” it stated.

“We believe that, after nearly five years of simply ‘watching’ the arrest of individuals on harsh blasphemy charges and the relentless massacre and persecution of defenseless Christians solely for their faith, assigning only Special Watch List status would be a weak and legally inadequate response,” the letter concluded. “Such a move would dishonor religious freedom as a core pillar of U.S. foreign policy and further reinforce the previous administration’s downgrade and sidelining of the targeted killing of Christians.”

In November 2021, the Biden administration, through then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, removed Nigeria from the list of countries of particular concern.