Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Bishop Robert Barron delivers the keynote address at the Jubilee of Youth’s National U.S. Pilgrim Gathering on July 30, 2025, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Word on Fire announced Monday that a new documentary by Bishop Robert Barron is underway that will showcase the beauty of Catholic cathedrals and how they guide the faithful to the divine. 

In the announcement, Barron — who also serves as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota — explained that the inspiration for the documentary came after the tragic fire that destroyed part of the historic Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. 

In April 2019, Notre Dame’s iconic roof and spire were engulfed by a fire, the causes of which have yet to be determined. Its main structure was saved, along with many of its priceless contents, but the restoration project was monumental, amounting to almost 700 million euros ($740 million). The historic cathedral reopened on Dec. 7, 2024.   

Barron recalled that the response from people all around the world was “intriguing” to him and he “had a sense that people knew the fire was threatening to destroy something of great spiritual value — even if they were not faithful themselves.”

After this, Barron wrote a script for a documentary that explored the idea of the spirituality of cathedrals and their ability to draw in even those who do not believe in God or practice any faith.

The documentary will take viewers to the French cathedrals of Amiens, Chartres, Notre-Dame, Reims, and Saint-Denis to explore these medieval cathedrals more in depth. It will combine history, theology, art, and Scripture to show the significance of cathedrals and answer the question: What is it about the beauty of a cathedral that is so transcendent?

Barron said he believes the documentary will have “great evangelical value.”

“My hope is that this film can have a similar impact by drawing people into the beauty of our faith through the intrigue of these impressive buildings,” he said.

Barron has released several documentaries over the years including the “Catholicism” series, which took viewers to 50 locations throughout 15 countries to reveal the fullness of the Catholic faith, and the “Pivotal Players” series, which dove into the lives of 12 of the most influential Catholic figures in history.

A release date for the new documentary has not been announced.

The Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh, site of the July 25, 2025, arrest of two nuns. / Credit: Rajbhatt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 4, 2025 / 14:54 pm (CNA).

Two Catholic nuns who were arrested at a train station in central India have been released on bail after spending more than 10 days in prison. 

“The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has welcomed with relief the grant of bail to Sister Preethi and Sister Vandana by the NIA Court in Bisaspur,” the Indian Catholic bishops wrote in an Aug. 2 statement following the sisters’ release, which they said “has brought a sense of hope to the Christian community across the country.” 

Government Railway Police had arrested Sisters Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate congregation July 25 at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh for human trafficking and forced conversion. 

The nuns had been accompanying three young women between the ages of 19 and 22 as well as a young tribal man from Narayanpur to Agra in Uttar Pradesh, where the young women had plans to work.

“We are grateful to the government for the support shown in this case,” CBCI President Archbishop Andrews Thazhath said in the statement, adding: “We hope this marks the beginning of renewed efforts to protect the rights and dignity of all religious minorities in our secular democracy.”

The bishops expressed gratitude to Christians across denominations and all “who stood in solidarity” with the nuns during their imprisonment and called on the government to “take concrete measures to curb the increasing incidents of intimidation against members of religious communities.”

News of their release comes after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delayed the process, prompting widespread protests across the country. The Indian Catholic bishops’ conference expressed “outrage and deep concern” over the arrests in a statement at the time, revealing that the nuns had been “subjected to harassment, false accusations, and fabricated cases.” 

“They were physically assaulted and the arrest took place despite written consent letters issued by the parents of each woman above 18 years of age,” the bishops said, describing the event as “a grave violation” of the country’s constitution. 

“It is absolutely shocking and sad that the two religious sisters have been illegally detained under false charges of human trafficking and forced conversion,” Sister M. Nirmalini, the president of the women’s wing of the Conference of Religious India, told CNA on July 30. 

“Shockingly, the charges have been made without ascertaining or verifying facts,” said the nun, who belongs to the Apostolic Carmel Congregation. She noted that some congregations have asked members not to wear their habits in public “to avoid harassment.”

Archbishop Eamon Martin. / Credit: Irish Jesuits, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).

In a moving message, Eamon Martin, primate of Ireland and archbishop of Armagh, commemorated St. John Vianney, the patron saint of all priests and especially parish priests, whose memorial is celebrated Aug. 4.

At the beginning of his message, the prelate recalled his May visit to the tomb of St. John Vianney in the French town of Ars, where the saint served for more than 40 years. The archbishop visited on the occasion of the centenary of the saint’s May 1925 canonization.

Martin recounted that there at Ars he had given thanks to God “for the dedication and quiet commitment of so many good priests throughout Ireland; I remembered my classmates and the priests who inspired my own vocation, and I prayed especially for priests who are sick, struggling, or out of ministry.”

In this regard, he emphasized the importance of praying for priests: “It’s understandable that people are more used to asking priests to pray for them and might not realize how much we priests are ourselves in great need of prayer: that we might be conformed more and more fully to Christ.”

He also recalled that St. John Mary Vianney described the priesthood as “the love of the heart of Jesus” and used to say that “to be a missionary is to let your heart overflow.”

“We priests tend to be caught up in a multitude of demands and distractions,” Martin noted, lamenting that in recent times, like many others, “we have become vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, and sometimes to unhealthy or harmful influences that can steal away the joy of our vocation.”

“And we priests are not the best at accepting when we need help and support or finding guides and mentors to accompany us spiritually, pastorally, intellectually, and especially in our personal human development,” he noted.

He also observed that sometimes it is difficult to find moments of rest and renewal, “and spaces where we can cultivate interior silence, center ourselves on Our Lord Jesus Christ, to hear and understand what is God’s will for us at this particular moment, to renew the joy of our ordination and to pour out gratitude to God for calling us to this wonderful ministry.”

In this context, he emphasized that “one of the greatest challenges we face as priests is to be ‘good news’ for the world.”

Regarding the fragility of the priesthood and the great harm caused by abuse, he said this scourge “has caused immense damage and trauma to the lives of victims and their families, but it has also broken the heart and spirit of many priests, damaged priestly fraternity and credibility, and that precious trust between us and our people.”

He therefore emphasized that, more than ever, “we need to be open to God’s healing love within us, to know that we are loved and understood by God, despite all of our weaknesses and faults. And we need prayers, and intercession, not just as individual priests called by God, but also for the priesthood itself,” he added.

“Our greatest privilege is to be able to celebrate the Eucharist for our people and for ourselves. That is because in this troubled, confused, and often empty and superficial world, people quite simply want us to be men of God, who can point them to the transcendent, and lift up their hearts and minds to the beauty and truth of God,” he noted.

Finally, he clarified that the priesthood is not a job or profession like any other because “it is subsumed into our whole being.”

“Our priesthood is not our own. It is a share in the priesthood of Christ. It is a partaking in the love of the heart of Jesus,” he emphasized.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Rows of bunk beds line the interior of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility in the Florida Everglades, a repurposed training center now designated for holding immigrants. President Donald Trump appears in the background during a July 1, 2025, visit to the site. / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 4, 2025 / 13:52 pm (CNA).

As part of a new Catholic ministry, the Archdiocese of Miami celebrated its first Mass at the Florida detention center for unauthorized immigrants known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

“I am pleased that our request to provide for the pastoral care of the detainees has been accommodated,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski said in an Aug. 3 statement. “Also, we were able to respond to a request to provide similar service to the staff who reside at the facility.”

In a July interview with “EWTN News In Depth,” Wenski said his “greatest concern” was the “health and care of the people that are being detained” at Alligator Alcatraz. He and other advocates were calling for “a minimum of standards” and said that “one of those standards should be access to pastoral care.”

At the time, Wenski explained his archdiocese was having difficulty arranging Masses and spiritual care for the immigrants being held because the Florida state government and the federal government were “arguing among themselves who is accountable” for the detention center.

After months of discussions between Florida bishops, archdiocesan leadership, and state correctional authorities, an agreement was finally reached. Chaplains and pastoral ministers from the Archdiocese of Miami will have “full access” to the facility to offer liturgical Masses for detainees and staff.

The first Mass was held on Aug. 2 and is just the start of the regular liturgical celebrations expected at the center. The archdiocese reported that it will continue the ministry “following the facility’s guidelines and the pastoral availability of our clergy.”

The archdiocese plans “to have a successful and consistent Catholic presence at Alligator Alcatraz that will depend on effective ordination and coordination.” The goal is to “ensure a stable schedule of sacramental care and pastoral ministry that meets the spiritual needs of both attendees and staff, with the support of clergy and committed lay volunteers.”

“The Church has ‘no borders,’ for we all are members of one human family,” Wenski said. “Our ‘agenda’ was always to announce the ‘good news’ to the poor.”

Camp Mystic alumnae and family sing after a memorial service on July 7, 2025, honoring victims of the flash floods in Central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. / Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Houston, Texas, Aug 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

One month has passed since some of the deadliest and most destructive flooding in the state’s history took at least 136 lives in the Texas Hill Country over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Of the confirmed dead, 108 were in Kerr County, where the worst flooding occurred, and included 36 children, 27 of whom were attending Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

After extensive recovery efforts by local, state, federal, and international teams, as well as thousands of volunteers, most of the missing have been recovered or confirmed safe. Two people remained missing as of July 28, according to Kerr County commissioners. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said the county’s “primary goal is closure for the families” whose loved ones are still unaccounted for.

The Church’s response

As cleanup and rebuilding continue one month later, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio Vice President of Programs Lizzy Perales told CNA the nonprofit will continue to help flood victims “as long as it’s needed.”

“It will take years for people to rebuild their lives,” Perales said. 

At the request of San Antonio’s archbishop, Gustavo García-Siller, Catholic Charities was deployed immediately after the flood to assist the parish in Kerrville, Notre Dame Catholic Church. 

Since then, the nonprofit has three staff on site who are providing case management services, coordinating help for victims’ material needs, including emergency and longer-term housing and financial assistance, as well as mental health counseling and legal support. 

Catholic Charities also has a distribution site that has served over 450 people with hygiene items, food, water, cleaning supplies, baby items, and “anything families who have lost everything need,” Perales said.

In the immediate aftermath of the flood, the distribution site also provided aid to first responders in the form of food, electrolytes, tools, gloves, and small equipment.

Catholic Charities is assisting with emergency shelter and temporary lodging through a partnership with home rental company Airbnb. It has also assisted in the cost of several funerals in recent weeks.

Perales told CNA she is grateful for the many donations both Catholic Charities and Notre Dame Church have received in the last month. She said the recovery effort has been an ecumenical affair.

“We have worked with many other great organizations and collaborated with many other churches and faith leaders,” she said. “We all want to be good stewards and not duplicate our efforts.”

She asked for continued prayers for the victims as well as the many volunteers and relief workers.

Record rainfall led to the historic floods

The historic flooding began in the early hours of July 4 after record rainfall, with some areas receiving up to 15 inches. Hunt, a small town in Kerr County located near the headwaters of the Guadalupe River, received 6.5 inches in three hours, leading to the river rising 26 feet in 45 minutes and 33 feet in two hours. 

Though most of the devastation occurred along the Guadalupe, the San Saba, Frio, and Colorado rivers also flooded as the same storm system moved across the area.

The immense volume of water caused the rivers to overflow their banks, tearing homes from their foundations and sweeping away RVs, cabins, cars, and trees. Many awoke to find quickly-rising water in their homes or cabins, and survivors had to act quickly to escape.

Emergency response and warning systems

On July 3, ahead of an expected storm system, state officials held an emergency weather briefing in which they were warned there was a “minor” possibility of flash flooding in Kerr and surrounding counties. Due to the unexpectedly high volume of rainfall, at 1:14 a.m. on July 4, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning that included the towns of Kerrville, Ingram, and Hunt. The warning was escalated to an “emergency” at about 4:20 a.m., but by then, the river had already risen higher than 20 feet in some places. 

The National Weather Service did not issue a flash flood emergency in Kerrville until 5:34 a.m.

Many have criticized delays in emergency alerts and the lack of a flood warning system in the area, known as “Flash Flood Alley,” blaming officials from Camp Mystic leadership, the county, the state, FEMA, all the way up to President Donald Trump. 

In 2016, then-Kerr County commissioner Tom Moser said in a commissioners’ meeting: “I think that this area is one of the highest probability areas for flash floods that exists, OK — probably within, I don’t know, within the nation, but certainly within the state.” 

However, after multiple attempts over several years, Kerr County failed to secure state or FEMA funding for flood warning systems.

Camp Mystic had just passed an inspection by the Texas Department of State Health Services on July 2, which certified that the camp had an emergency and evacuation plan in place for disasters, including flooding. 

Camp Mystic is divided into two sections, and according to the inspection report, had 386 campers and 64 staff members at its Guadalupe River section and 171 campers and 44 staff at the newer, Cypress Lake section. All the victims, 26 girls and one counselor, came from the lower-lying Guadalupe River section.

A power outage around 4 a.m. that morning meant the camp’s public address system did not work, and no campers or counselors received text alerts because cellphones were prohibited while at camp.

Critics said the camp’s owners were irresponsible for continuing to operate the camp, even expanding it in recent years, knowing it was built on a flood plain. FEMA’s 2011 maps designated parts of Camp Mystic as a “Special Flood Hazard Area,” though some buildings were later removed from this designation after appeals by its owners, Tweety Eastland and her husband, Dick Eastland, who perished while rescuing campers during the flood.

Camp Mystic alumnae continue to fiercely defend the camp and the beloved Eastlands. Houston resident Mollie Osborne, who attended the camp as a girl and whose daughter had returned from a four-week session just before the July floods, said she will send her daughter back to the camp if it reopens next summer.

“The Eastlands are like family to us,” Osborne said. “And we trust them implicitly.”

St. John Vianney. / Credit: Herwig Reidlinger via Wikimedia Commons CC 3.0

CNA Newsroom, Aug 4, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

A century after the patron saint of priests, St. John Vianney, died on Aug. 4, 1859, Pope John XXIII reflected on the life of the saint and what it means to be a holy priest.

In contemplating his life, one immediately thinks of a priest who lived out great penance and whose “only motives were the love of God and the desire for the salvation of the souls of his neighbors,” John XXIII said.

The saintly pope reflected on the life of Vianney in an encyclical titled Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia. The encyclical was written in 1959 for the 100th anniversary of Vianney’s death.

After struggling with his studies, John Vianney was ordained a priest in 1815. Shortly afterward, he was assigned to Ars, France, near his hometown of Dardilly. There, he spent the majority of his priesthood.

The devoted pastor was known for his dedication to the poor, his counseling to those in need, and for founding La Providence, an orphanage for girls.

He was also well known for his dedication to the sacrament of penance. He would make himself available for confession for up to 16 hours daily.

In his encyclical, Pope John XXIII called St. John Vianney a model of priestly holiness.

“[The priest] is no longer supposed to live for himself … He must be aflame with charity toward everyone. Not even his thoughts, his will, his feelings belong to him, for they are rather those of Jesus Christ who is his life,” he wrote, quoting a sermon from Pope Pius XII.

“St. John Mary Vianney is a person who attracts and practically pushes all of us to these heights of the priestly life,” John XXIII further added.

The pope highlighted the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which he said Vianney exemplified.

“His example in the various works of priestly asceticism still points out the safest path to follow, and in the midst of this example, his poverty, chastity, and obedience stand forth in a brilliant light,” the pope said of Vianney.

“What great benefits are conferred on human society by men like this who are free of the cares of the world and totally dedicated to the divine ministry so that they can employ their lives, thoughts, powers in the interest of their brethren!”

Pope John XXIII said Vianney, who was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, clearly lived a life of poverty. He noted the saint’s heavy mortifications — restraining himself from food, sleep, and other personal belongings. 

“This detachment from external goods enabled him to offer the most devoted and touching care to the poor,” the pope said.

“He passed a life that was almost completely detached from the changeable, perishable goods of this world, and his spirit was free and unencumbered by impediments of this kind, so that it could always lie open to those who suffered from any kind of misery.”

Similarly, Pope John XXIII wrote, the preservation of chastity breaks the restraints of self-interest and grants a person greater dedication to those in need.

“St. John Mary Vianney has this pertinent comment to make in this regard: ‘A soul adorned with the virtue of chastity cannot help loving others; for it has discovered the source and font of love — God.’”

The pope also pointed to Vianney’s dedication to the virtue of obedience. The saint, he said, had desired a contemplative life rather than the heavy burden of pastoral duties, but he still remained obedient to his bishops.

“All his life he longed to lead a quiet and retired life in the background, and he regarded pastoral duties as a very heavy burden laid on his shoulders, and more than once he tried to free himself of it,” the pope said.

While God never allowed him to achieve this goal, it was certainly God’s way of forming the saint in the virtue of obedience, he said.

He also highlighted Vianney’s prayer life and devotion to the Eucharist, as well as his commitment to the sacrament of confession.

Pope John XXIII said Vianney “habitually restrained his own will” to further dedicate himself to the Church. He expressed hope that this fire for the Church that consumed Vianney may also consume all priests.

“It is said that St. John M. Vianney lived in the Church in such a way that he worked for it alone, and burned himself up like a piece of straw being consumed on fiery coals. May that flame which comes from the Holy Spirit reach those of us who have been raised to the priesthood of Jesus Christ and consume us too.”

This story was first published on Aug. 3, 2018, and has been updated.

The Augustine Institute’s new campus in St. Louis. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Augustine Institute

CNA Staff, Aug 3, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Most people don’t go to graduate school for the rich liturgical life. But that’s exactly what Adelyn Phillips has found at “Teachers for Christ,” a nascent Catholic master’s program in St. Louis, where she is one of 12 students this summer. 

Phillips said she has found a vibrant community, structured daily prayer, and solid theological formation. “My time in this program has already been incomparably rich,” she said of the program. 

“Never before have I experienced such a beautiful integration of my faith, studies, and friendships,” she said. “I have been encouraged and called higher by the good example of my peers and have been greatly nourished by the liturgical life on campus.” 

After nearly two months into the budding Catholic education graduate program, housed just north of St. Louis along the Missouri River, Phillips is not the only student to have found herself in a formative spiritual oasis.

“When I discovered the Teachers for Christ program, it was like a dream come true,” said Dylan Bufkin, another student of the program, which is run by two leading Catholic education organizations: Augustine Institute and Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE).

After a year of teaching, Bufkin knew that he “had a deep love for teaching and Catholic education.” But he felt a tension between “the modern vision of education” and “a more humanistic approach to curriculum.”

So, he came to St. Louis. There, he found that the “campus’ spirituality underlies and drives a rich community that is fundamentally about holy and intellectual friendship.”

“Here was a place that was partnering with master teachers through the Institute of Catholic Liberal Education to provide expert counsel and wisdom to its students and was dedicated to forming teachers in the educational tradition of the Church,” Bufkin said. “It only helped that my intellectual heroes, like St. John Henry Newman and St. Thomas Aquinas, were front and center in the program’s self-understanding.”

The two-year program centers on spiritual formation alongside theological studies and practical application.

Teachers for Christ, Phillips said, “places tremendous emphasis on our spiritual and human formation.”

“Our curriculum beautifully incorporates faith and reason, and our common life as students on campus is full of shared work and play,” Phillips said. “Everything is ordered toward bringing us closer to God, so that we can in turn bring others closer to him.”

For Bufkin, there’s one word for it: “blessed.”

“We are so blessed to have consistent opportunity for devotion and liturgical prayer that constantly feeds us with the grace needed to pursue holiness as a student, whether that means going back to the books after dinner or serving our classmates’ needs before our own,” Bufkin said.

“The rigor, the friendships, the grace are so life-giving, and I would be hard-pressed to find a better campus to be the background of all this wonderful growth,” Bufkin added.

Educational renewal 

Like a monastery, there is no rent or tuition. For the first 14 months of the program, graduate students live, study, and pray on scholarship as part of the debt-free program.

During the program’s second year, students have a practical year at one of ICLE’s member schools where the schools provide housing and financial support.

After graduation, the program offers placement assistance as well as a yearlong mentorship with ICLE staff and master teachers.

The debt-free, scholarship-based program is designed to give students “a firm theological foundation” while forming them as educators, according to Jeffrey Lehman, the Augustine Institute philosophy and theology professor who directs Teachers for Christ.

During the program, students receive what Lehman calls “whole person formation.” In addition to their studies, students live in community, attend daily Mass, and pray morning and evening prayer together. 

Theology classes, which make up a third of the program’s coursework, ground students in “the Church’s ongoing efforts to evangelize and to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel,” Lehman said.

Funded by donors with a passion for Catholic education, the program is part of an ongoing effort to revive classical teaching. Through the program, students receive accreditation from ICLE, which provides a national alternative to the state teacher licensure. 

Students also receive practical training, with classroom apprenticeship opportunities at Catholic schools in the surrounding area. For the second year of the program, students are placed at one of the more than 200 ICLE member schools in the U.S. 

Across the nation and the world, a “great renewal of Catholic education” is underway, Lehman said.

“In recent decades, a grassroots educational renewal, long referred to as ‘classical education,’ has been growing and maturing throughout the United States,” Lehman explained.

The revival of classical education stretches across denominations and religious affiliations. It can be found everywhere from Catholic parish schools to the Chesterton Academies to publicly-funded charter schools like Great Hearts Academies or even the Jewish prep school Emet Classical Academy in New York.

But classical education, Lehman said, is returning to its source — Catholic education.

“As the renewal grows and matures, it returns more and more to the theory and practice of Catholic education that stretches back from the present to the earliest encounter between Christianity and the pedagogical traditions of Greece and Rome,” Lehman said.

Classical Catholic K-8’s are growing in popularity across the U.S., with success stories from Massachusetts to Colorado. But while Catholic liberal arts education may be trending, it’s nothing new.

“From very early in her own history, the Catholic Church has been the greatest definer, defender, and provider of a truly liberal education,” Lehman said.

This classical Catholic emphasis makes the program unique among graduate programs.

“In a way that is unparalleled among other master’s in education programs, ours is grounded in a solid philosophy and anthropology,” Phillips said.

“We recognize that we cannot teach well without an understanding of the truth about the world around us, ourselves, and our Creator,” she added.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Dec. 20, 2024, that he has chosen CatholicVote President Brian Burch to be his ambassador to the Holy See. / Credit: Photo courtesy of CRC Advisors

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 2, 2025 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

The Senate has confirmed former CatholicVote president and founder Brian Burch to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. 

In a 49-44 vote on Aug. 2, the Senate confirmed the Catholic father of nine from Chicago. 

“I am profoundly grateful to President [Donald] Trump and the United States Senate for this opportunity to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the Holy See,” Burch said in a statement shared with CNA reacting to news of his confirmation. “As a proud Catholic American, I look forward to representing President Trump, Vice President [JD] Vance, and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio in this important diplomatic post.” 

He added: “I ask for the prayers of all Americans, especially my fellow Catholics, that I may serve honorably and faithfully in the noble adventure ahead.”

News of Burch’s confirmation comes after Senate Democrats initially blocked it, along with more than 50 other nominations, in May ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s installation Mass. CatholicVote has since named Kelsey Reinhardt as its new president.

“I have the honor and fortune of serving in this role following the historic election of the first American pope,” Burch said in the statement, adding: “In a remarkable coincidence, or what I prefer to attribute to providence, Pope Leo XIV is from Chicago, which is also my hometown.” 

He continued: “The relationship between the Holy See and the United States remains one of the most unique in the world, with the global reach and moral witness of the Catholic Church serving as a critical component of U.S. efforts to bring about peace and prosperity.”

In a Saturday statement, CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt said the organization "joyfully celebrates" Burch's confirmation.

"For the past 17 years, Brian has faithfully championed CatholicVote’s mission to inspire American Catholics to live their faith in public life," she said. "We are confident that he will similarly excel in this new role and are forever grateful for the foundation he laid and the impact he had on millions of Catholics across the Nation.”

Burch’s confirmation had been in limbo for several months after Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz placed a blanket hold on all State Department nominees, making good on a pledge he made in protest of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Senate majority leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, filed cloture on Burch’s confirmation on July 31, putting an end to the delay. 

Burch’s nomination had been previously advanced by the Foreign Relations Committee, with the committee’s 12 Republicans voting in favor and 10 Democrats opposed. During his confirmation hearing, Burch faced questions on foreign aid cuts, the China-Vatican agreement, and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

At the time, Burch expressed his support for Rubio’s attempts at “recharging and refocusing our foreign aid on places that would make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.” He further pledged to encourage the Holy See to push back against the Chinese government’s intervention in the election of Catholic bishops.

On the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Burch said he believed the Holy See “can play a very significant role” in permanently ending the conflict and bringing about the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

Health care professionals at the Colorado-based, pro-life Bella Health and Wellness health care clinic. / Credit: Bella Health and Wellness

CNA Staff, Aug 2, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A federal district court on Friday ordered that a Colorado medical clinic run by two Catholic nurses can continue its abortion-pill reversal ministry, partially blocking a state law that had sought to ban the practice.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said in his Friday ruling that Colorado’s abortion pill reversal ban interfered with the religious rights of nurses Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett.

The Catholic mother-daughter team runs the Denver-area Bella Health and Wellness clinic. Part of their services include administering the hormone progesterone that can counteract the effects of chemical abortions.

Colorado in 2023 banned abortion pill reversal alleging that it constitutes a “deceptive trade practice.” That same year the nurses sued the state over the ban, arguing that it impeded their religious beliefs and those of their clients.

Domenico in October 2023 issued a temporary block on the state’s ban. His ruling on Friday made the ban permanent.

It is “not disputed that by effectively prohibiting them from using a particular treatment for pregnant women, this law burdened [the nurses’] sincerely held religious beliefs,” the judge wrote in part.

And “while the clinical efficacy of abortion pill reversal remains debatable, nobody has been injured by the treatment and a number of women have successfully given birth after receiving it,” he said.

The state failed to show it had “a compelling interest in regulating this practice,” he ruled in making the injunction permanent.

The judge noted that Colorado in numerous other contexts allows “off-label” use of progesterone, The state, he said, did not provide compelling evidence that using progesterone to counteract an abortion pill “sets medication abortion reversal apart from other off-label uses of progesterone.”

Domenico said his ruling only prohibits action against the Bella clinic and does not impact the overall law itself.

In a press release from the religious liberty law firm Becket, which had represented the clinic in the suit, the nurses said the state “tried to deprive pregnant women of the life-affirming care that is best for them and their babies.”

“We are overjoyed that the court has recognized our constitutional right to continue offering this support to the many women who come to our clinic seeking help,” they said.

Becket attorney Rebekah Ricketts, meanwhile, said the ruling “ensures that pregnant women in Colorado will not be denied this compassionate care or be forced to have abortions against their will.”  

In addition to abortion pill reversal, the clinic also offers primary care, gynecology, infertility help, and surgery for women’s health, as well as pediatric care and men’s health care.

Gabby is the Ecuador program’s mother representative on the Innovation Fund proposal selection committee. Standing before a photo of Unbound’s late co-founder Bob Hentzen, she proudly holds the certificate of recognition awarded to her by Unbound for her participation and valuable contributions in the selection process. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Unbound

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Once seen as only recipients of aid, mothers in underprivileged areas across the globe are becoming agents of change as the Catholic nonprofit Unbound empowers them to create paths out of poverty and serve as community leaders.

“From our founding in 1981, our mission, our reason of being, our approach from our founders, has been driven by a core belief in letting the people that we support make the decisions,” Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound, told CNA.

“It stems in part from their own faith, from Catholic social teaching, but those closest to the problem … make the decisions,” she said.

To further execute its mission, Unbound has implemented a number of programs including Poverty Stoplight and Agents of Change that keep the decision-making power in the hands of those who can “effectively improve their families best” — mothers.

Poverty Stoplight 

Unbound is “driven by empowerment, dignity of the person, [and] goal setting,” Hufft said.

The organization advanced this mission through a partnership with nonprofit Fundación Paraguaya and its coaching tool, Poverty Stoplight.

“What Poverty Stoplight has done with this partnership has brought us a tool … for the families to help better define what the goals are that tie to indicators of multidimensional poverty, help set their goals, and help see goal by goal achievement,” Hufft said.

Unbound works “in 16 countries and with over a quarter of a million families. So techniques and methods that work at a small scale don’t necessarily work at that scale,” Dan Pearson, chief international programs officer of Unbound, told CNA.

As of June, Unbound is the largest implementer of the Poverty Stoplight with more than 250,000 participants.

The first step of the program is for “the families themselves [to] determine the dimensions of poverty in their area,” Pearson said. “We know that poverty is not just about money. It’s about a whole range of lack of opportunities and lack of choices.”

They determine the most relevant indicators of poverty within their specific location. The families examine key indicators including income, employment, housing, education, and health to get a better idea of where they are at. 

Then the mothers and families themselves define what “poverty,” “extreme poverty,” and “no poverty” actually mean to them, which Pearson called an “eye-opening” step.

“It surprised us that most of the families we serve never had a clear picture of what they were trying to achieve. They see the wealthy people on TV, and they know that’s probably not where they’re going to get.” Pearson asked: “But, what are they trying to get to? What would that look like tangibly?”

“Then the third step is self-assessing,” Pearson said. Families decide what areas in their lives are “red” for extreme poverty, “yellow” for poverty, or “green” for no poverty. “With up to 50 indicators in each location, families found that they were already green in some areas.”

After finishing the assessment, families set priorities. They are given a “life map” that shows the “red, yellow, and green dots for each of the indicators, and they identify which of those they want to focus on now.”

They then receive a cash transfer from Unbound to aid their newly established goals. “Having the certainty of some income from us helps them do longer-term planning, because that decision-making horizon extends by weeks or months. And we make better decisions when we have a longer-term horizon like that,” Pearson said.

A June assessment found that since implementing Poverty Stoplight in 2020, Unbound “families have logged close to 300,000 achievements,” Hufft said. Meaning their indicators have moved “from extreme poverty to no poverty, or poverty to no poverty.”

Pearson attributed the success to the fact that “the families themselves retain control over the decisions that impact their lives.”

“Ultimately the families, and particularly the mothers … are the experts,” he said.

Agents of Change 

The mothers are “not doing it alone by any means,” Hufft said.

Unbound offers direct guidance through its local teams that provide training, support, and resources. But what is especially unique is that the families going through Unbound programs work together for assistance and encouragement.

In 2001, Unbound started its small-group model in India, placing 25 to 30 mothers in groups to meet monthly for extra support. Now, there are more than 11,000 groups across the globe.

“As we started to see some success with the Poverty Stoplight at the household level … we were trying to figure out then how [to] take that to the community level, again, without sacrificing the control that they have over these decisions,” Pearson said. “We looked to those small groups of women, and we created a program first called Agents of Change.”

The program places women who know their local challenges best at the forefront of coming up with solutions. They determine how funds are allocated to support community ideas that would improve lives and help break the cycle of poverty.

Unbound recently set aside a $500,000 innovation fund to fund larger approved projects. It will fund 10-12 grants ranging from $20,000 to $60,000, focused on addressing urgent needs identified by those experiencing them.

“The difference, though, is that they don’t submit those proposals to us, and they don’t submit those proposals to our donors or to our partners,” Pearson said.

“Our partners overseas work with the communities to select one representative from each country,” who then make up the committees that receive the program proposals. They decide which to fund, giving the women “the experience of being on the funder side, of having to weigh competing priorities within the community.”

The approved grants from the innovation fund will help thousands, including 600 families in San Marcos, Guatemala, that will receive access to clean water thanks to the “Sustainable and Accessible Water Supply System: Source of Life” program.

Another approved proposal is called “Disability Is Not Inability” developed in Tanzania that is “equipping a technical center for children with special needs” to help 100 Unbound sponsored and non-sponsored students.

Future of Unbound 

“We’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible and that our responsibility in international nonprofits is to look for new ways to create a framework where the community itself can take control of their futures,” Hufft said. 

“One of our strategic goals is elimination of poverty. If you look overall at the state of our world and … at the numbers of people living in extreme poverty, it does seem overwhelming,” Hufft said. But “what Unbound is showing, with data now because of Poverty Stoplight, it is possible.”

“When you take it family by family, individual by individual, it’s possible,” Hufft concluded.