Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV appointed Monsignor James A. Misko, a priest of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as the next bishop of Tucson, Arizona, on Dec. 22, 2025. / Credit: Diocese of Austin

Vatican City, Dec 22, 2025 / 09:58 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Monsignor James A. Misko, a priest of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as the next bishop of Tucson, Arizona.

The Holy See Press Office publicized the appointment at the Vatican, and it was also publicized in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 22 by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Misko has been serving as vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Austin.

Misko, 55, was born June 18, 1970, in Los Angeles. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from St. Edward’s University in Austin and later completed priestly formation and graduate theological studies in Houston, including a master of divinity degree at St. Mary’s Seminary. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Austin on June 9, 2007.

Before entering seminary, Misko worked in the restaurant industry from 1991 to 2000, according to biographical information shared by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

His priestly assignments have included service as parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Pflugerville (2007–2010) followed by leadership at Christ the King Parish in Belton — first as administrator (2010–2011) and then as pastor (2011–2014). He later served as pastor of St. Louis King of France Parish in Austin (2014–2019).

In 2019, Misko was named vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Austin. In 2025, he also served as diocesan administrator of the diocese, a role he held from March to September.

Misko is a native English speaker and is also proficient in Spanish.

He succeeds Bishop Edward Joseph Weisenburger, who served as bishop of Tucson beginning in 2017 and was appointed archbishop of Detroit in February.

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London, England, Dec 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church must be bolder in sharing its vision of human anthropology, expert voices in the Church have warned in response to reports about poor mental health among teenagers in England and Wales.

On Dec. 9 the Guardian U.K. reported that 40% of 13- to 17-year-olds in England and Wales affected by violence are turning to AI companions for support because the waiting lists for counseling are so long, with youth leaders emphasizing that vulnerable young people need human connection.

Edwin Fawcett, a Catholic psychotherapist based in England and Wales, told CNA in an interview: “Young people would benefit from more readily available resources which boldly and clearly share the beautiful truth of the Church’s anthropology, so lacking in secular mental health care.” 

“And yet it could be tempting to simply fuel the machinery of our strong structures (e.g. dioceses, parishes, faith schools) with brilliant podcasts and videos — arguably still no match for an AI companion,” he said.

“If what’s really lacking is healthy human connection and its modeling, then to better support young people in the long run, I believe we must go upstream, to problems such as inadequate seminary formation and marriage prep, poor support and accountability in Church leadership, and few opportunities for professional training in Catholic psychology,” he continued.

“And we also have to remember that as cells in Christ’s body, none of us gets a pass on discerning how we’re each called to take some ownership of the difficult work of individual and corporate integration and growth — which includes caring for the young people right around us, today.”

Father Michael Baggot, a professor in bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, has written extensively on AI companionship. He told CNA that the “best insights from contemporary psychological sciences” could be integrated with “a broad and rich traditional Catholic anthropology.”

“Youth need flesh-and-blood mentors who embody the messiness and joy of living the Gospel,” he argued. “Mentors can accompany young people in engaging in the embodied community activities (worship, dance, sports, hiking, music, etc.) that AI companions cannot provide. … The entire Catholic moral life is directed to flourishing, that is, happiness in the fullest sense.” 

“‘The Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person’ shows how to integrate the best insights from contemporary psychological sciences within a broad and rich traditional Catholic anthropology,” he argued.

“Formation programs for youth, whether conducted in classrooms, churches, on playing fields, lakes, or mountains, should communicate the adventure of the faith. Formators can help youth discover their talents and unique vocation.”

Baggot also suggested that those individuals who have been hurt by AI could share their stories.

“Church institutions should foster a welcoming, inclusive community that challenges members and promotes growth in virtue,” he said. “Parishes, schools, orphanages, hospitals, and every family should create space for youth to share their hopes, dreams, and struggles. This daily effort to build healthy communities is central to the Lord’s call to live in communion with him and with our neighbors.”

In a statement to CNA, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said there is “little doubt that AI will, increasingly, be a technology that will help people in practical ways. This will include people who need medical and social care and who could be monitored remotely or reminded to undertake certain tasks.”

“However, AI companions can never replace real human relationships and, in our parishes as well as in our personal lives, we must reinvigorate the personal relationships — and a relationship with God — that are at the heart of real human fulfillment,” the bishops said. 

“The interest of so many in the Catholic Church in AI is heartening as it is only through careful discernment that we can ensure that this technology promotes the common good and human dignity.”

Giotto’s Nativity fresco projected on the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. / Credit: Buffy1982/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Dec 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

It’s a well-known origin story: how the young and wealthy Francis of Assisi freely abandoned his noble patrimony to serve Christ’s Church as a poor, itinerant preacher.

One of the world’s most beloved saints, the founder of the Franciscan order cared deeply for God’s creation. He also loved Christmas, the solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.

St. Francis’ meditations on the life of Christ led him to create the first-ever Nativity scene in Greccio, Italy, in 1223.

From the Holy Land to Italy

It is believed Francis’ inspiration to do a live representation of the birth of Jesus came from his time in the Holy Land in the years 1219 and 1220.

Seeing the holy sites of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection made them feel all the more real — and he wanted to recreate that experience.

In November 1223, three years before his death, St. Francis was in Rome to await the pope’s approval of the final rule of his friars.

The friar and deacon was already very familiar with the hill town of Greccio, about 50 miles north of Rome. He had first arrived there over a decade prior and would frequently return to preach to the people of the surrounding countryside.

Eventually, a hermitage was built for St. Francis a short distance outside the town.

Ahead of his return to the hermitage, two weeks before Christmas, Francis asked his friend, Lord of Greccio Giovanni Velita, to prepare a cave with live animals and a hay-filled manger.

The friar had, during his audience with the pope, already received permission to stage the scene of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.

According to the first biographer of St. Francis, Brother Thomas of Celano, the friar desired to “re-present the birth of that Child in Bethlehem in such a way that with our bodily eyes we may see what he suffered for lack of the necessities of a newborn babe and how he lay in a manger between the ox and ass.”

That was how, in December 1223, in the rocky crags a short distance outside Greccio, people flocked to see the simple scene during Christmas Mass.

St. Francis, who was a deacon, proclaimed the Gospel and preached the homily.

According to accounts of the moment, fires lit the dark scene while crowds arrived at the spot carrying candles and torches.

An eyewitness says a miracle happened at Mass that night.

Giovanni Veleti asserted that he saw a real infant appear in the empty manger and that St. Francis took the beautiful child into his arms, holding him to his chest in an embrace.

In the period that followed, other miracles were reported, brought about by touching the straw of the manger where the Child Jesus had appeared.

Miraculous healings took place after pieces of hay were placed on sick animals or laboring women in difficulty.

Greccio today

The place where the first Nativity was staged can still be seen today in the Franciscan hermitage and sanctuary outside the main town. The rock is topped by an altar for celebrating Mass and adorned with frescoes depicting Jesus’ birth.

Pope Francis visited the spot two times: once in 2016 and again on Dec. 1, 2019, when he signed an apostolic letter on the meaning and importance of Nativity scenes.

“All those present” at St. Francis’ Christmas Mass, Pope Francis wrote in Admirabile Signum, “experienced a new and indescribable joy in the presence of the Christmas scene. The priest then solemnly celebrated the Eucharist over the manger, showing the bond between the incarnation of the Son of God and the Eucharist. At Greccio there were no statues; the Nativity scene was enacted and experienced by all who were present.”

Every year at Christmas, the people of Greccio stage a live, historical reenactment of St. Francis and the first Nativity scene. The performance is now in its 50th year.

This story was first published on Dec. 23, 2022, and has been updated.

Downtown Kansas City, Kansas. / Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Multiple Catholic schools in Kansas were targeted by what were apparently hoax bomb threats this week, according to authorities.

Law enforcement agencies in the Kansas City area reported investigating threats at numerous Catholic schools on Dec. 19. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas confirmed in a press statement that “several” Catholic schools in the archdiocese had “received bomb threats” on both Dec. 18 and Dec. 19.

“At this time, students and staff are safe,” Archdiocesan Superintendent Vince Cascone said in the statement. “Law enforcement continues to investigate, and we are following their guidance closely.”

The archdiocese did not post a list of the schools affected by the bomb threats, though local media reported at least 13 schools targeted, 12 of which were Catholic.

The Olathe, Kansas, Police Department posted on Facebook that it had investigated a threat at the city’s Prince of Peace Catholic School. “The threat was unfounded, and it was determined that other cities in the metro were receiving similar hoax calls,” the police department said, adding that it was investigating the origin of the call.

Roeland Park Mayor Michael Poppa similarly wrote on Facebook that the threats were “unfounded.” The mayor described the hoaxes as “cowardly and deplorable attempts to spread fear and disrupt our community.”

Poppa praised authorities as well as staff at St. Agnes Catholic School “for jumping into action immediately to prioritize student safety.”

Multiple local outlets, meanwhile, reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is participating in the investigation.

The pope with boys and girls from Italian Catholic Action on Dec. 18, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV told the young people of Italian Catholic Action that they can perform a simple gesture that would be the best gift this Christmas: make peace.

“Before the holy night of Christmas, think of someone with whom you can make peace,” the pontiff urged members of the organization, founded in 1868, which has established itself as one of the main lay organizations of the Church in Italy.

‘A gift more valuable than those you can buy in stores’

“It will be a gift more valuable than those you can buy in stores, because peace is a gift that is truly found only in the heart,” he added.

He said peace is the “Catholic action par excellence,” because it is “the gesture that transforms us as witnesses of Jesus, the redeemer of the world.”

In this way, Leo made it clear that peace “is not only the absence of war” but above all “a friendship between peoples founded on justice.”

“We all desire this peace for the nations wounded by conflict, but let us remember that harmony and respect begin in our daily relationships, in the gestures and words we exchange at home, in the parish, with our schoolmates and teammates,” he explained.

Christians, called ‘to be better every day’

The pontiff also asked them that when they pray before the Nativity scene, they “ask to be able to be like those angels who announce the glory of God and peace to men.” This peace, he continued, is the “commitment of every person of goodwill, and especially of us Christians, who are called not only to be good but to be better every day.”

Leo thus invited his listeners to “become saints” and gave the example of the two young Italians: Pier Giorgio Frassati — who was part of Catholic Action — and Carlo Acutis, whom he canonized together on Sept. 7.

“I encourage you to imitate their passion for the Gospel and their works, always inspired by charity. By acting like them, your proclamation of peace will be radiant, because in the company of Jesus you will be truly free and happy, ready to reach out to your neighbor, especially those in difficulty,” he emphasized.

Italian Catholic Action has more than 229,000 members and is present in approximately 5,000 parishes in almost all the dioceses of the country.

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

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CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In an era when artificial contraception often dominates public discussions on family planning, the Catholic Church continues to champion natural family planning (NFP). 

Far from merely another birth control technique, NFP invites couples to cooperate with God’s plan for married love, which “is a ‘great mystery,’ a sign of the love between Christ and his Church (Eph 5:32),” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  

NFP — also known as a fertility awareness-based method (FABM) — relies on observing and measuring a woman’s natural signs of fertility, such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and hormone levels, in order to identify fertile and infertile phases of her menstrual cycle. 

Unlike chemical or mechanical contraceptives, which suppress or block fertility, NFP respects the woman’s body and its natural rhythms and allows spouses to achieve or postpone pregnancy, after mutual discernment, through informed abstinence during fertile windows. 

Most importantly, NFP honors the sacredness of the unitive and procreative aspects of the conjugal act, which the Church teaches must always be a total gift of self between the spouses and open to the gift of new human life. 

“Suppressing fertility by using contraception denies part of the inherent meaning of married sexuality and does harm to the couple’s unity,” according to the USCCB. “The total giving of oneself, body and soul, to one’s beloved is no time to say: ‘I give you everything I am — except…’ The Church’s teaching is not only about observing a rule but about preserving that total, mutual gift of two persons in its integrity.”

In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, St. Paul VI affirmed that couples may space births for serious reasons, using natural methods that honor the “inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings” of the marital act. 

The USCCB explains that “NFP is not a contraceptive, it does nothing to suppress or block conception.”

“On the surface, there may seem to be little difference (between NFP and contraception),” according to the bishops. “But the end result is not the only thing that matters, and the way we get to that result may make an enormous moral difference. Some ways respect God’s gifts to us while others do not.”

The bishops continue: “When couples use contraception, either physical or chemical, they suppress their fertility, asserting that they alone have ultimate control over this power to create a new human life. With NFP, spouses respect God’s design for life and love. They may choose to refrain from sexual union during the woman’s fertile time, doing nothing to destroy the love-giving or life-giving meaning that is present. This is the difference between choosing to falsify the full marital language of the body and choosing at certain times not to speak that language.”

The practice of NFP traces its modern roots to the mid-20th century, evolving from early, relatively unreliable calendar-based methods in the 1930s to the smartphone app-based approaches of today. 

Common methods include the Billings Ovulation Method, which tracks cervical mucus changes, and sympto-thermal methods, which combine the charting of mucus observations, temperature shifts, and cervical changes. The Marquette Model uses “several different biomarker devices to detect urinary biomarkers (estrogen, LH, and progesterone),” according to its website.

Per USCCB data, NFP, with perfect use, yields 88% to 100% effectiveness in avoiding pregnancy, with imperfect use at 70% to 98%. For couples trying to achieve pregnancy, it typically occurs in about one year for approximately 85% of couples not using NFP, and within three to six months for those who are. 

Pope Francis praised the Billings method in 2023 as “a valuable tool” for “responsible management of procreative choices,” urging a “new revolution in our way of thinking” to value the body’s “great book of nature.” He noted its simplicity amid a “contraceptive culture,” promoting tenderness between the spouses and an authentic freedom.

Beyond efficacy at planning, preventing, or postponing pregnancy in a morally licit way, couples who use NFP acknowledge that it can be difficult but say it improves communication as well as self-mastery, transforming what can be otherwise difficult times of periodic abstinence into opportunities for deeper intimacy.

Jessica Vanderhyde, a nurse and mother of seven who is using the Marquette method because she and her husband do not feel ready to welcome another child, told CNA that while NFP can be frustrating because of the periods of abstinence it requires, it also “leads to a lot more closeness in the marriage.”

“If it’s been a long period of abstinence, we try to come up with other ways to be close. I need to make sure I’m more affectionate with him because sexual intimacy is one of the primary ways he feels I love him. If that can’t happen, I have to be conscious of that,” she said.

“We have become good at taking each other’s feelings and needs into consideration. I work at providing what he needs as much as I can.”

Vanderhyde also noted how charting symptoms can bring the couple closer as it allows the husband to really appreciate his wife’s body as well as her needs.

“The husband should be involved in the tracking of it,” she continued, “so that he fully participates in the process and doesn’t feel like he’s at the whims of his wife’s moods.”

She said it can also reveal underlying health issues like infertility or hormonal imbalances, which artificial forms of birth control can mask.

Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, seeks to form active missionary disciples. / Credit: Iskali

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Fifteen years ago, Vicente Del Real felt called to create a way to reach out to young Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. and provide them with a space to encounter God and use their gifts and talents for the Church. He went on to found Iskali, a nonprofit based in Chicago that promotes the leadership and holistic development of Latino youth, helping them flourish spiritually, personally, academically, and socially. 

Inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role in the Americas as “the star of the new evangelization,” Iskali works to form, empower, and equip young Latinos to become transformative leaders and to invigorate the Catholic Church.

The name “Iskali” comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, language symbolizing growth, resurgence, and new beginnings. This was also the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke when she appeared to Juan Diego. Despite Juan Diego being from the Chichimeca people, and not an Aztec, the two groups of people shared the same language. 

Del Real told CNA in an interview that he felt the need to “respond to the urgent need to walk with young Hispanics as they navigate the questions of life, the struggles of life, and to be able to provide to them what the Church has to say and has to offer.”

He added that “at the heart of Iskali is the work of evangelization.” This is done through providing young Latinos with an “adequate formation so they can understand the faith,” which will hopefully lead them to have a “personal encounter with God.”

Iskali is founded on four pillars: faith and community, mentorship and scholarship, sports and wellness, and service to the poor. 

The pillar of faith and community involves members coming together each week for fellowship. Anywhere from five to 600 young adults gather to spend time getting to know one another and learning more about God and the Catholic faith. 

Through Iskali’s mentorship program, individuals are matched with a Latino professional who serves as a mentor and helps them with professional development. Iskali also provides scholarships for young people to attend colleges and trade schools, and works with parishes to set up a variety of sports leagues to help young people build relationships, provide another form of faith formation, and stay active. 

Additionally, once a month, Iskali communities serve those most in need — the homeless, people in hospitals, nursing homes, and immigrant families who have been affected by detentions or deportations.

Several recent studies show that the Latino population is the fastest-growing demographic in the Catholic Church. Del Real said he believes this is because “Latino young people are very attentive to the faith.”

“They have seen their faith lived in their families, our home, with their grandmas, with their mothers. Faith is kind of embedded in our culture,” he added.

In response to this growth being seen among Latinos in parishes, Iskali is launching a missionary program where a full-time missionary will be assigned to a parish that has a Hispanic population of over 50% to work in Hispanic ministry.

“We are very, very excited … this is the first missionary program that helps to serve the Latino Church in the U.S., and we hope that this missionary program will bear the fruits of vocations to marriage, vocation to priesthood in the Hispanic community,” Del Real shared.

Del Real said he also hopes that those who are a part of Iskali leave the formation knowing that they “are beloved, know that God is seeking intimacy with you, and know that he wants you to flourish as a person.”

“We always say that we hope the people flourish,” he said. “God is a God of love and he wants to see us flourish. If we are a flower in his garden, he wants us to bloom.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during an end-of-year press conference in the State Department Press Briefing Room in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. / Credit: Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there will be a plan “early next month” for religious worker visas that would avoid giving preference to one denomination over another.

Rubio said at a Dec. 19 press conference in Washington, D.C., that the administration has “worked closely with a lot of the religious authorities” to reach a plan. 

In July, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a report alleging widespread fraud in its permanent residence program for unaccompanied minors and said it caused a backlog in issuance of visas to migrant priests and religious.

Visas for religious workers allow foreign nationals to work for a U.S. religious organization, through the temporary R-1 visa or a Green Card EB-4 visa, which requires at least two years of membership in the same denomination and a job offer from a qualifying nonprofit religious  group. 

Rubio previously said the administration was working to create a “standalone process” for religious workers, separate from other competing applicants — such as from the juvenile program — to the employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) category of visas. 

Rubio said Friday the plan has factored in multiple aspects, including where the religious workers are coming from and their specific denominations. 

“We’re not discriminating in favor of one versus another,” he said. “Some denominations are more professionalized in terms of what they’re able to provide us with and information versus others.”

“We have country-specific requirements depending on the country they’re coming from. But I think we have a good plan in place to put that into effect,” Rubio said.

“I think we’re going to get to a good place,” Rubio said. “We don’t have it ready yet. All this takes time to put together, but we’re moving quickly. I think we’ll have something positive about that at some point next month, hopefully in the early part of next month.”

The department has worked “with a number of denominations in that process,” Rubio said. “One of the big users of that system is the Catholic Church. We worked with the conference of bishops.”

Priests and other Church leaders have expressed fear of having to leave their ministries and return to their home countries, then endure lengthy wait times before coming back. Church officials have warned that a continuing backlog could lead to significant priest shortages in the United States.

“We are grateful for the administration’s attention to this important issue for the Church and value the opportunity for ongoing dialogue to address these challenges so the faithful can have access to the sacraments and other essential ministries,” a spokesperson for the USCCB told CNA. 

Since the issue of the backlogged visas started, multiple U.S. dioceses have called for a solution. Priests in the Archdiocese of Boston who are in the U.S. on visas were urged to avoid international travel amid the Trump administration’s immigration policies and deportations. 

Last month, a Catholic diocese in New Jersey dropped its lawsuit against the U.S. government, in anticipation of an administrative fix to the religious worker visa issue.

Immigration vetting process 

Rubio was asked if the administration would expand the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in the coming year, particularly for religious minorities facing persecution in places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran.

“In the last four years, we had a flood of people,” Rubio said. “So that’s what we confronted. We have to stop that. And we did. We’ve been successful.”

Rubio further spoke on the topic of immigration and the importance of the “vetting” process, in which he answered questions both in Spanish and English.

The nation can see the border is secure and “the number of illegal entries has completely collapsed,” Rubio said. “Now we’re facing the second challenge, and that is we’ve admitted a lot of people into the United States, and perhaps the overwhelming majority of them are not bad people and so forth. This is all true.”

“There are people in this country who got in through some form of vetting that was wholly insufficient,” Rubio said.

“We’ve seen tragic evidence of that very recently, including people that we claim to have vetted. Why does that happen? Because there are some places where you can’t vet people,” he said.

“You can only vet people on the basis of information you have about them,” Rubio said. But that information is based on if the department or “some local authority that actually has any information about them.”

“That is the challenge we’re facing, which is why the president put a stop to all of these things until these systems for admitting people into our country can be improved,” he said.

Rubio criticized the immigration policies of the Biden administration, calling the policies reckless and incompetent, and said there’s a desire to fix immigration processes and know who’s in the country.

In terms of legal immigration, the United States “remains the most generous country in the world,” Rubio said. 

“This year alone, close to a million people will enter this country legally,” he said. “But we do have a right, like every sovereign country does, to know who you are, why you’re coming, what you’ve done in the past, and what we think you might or might not do in the future.”

“Most of the countries in the world have far more restrictive immigration policies than the United States has ever had,” Rubio said. 

The Trump administration expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year, and the Department of Homeland Security said 1.6 million people self-deported since Jan. 20.

U.S. bishops issued a special message in November opposing the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.

Bishop of San Diego Michael Pham dedicates “Angels Unawares,” a new sculpture on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD), on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of University of San Diego

San Diego, California, Dec 19, 2025 / 15:22 pm (CNA).

Bishop of San Diego Michael Pham dedicated “Angels Unawares,” a new sculpture on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD), on Thursday. The 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture by artist Timothy Schmalz is a scaled version of one in St. Peter’s Square in Rome commissioned by Pope Francis in 2019 and depicts 140 migrants of varying backgrounds on board a boat with a pair of angel wings in their midst.

According to USD President Jim Harris, the sculpture is intended to remind the viewer “of how biblical teachings encourage us to care for our most poor and vulnerable communities, including those who flee their countries in search of a better life.”

Located in front of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies on the western edge of campus, the new sculpture is situated in the perfect position, said Michael Lovette-Colyer, USD vice president of mission integration.

“It will be the first thing visitors see when they enter our campus,” he explained. “It overlooks the Pacific Ocean, with the boat pointing towards the heart of our campus. It calls to mind that our campus is a welcoming place.”

Lovette-Colyer also noted that the campus was located near a United States international border with Mexico, “so our geographic location calls for all people to respect human dignity.”

Victor Carmona, USD associate professor of theology and religious studies for the past eight years, also said he believes the installation reflects “a desire for USD to continue being a welcoming place.” He said he is “excited” about the sculpture’s installation, believing “it connects USD to the global Church in terms of priorities and mission.”

The work of artist Timothy Schmalz

The sculpture is the creation of Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz, who attended the event and has created images in bronze for historical churches in Rome as well as worldwide.

Schmalz is also known for his “Homeless Jesus” sculpture depicting Jesus as a homeless man sleeping on a park bench and his “When I Was in Prison,” depicting Jesus behind bars.

The original “Homeless Jesus” sculpture was installed at Regis College in Toronto; the statue has been copied and installed at more than 90 other locations worldwide since. “When I Was in Prison” can be found at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

The “Angels Unawares” piece, Schmalz said, was inspired by the Scripture passage “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels [or “angels unawares” in other translations]” (Heb 13:2). Schmalz got the idea for the piece after a conversation with Jesuit Father (now Cardinal) Michael Czerny, former undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees section of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.  

In 2017, Schmalz recalled, Czerny “suggested that I start thinking about creating a sculpture on migrants and refugees, not just because it is a crisis today but as always important throughout human history.”

He explained that the work “depicts a group of migrants and refugees from different cultural and racial backgrounds and from diverse historic periods of time. They stand together, shoulder to shoulder, huddled on a raft.”

The angel wings emerge from their midst, “suggesting the presence of the sacred among them.”

Replicas of the work have since gone on tour for viewing by the faithful throughout the U.S.; replicas have been installed at both The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and St. Joseph’s Oratory in Canada. USD president Harris wanted a replica installed on his campus after viewing “Angels Unawares” in Rome, as “it aligned with USD’s Catholic mission and values,” he said. The sculpture was funded by an anonymous donor.

“I hope this sculpture can provide our Torero community with feelings of compassion that transcend all borders and politics,” Harris said.

Schmalz said the purpose of “Angels Unawares” as well as all his art “is to evangelize and preach the Gospel.” Nearly all of the 140 migrants featured on the boat are of actual people he researched; some are based on the faces of live models who came to his Toronto-area studio. Many of his ideas came from photographs of migrants who passed through New York Harbor’s Ellis Island. And two of the figures are based on the parents of Czerny, who were once migrants from Hungary fleeing communism.

The artist said he believes “Angels Unawares” is in the same category as the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, “but with faces and a spiritual centering.” He added that art was an effective tool that the Catholic Church can use to convey the “Christian message” and described himself as “an artist soldier for the Vatican.”

International Migrants Day

The blessing of the sculpture by Pham coincided with the United Nations’ International Migrants Day. Pham was invited not only because he is the bishop of San Diego and a member of the college’s board of trustees but also because he, too, was a migrant, having fled Vietnam in 1980.

Thursday’s blessing began with 12:15 p.m. Mass, with Pham as presider, followed by the unveiling of the sculpture. Harris offered remarks; participants included members of the USD faculty, staff, and student body.

Lovette-Colyer acknowledged that the sculpture installation coincided with a time of contentious debate over immigration in the United States and other countries, with Catholics passionately advocating on both sides of the issue.

Referencing recent statements and a video by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops promoting a more generous immigration policy, he said: “We’re on the side of Pope Francis and Pope Leo, our local Bishop Pham and his predecessor [Cardinal Robert] McElroy on the issue. We acknowledge there are political dimensions, but we don’t want to be partisan. As Pope Francis emphasized, we want to be humane and respect the dignity of all human persons.”

He continued: “Immigration is a topic that evokes strong feelings. It is an important issue for our students to learn about and consider. The sculpture can be a conversation starter in the classroom, where our students can discuss it critically and carefully.”

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CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA).

Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group. 

Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”

The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster. 

Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. 

Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.

The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change. 

Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said. 

With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code. 

The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs. 

Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.

The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”

Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.

In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.

In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.

In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. 

The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”