Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Archbishop Georg Gänswein speaks at a conference on the Šiluva Declaration in Šiluva, Lithuania, on Sept. 4, 2024. / Credit: Juozas Kamenskas

Šiluva, Lithuania, Oct 29, 2025 / 15:59 pm (CNA).

Twenty years after then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned of a “dictatorship of relativism” on the eve of his election as Pope Benedict XVI, his former secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, echoed that warning at a recent conference in Lithuania.

The former prefect of the papal household and longtime personal secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, Gänswein drew deeply on the late pontiff’s philosophy as he delivered the keynote address at this year’s conference, which brought together academics, civic leaders, public intellectuals, and clergy to discuss the principles of the 2021 Šiluva Declaration. 

The declaration advocates the defense of fundamental human rights, the fostering of virtue, and the promotion of societal common good. It recognizes the importance of a society built upon the pillars of truth, family values, human dignity, and faith in God and has since become a moral reference point for Catholic social thinkers in Lithuania.

Gänswein’s lecture offered a rich philosophical and theological reflection on faith, reason, and relativism, aspects that he described as a “constant theme in Ratzinger’s work.” The archbishop, who now serves as nuncio to the Baltic states, warned that when either faith or reason is diminished, that inevitably leads to “pathologies and the disintegration of the human person.”

This is the third such conference dedicated to reflecting on the Šiluva Declaration, published on Sept. 12, 2021, during the town’s annual Marian festival. Šiluva is the location of a Marian shrine dedicated to one of Europe’s earliest approved apparitions.

Archbishop Kęstutis Kėvalas delivered the conference’s opening remarks, urging vigilance against temptations to experiment with human nature and dignity. He also reminded attendees that the Marian shrine at Šiluva symbolizes fidelity to God’s order in creation. 

“The holy place of Šiluva invites respect for the order that the Creator has given to this world,” he said.

Gänswein said that in the face of today’s great challenges, such as technical thinking and globalization, the first step must be to recover the full scope of reason. He described true reason as inherently truthful, contrasting it with relativism, which he called “an expression of weak and narrow-minded thinking … based on the false pride of believing humans cannot recognize the truth and the false humility of refusing to accept it.” 

“The truth sets us free,” he added, referencing John 8:32 and noting that truth serves as the standard by which humans must measure themselves and that embracing it requires humility.

Gänswein concluded by warning that relativism — the defining mindset of modernity, which he described as “a creeping poison” — ultimately undermines human freedom. Driven by self-sufficiency and amplified by social media, relativism blinds people to truth and their ultimate purpose.

Humanity’s true goal, he affirmed, is “to come to the knowledge of the truth, which is God, and thus to attain eternal life.” His address was met with sustained applause.

The conference also featured a range of thought-provoking talks on Lithuania’s moral and political identity, the challenges of liberal democracy, post-Soviet societal changes, and the role of faith and family in public life. It concluded with a panel discussion on Europe’s moral direction, freedom of speech, and the renewal of Christian values in society.

Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius recalled Pope Leo XIV’s words that the Church “can never be exempted from the duty to speak the truth about man and the world, using, when necessary, even harsh language that may initially cause misunderstandings.” He stressed that all Christians, including those in public life, have a duty to defend the truth, which he described as “not an abstract idea but a path along which a person discovers true freedom.”

The conference was organized jointly by the Lithuanian civic group Laisvos visuomenės institutas (Institute of a Free Society), the Lithuanian Christian Workers’ Trade Union, and the Faculty of Catholic Theology at Vytautas Magnus University.

null / Credit: vmargineanu/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 15:29 pm (CNA).

A man accused of fatally stabbing a Nebraska Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to the murder of Father Stephen Gutgsell and other charges. 

Gutgsell, 65, died after deputies found him stabbed in December 2023. Gutgsell had been serving as the parish priest at St. John the Baptist Parish in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska. Deputies charged Kierre L. Williams in the attack that took place in the rectory next to the church. 

Williams filed a notice in December 2024 that he would argue he is not responsible for the murder by reason of insanity and filed a “not guilty” plea in February 2024. Williams changed his plea to “guilty” of murder, burglary, and weapons charges on Oct. 21.

“We are glad that Mr. Williams chose to hold himself accountable and not put Father Gutgsell’s family, relatives, friends, or this community through a trial,” Scott Vander Schaaf, a county prosecutor, said in a statement. 

Prosecutors decided early in the case that they would not pursue the death penalty. Williams faces life in prison without parole. Sentencing is set for Nov. 12.

On the day of the attack, Gutgsell called 911 early in the morning to report that a man had broken into the house and was in his kitchen with a knife. A deputy arrived and entered the parish rectory at around 5 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2023, according to an affidavit. 

The priest had “a severe laceration to his face and was bleeding profusely,” and Williams, then 43, was lying perpendicularly across Gutgsell’s chest, according to authorities. Officers identified more lacerations on his face, hands, and back. Gutgsell was then rushed to a hospital in Omaha, where he died.

Investigators have not found any connection between Williams and the priest in the small town of just 1,100 residents.

Former U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli. / Credit: DHSgov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 14:59 pm (CNA).

Catholics who do not gather for anti-enforcement rallies organized by high-ranking Catholic prelates are a “silent majority,” according to conservative Catholic immigration experts. 

As the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts continue to intensify, Catholics across the country have committed to observe days of prayer and public witness for migrants through efforts such as the One Church One Family initiative spearheaded by the western Jesuits. However, according to some conservative Catholic immigration experts, the number of Catholics who are opting out of such vigils are “a silent majority.”

The initiative calls on dioceses, parishes, schools, religious communities, and other Catholic institutions to host and promote “public actions that lift up the dignity of migrants,” such as “a vigil in front of a detention center, a prayer service at a place where migrants were publicly detained, or a rosary accompanying people who are going to immigration court hearings.” 

“I think that there are a large number of American Catholics who are supportive of what the president is doing with respect to immigration,” Center for Immigration Studies Resident Fellow in Law and Policy Andrew Arthur told CNA. “I think he received a majority of Catholic votes in the last election, depending on which poll you look at.”

Immigration enforcement, he pointed out, acted as a major touchstone of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. That Trump did not lean more heavily on this key issue in the 2020 campaign was also considered “one of the key failings” of his second White House attempt. 

While Catholics who oppose the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts have been forthright in their advocacy for migrants, organizing vigils, Eucharistic processions, and protests, Arthur observed that the demographic of Catholics who support the administration are “not a monolith” and do not organize demonstrations in the same way. 

“I don’t really know that there’s a huge Catholic enforcement group that I could point to,” he said in terms of open advocacy for enforcement. “But that’s more or less to be expected. In my mind, it’s the silent majority in this country.”

“One of the things that we see is that the Catholic Church, anecdotally, that we see that the Catholic Church, that especially younger Catholics are more conservative, and therefore, more in line with law enforcement, generally, and immigration enforcement, in particular,” he continued. “But there’s no reason to form a group to support what the administration is actually doing.” 

Regarding the concerns posed by many groups, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Arthur insisted that there is “nothing that Donald Trump or ICE or [border czar] Tom Homan, another good Catholic, are doing that is contrary to the laws that Congress has written.” Despite the widespread critical narrative, Arthur denied there being anything particularly exceptional or specific to the Trump administration’s approach to enforcement. 

“I have been involved in immigration and enforcement for 33 years and served under four different presidents, beginning with George H.W. Bush,” he said. “There’s nothing about immigration enforcement today [that’s different from enforcement] under H.W., Clinton, George W. Bush, or Barack Obama.”

‘This is what the law requires’

“This is what the law requires. This is what the agents are doing,” he continued, adding: “I think really the only exceptional part is the response that they’re receiving for it.”

Addressing concerns surrounding enforcement from a Catholic perspective, former U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli told CNA: “I am aware of the two basic points contained in the paragraph in the Catholic catechism on immigration: 1) Wealthier nations should be generous with their immigration policies; and 2) Migrants should respect the laws and customs of the nation to which they are emigrating.”

“I believe America is historically the most generous nation on Earth when it comes to inviting in people from all over the world, so we meet the first Catholic expectation,” he continued, adding: “However, an illegal alien by definition does not meet the second expectation found in the catechism, and thus the need on the part of America to enforce the law at a large scale.”   

Cuccinelli emphasized the need for America’s immigration system to work for Americans first as well as the economic pitfalls for poor working-class Americans of allowing large-scale “low-skill” illegal immigration.

In the end, Cuccinelli, who also previously served as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told CNA he hopes the Trump administration’s efforts to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law will prompt a return to “gradually move back to a legal immigration regime soon.” 

The director of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics, Charles Nemeth, also weighed in on the subject from a Catholic perspective, telling CNA: “If this be about justice, it is better to adopt the Aristotelian-Thomistic view that justice is about what is ‘due’ — nothing more and nothing less. Illegals commence their journey already in a faulted state — for they have jumped the line and disregarded our laws and traditions.”

In order for a society to be just, he said, it must look to the common good of the nation-state first rather than “the individualized needs or demands of those lacking a legal right to assimilate without the adherence to the rules and regulations that border entry calls for.”

Nemeth stated that the Biden administration’s “open-door policy” subverted the rights of U.S. citizens by permitting mass migration, which he said resulted in “a dramatic rise in crime and social unrest and made a comedy of the rule of law.” He further cited undocumented migrants’ access to benefits such as health care, food stamps, and education “while our own citizens are being crushed by the costs of the same services.”

“It is one thing to display compassion,” referencing Catholics who protest the administration’s enforcement efforts, “but quite another to undermine the social fabric of a society that allows special rules for special categories of inhabitants.”

U.S. Catholic bishops urged lawmakers on Oct. 28, 2025, to find a solution to end the government shutdown. / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 14:21 pm (CNA).

Catholic bishops in the United States are urging federal lawmakers to find a solution that opens the government and saves the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“The U.S. bishops are deeply alarmed that essential programs that support the common good, such as SNAP, may be interrupted,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in a statement on Oct. 28.

The government shutdown reached its 29th day on Oct. 29 as lawmakers negotiated over extending taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the Affordable Care Act and providing funding for a wall on the southern border, food assistance, and military pay. Most of the 2.9 million civilian federal workers are not receiving paychecks, and benefits for SNAP recipients will cease on Nov. 1 unless some action is taken to provide funding.

“This would be catastrophic for families and individuals who rely on SNAP to put food on the table and places the burdens of this shutdown most heavily on the poor and vulnerable of our nation, who are the least able to move forward,” Broglio said. “This consequence is unjust and unacceptable.”

About 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, and some Catholic charitable organizations have expressed concern that any halt to the program would be difficult to remedy with simply private charity.

“The U.S. bishops have consistently advocated for public policies that support those in need,” Broglio said. “I urgently plead with lawmakers and the administration to work in a bipartisan way to ensure that these lifesaving programs are funded and to pass a government funding bill to end the government shutdown as quickly as possible.”

Archbishop William Lori of the Archdiocese of Baltimore — the first American diocese — also issued a statement on Tuesday, reminding the people of Maryland that archdiocesan ministries “remain open and active, providing care and support across central and western Maryland.”

“I encourage anyone in need to reach out to these ministries without hesitation. No one should face this hardship alone,” the archbishop said.

Lori said shutdowns “have far-reaching consequences,” especially for “the most vulnerable among us — families living paycheck to paycheck, parents worried about feeding their children, and seniors already balancing the cost of medications and groceries.”

“When vital government services are interrupted or delayed, the result is more than an inconvenience — it can mean hunger, anxiety, and hardship for our brothers and sisters in need,” the archbishop said.

As of Wednesday, 25 states sued President Donald Trump’s administration over the possible halt to SNAP benefits. When asked about funding for SNAP on Wednesday, Trump said “we’re going to get it done.” No action has yet been taken.

A new stamp issued by the Irish postal service honors Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who saved 6,500 news in Rome during World War II. / Credit: An Post

Dublin, Ireland, Oct 29, 2025 / 13:51 pm (CNA).

The Irish postal service has released a new postage stamp marking the 100th anniversary of the ordination of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, savior of 6,500 Jews in Rome during World War II.

O’Flaherty used his position in the Roman Curia to hide fugitives from Nazi forces for the duration of their occupation of Rome from September 1943 to June 1944. It is estimated that he saved 6,500 Jews by hiding them in monasteries, convents, Vatican living quarters, and even Castel Gandolfo before smuggling them to safety.

Every evening, he stood in defiance of the Nazis, taking up his position in the half shadows on the steps at St. Peter’s. The German occupiers, unable to cross into neutral Vatican soil, could only watch in frustration and anger as O’Flaherty audaciously and courageously greeted a succession of fugitives.

To the Germans, O’Flaherty was elusive, enigmatic, and provocative, becoming the most wanted man in the Eternal City. He used disguise and subterfuge to move outside the Vatican at night, visiting those he helped. He was never apprehended.

Col. Herbert Kappler, the SS commander in Rome, mounted several unsuccessful attempts to abduct and murder O’Flaherty. Once, a Gestapo hit squad was reportedly apprehended in St. Peter’s Basilica by a team of four Swiss guards who, together with some Yugoslavian refugees, put manners on the Germans before ejecting them, disheveled and bruised, from Vatican territory.

Postwar, Kappler was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Ardeatine Massacre. O’Flaherty was his only visitor in the Gaeta prison outside Rome, calling every month. O’Flaherty baptized Kappler into the Catholic faith in 1959.

Gregory Peck stars as Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty in the 1983 movie “The Scarlet and the Black,” with Christopher Plummer featured as Kappler.

The Irish priest’s network was established without his ecclesiastical superiors’ permission, though Pope Pius XII eventually became aware that something was happening within the Vatican walls.

He earned the nickname “The Pimpernel of the Vatican” after the fictional character the Scarlet Pimpernel, a daring English aristocrat who rescued French nobles from the guillotine during the French Revolution using disguises and daring rescues.

O’Flaherty was born in County Cork, Ireland, and his family moved to Killarney, where his father was steward of Killarney Golf Club. There, the young O’Flaherty was a scratch handicap golfer. Following ordination in Rome in 1925, he served in Egypt, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Czechoslovakia as a Vatican diplomat before returning to Rome and a position in the Holy Office.

The “Dictionary of Irish Biography” says of O’Flaherty: “Despite his rough-edged demeanor, his skills at bridge and golf admitted him to the highest echelons of Roman society … After serving as secretary to the papal nuncio to Allied prisoner-of-war camps in northern Italy, O’Flaherty began to assist Jews, dissidents, deserting Italian soldiers, and others fleeing from the Italian fascist government.”

About 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose those benefits Nov. 1. 2025, without enactment of a spending bill. / Credit: Jeff Bukowski/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 12:27 pm (CNA).

Catholic charitable groups that provide food to needy families are voicing concern about the expected stoppage of federal food assistance programs as the government shutdown continues.

The shutdown reached Day 29 on Oct. 29, and unless lawmakers come to an agreement by the end of the week or the executive branch finds a solution, 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose those benefits.

Congress can solve the problem by either passing a stand-alone bill to fund SNAP or by passing a bill that funds the entire government. Without any action, those who would normally receive food stamps on the first of the month will not receive any benefits in their accounts on Nov. 1.

“I don’t think SNAP has been curtailed in previous government shutdowns,” Deacon Kevin Sartorius, the CEO of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, told CNA.

More than 685,000 Oklahomans receive SNAP benefits, which accounts for 17% of the state’s population — one of the highest rates of people on food assistance in the country. In eastern Oklahoma, the local Catholic Charities affiliate is the largest private provider of food assistance.

Sartorius explained that most people receiving SNAP benefits have jobs. He said their income is one means of obtaining food, and SNAP is the second source for low-income people. In eastern Oklahoma, he said “we’re the third” option to fall back on.

“We go from being the third level of support to the second [level of support] when SNAP disappears,” he said.

Sartorius said the impact is already being felt as some families prepare to potentially lose their SNAP benefits. Normally, in Tulsa, he said the Catholic Charities affiliate would serve about 175 families, but it increased to 205 last week and has now gone up to 292.

He noted that his organization will continue “loving the person who shows up and giving them food” but expressed concern that if SNAP is halted, that’s “an amazing amount of money that just disappeared overnight from people’s budgets.”

“We’re not going to be able to solve the problem independently, nor will any nonprofits, I don’t think,” Sartorius said.

“We cannot solve a very large system’s problem,” he added. “We can just care for the person who shows up today at our door.”

‘Hope we would all agree’

Rose Bak, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities of Oregon, told CNA that her affiliate primarily offers food to people in their affordable housing units, some of whom were previously homeless. She said most of them receive SNAP, and she has “heard a ton of concern” and “our clients and our residents are worried.”

She said most SNAP recipients are either working adults, children, or seniors, and “they don’t have a lot of options to get other funding.” In Oregon, about 18% of people receive SNAP benefits, which is also one of the highest rates in the nation.

Bak is also concerned that “a lot of people are confused” about what’s happening with SNAP at the moment and “weren’t understanding the notices” because they thought the notices were related to the upcoming changes to SNAP approved by Congress earlier this year. She said she is “really concerned about” some people not preparing properly due to misunderstanding.

In Oregon, she said the charity has “a little bit of food stockpiled for an emergency” and plans to be “releasing that food” if necessary but added: “We’re not going to be able to give people what they need” if the SNAP cessation lingers.

“I would hope we would all agree that people shouldn’t go hungry,” Bak said.

John Berry, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) in the United States, voiced concerns in a statement. SVDP is a Catholic nonprofit that helps feed needy families, among other charitable works.

Berry said “it is not our role to take sides in a political fight” but that “it is our role and our duty to speak on behalf of the friends and neighbors we serve.”

“Our most economically vulnerable brothers and sisters should not be forced to go without basic needs as a result of a partisan impasse, and it is time for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come together to ensure that the most marginalized among us will not abruptly lose critical benefits,” he said.

Berry urged the Department of Agriculture to “use every available mechanism, including the utilization of contingency reserves,” to ensure SNAP recipients can access food in November.

“It would be simply intolerable for people to unnecessarily go hungry as the shutdown heads into its second month,” he said.

As Father Emmanuel Nanabanyin Conduah (right) looks on, PennWest University Professor Miguel Olivas-Luján (left) delivers his paper “Retiring for Eternity: Planning Based on Social Science and Catholic Social Thought” during the 2025 annual conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. / Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).

“Retiring for Eternity: Planning Based on Social Science and Catholic Social Thought” was among the topics the Society of Catholic Social Scientists examined during its 2025 annual conference, held Oct. 24–25 on the campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

In his presentation on the topic, Miguel Olivas-Luján, a professor of business at PennWest University, called for a transformative vision of retirement, one that “transcends conventional models of successful or active aging.”

“While secular frameworks emphasize health, financial stability, and social engagement, Catholic social teaching invites a deeper reflection on the spiritual dimensions of aging, particularly the preparation for eternal life,” Olivas-Luján pointed out.

Catholic retirement

In Catholic social teaching, Olivas-Luján explained, aging and retirement are not viewed as periods of decline but as opportunities for deepening solidarity within families, communities, and the Church. 

Recent developments in Catholic social teaching on aging include the work of Professor Peter Kevern, who in a 2018 paper identified the elderly as bearers of unique charisms — wisdom, memory, and interdependence — that substantially enrich both eccesial and civic communities.

The Catholic view on aging, Olivas-Luján continued, considers the spiritual, relational, and ethical contributions of older adults to be “indispensable to the flourishing of both Church and society.”

In his presentation, Olivas-Luján explained how the foundational principles of Catholic social thought affirm the inherent worth of older adults and their continued role in society. He cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which affirms the understanding that because of each person’s essential human dignity, for example, as individuals age their value remains constant, rooted in their divine origin and eternal destiny. 

Retirement is thus, in Olivas-Luján’s words, “an ideal time to accelerate the pace and intentionality toward this union with God, once work-related preoccupations no longer take the highest priority.”

Practical implications

For many older adults, Olivas-Luján noted, the end of a professional career can lead to feelings of isolation or a loss of direction. Catholic parishes and ministries, however, offer a unique and spiritually enriching environment that help retirees remain engaged, purposeful, and connected to their communities.

Through their ministries, volunteer opportunities, and social events, for example, parishes and organizations like the Knights of Columbus provide retirees with opportunities to continue contributing meaningfully. The Catholic Health Association has also documented how faith communities can help retirees maintain their physical, emotional, and spiritual health through holistic support systems that integrate prayer, service, and fellowship.

In addition, Olivas-Luján cited studies that show that seniors with strong spiritual engagement experience lower rates of depression and anxiety, and register greater life satisfaction and improved physical health. 

Nonetheless, the Church’s understanding of suffering in old age also reframes physical decline and existential questioning as pathways to grace and communion with Christ. The PennWest professor pointed out that from a Catholic perspective and specifically when viewed through the lens of redemptive suffering, “human pain, when united with trust in Christ’s redeeming passion, can contribute to personal sanctification and the salvation of others.”

Ultimately, as Olivas-Luján put it, retirement and aging are not problems to be solved but vocations to be lived, “a sacred season rich with opportunities for love, service, and spiritual flourishing.”

Texas state capitol. / Credit: Inspired By Maps/Shutterstock

Houston, Texas, Oct 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Texas voters will head to the polls next week to consider Proposition 15, the Parental Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment aimed at enshrining parents’ rights in the state constitution.

The measure, if approved, would add language to the Texas Constitution affirming that parents have the right “to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing” and the responsibility “to nurture and protect the parent’s child.” 

Texas already ranks among 26 states with a Parents’ Bill of Rights enshrined in state law. That existing statute grants parents a right to “full information” concerning their child at school as well as access to their child’s student records, copies of state assessments, and teaching materials, among other provisions.

The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops told CNA it supports the “proposed amendment to recognize the natural right of parents to direct their children’s upbringing.”

Other supporters include the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, Family Freedom Project, Texans for Vaccine Choice, Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Home School Coalition, Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Texas Right to Life PAC.

Marcella Burke, a Houston attorney, told CNA that “it’s good to live in a state where an amendment like this is on the table. Parents matter, their kids matter, and families should be protected against government interference. That’s exactly what this amendment seeks to do: keep governments from interfering with beneficial family growth and child development.”

“While these rights to nurture and protect children are currently safeguarded thanks to existing Supreme Court case law, there is no federal constitutional amendment protecting these rights,” Burke continued.

Opposition to the proposition has come from both Democratic as well as conservative advocacy groups.

According to the True Texas Project, a conservative group of former Tea Party supporters, the language of the amendment is too vague. In addition, the group argues that “Prop 15 would simply declare that parents have the inherent right to make decisions for their children. We should not have to put this into the state constitution! God has already ordained that parents are to be responsible for their children, and government has no place in family decisions, except in the case of child abuse and neglect.”

The group says that including the proposed language in the state constitution “equates to acknowledgement that the state has conferred this right. And we know that what the state can give, the state can take away.”

Burke said, however, that “an amendment like this will make governments think twice and carefully consider any actions affecting child-rearing. Keep in mind that no rights are absolute, so in this context, parents don’t have the right to abuse their kids — and that’s the sort of exception the amendment reads in.”

Katy Faust, founder of children’s advocacy group Them Before Us, told CNA parental rights are the “flipside of genuine child rights.”

Jari Honora and Henry Louis Gates Jr. at the opening of the exhibit at American Ancestors headquarters in Boston. / Credit: Claire Vail, VP of Communications & Digital Strategy for American Ancestors

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A Boston exhibit is inviting guests to explore Pope Leo XIV’s family tree in depth, spanning 14 generations of history tracing the pontiff’s connections to noblemen, freedom fighters, enslaved men and women, and even modern-day pop culture stars.

American Ancestors, a national center for family history, heritage, and culture, created the “The Ancestry of Pope Leo XIV: An American Story” exhibit for people to discover the first American pontiff’s lineage by reading stories, searching records, and exploring his family tree.

The exhibit presents information compiled by expert genealogists to highlight the pope’s history, because “the diversity of his ancestry is as layered as the history of America itself,” Ryan Woods, CEO of American Ancestors, told CNA. 

Tracing 14 generations 

Shortly after the first American pontiff was announced, historian and genealogist Jari Honora publicly noted that the pope surprisingly had Black and Louisiana Creole ancestry. The finding inspired a number of other researchers to dig into the pope’s family tree.

Following the announcement, American Ancestors wanted “to research the full ancestry of Pope Leo XIV,” Woods explained. Henry Louis Gates Jr., host of the ancestry television show “Finding Your Roots” on PBS, helped lead the charge alongside other genealogists from American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogical Club of Miami. 

“Over just a few days, we were able to bring his lineage back 14 generations,” Woods said. Once the research was complete, The New York Times published it in June as an interactive report. 

Archivists from the Archdiocese of New Orleans had created a Lousiana family tree after discovering that Pope Leo’s mother had ties to New Orleans. Following the publication of Gates’ findings they realized the research did not include Catholic records from New Orleans, which had left out some additional stories.

The archdiocese found archives dating to the early 1720s with the help of “sacramental records of baptisms, marriages, funerals, and burials,” Sarah Waits, research archivist for the archdiocese, told CNA.

“The Catholic aspect of his family and … the records that [the archdiocese] has in the archives are absolutely fundamental for any genealogy research,” said Waits, who worked directly on the New Orleans family tree. “We realized that we had a treasure trove right in our own archive related to his family.”

The archdiocese shared its family tree to add to Gates’ research and expand the family tree with the additional records. Gates later presented the completed research to Pope Leo at a private audience at the Vatican in July. 

American Ancestors decided to open the experience to the public through the new exhibit that opened Oct. 4. It has already drawn a number of “curious and interested” people. 

“To have a world leader show the relative complexity and richness of American families and its history was something we thought was really important, both for the study of genealogy [and] history itself,” Woods said. 

Surprising finds 

The in-depth research revealed a number of surprising connections that the exhibit details. 

Through one ancestor named Louis Boucher de Grandpre, the pope is related to numerous Canadian-derived distant cousins including former Canadian prime ministers Pierre Trudeau and Justin Trudeau, Hillary Clinton, actress Angelina Jolie, and singers Justin Bieber and Madonna.

A number of Louis’ other descendants ended up settling in New Orleans. Through this connection, “the family in New Orleans was identified within the Black Creole community,” Waits said. 

Then going back a few more generations there were “records of enslaved ancestors, even into the 1820s and 1830s,” Waits said. “So … not that many generations ago, the Holy Father had enslaved ancestors.”

The researchers identified four white ancestors who owned slaves in the U.S. They suspect there were probably others in Cuba, which was a slaveholding society. They also discovered that eight of Pope Leo’s Black ancestors are known to have enslaved at least 40 other people of color.

The farthest back the overall research spanned was to Spain in the 1500s on Pope Leo’s mother’s side. Four of his 11th-great-grandfathers are listed as “hidalgos,” or minor untitled nobility. One of their grandchildren was even a captain of land and sea in the Royal Armada who spent years fighting Dutch privateers trying to take over Portugal’s colonial holdings in America.

The research even revealed how the pope got his surname, Prevost. At least five generations of his father’s ancestors were born in Sicily, including the pope’s grandfather, Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano Alito, who is believed to have immigrated to the U.S. in 1905. Salvatore was on his way to becoming a priest but was unable to take his vows and chose to marry instead.

The family tree showed that two of Salvatore’s children were not his wife’s sons but rather the children of a French woman named Suzanne Louise Marie Fontaine. Salvatore and Suzanne had two sons — Jean, the pope’s uncle, and Louis, the pope’s father. They were given their grandmother’s maiden name, Prévost, which led to the pontiff’s French last name.

An exhibit with a mission

Pope Leo’s history is diverse, with “stories of enslavers and enslaved people, immigrants from France, Spain, and Haiti,” Woods said. He explained the hope is that sharing Pope Leo’s rich history will inspire people to look into their own lineage. 

“Recent surveying in the United States has shown that more than 70% of Americans believe knowing your family history is important, but only about 10% have actually actively researched their family history,” Woods said. “So people can see this global human story and begin to see the possibility of what they can find in their own family history.”

Scene from the 2023 Guadalupan Torch Run, arriving in South Carolina. / Credit: Courtesy of Guadalupan Torch Run

Houston, Texas, Oct 28, 2025 / 18:45 pm (CNA).

The Carrera Antorcha Guadalupana (the “Guadalupan Torch Run”) is an annual pilgrimage where runners honor the Blessed Mother and pray for immigrants as they carry a torch from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. 

Pilgrim runners began their journey on Aug. 30 in Mexico City and so far have carried it through nine Mexican states and over 30 cities. Altogether, they will pass through 14 U.S. states as they journey over 3,000 miles before arriving in New York on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

As they pass through each town, the runners are joined by locals, who accompany them for a portion of the route.

The running pilgrims arrived in San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 27, where they will remain for three days. Catholics at several parishes there are organizing Masses and celebrations, which will include Indigenous Mexican dancers known as “Matachines,” who have performed traditional dances in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe for hundreds of years. 

The torch, known as the Torchana Guadalupana, is lit from the flame at the basilica and is never extinguished during the journey. It “represents the light of faith and the spirit of resilience among immigrants,” according to the group’s San Antonio organizer, Luis Garcia. 

Garcia, who is an immigrant himself and has benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program established by President Barack Obama in 2012, started running in the pilgrimage as a high schooler in 2009. He became a leader five years ago.

Garcia said it brings “religious hope to those who need it, both in the U.S. and Mexico, and it shows them that Mother Mary is looking out for her children here and in Mexico.”

He told CNA the pilgrimage, organized by a New York-based group called Asociación Tepeyac, began in 2002 as a memorial Mass and run to honor Hispanics who died in the World Trade Center terrorist attack. Its purpose evolved over the years into two themes: honoring the Virgin Mary and praying for human rights and justice for immigrants. 

In the first years of the pilgrimage, then-Archbishop Edward Egan of New York provided logistical and spiritual backing to Asociación Tepeyac, even suggesting it begin a pilgrimage that would start in Mexico and end in New York.

The pilgrimage has come to symbolize “the enduring bond between the Mexican and American communities,” according to Garcia, and the “lit torch is a symbol of faith, hope, and unity” among Christians and between families who are separated by the border.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller said in a statement to CNA that the Guadalupan Torch run “carries the flame of faith with devotion, honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. In our pilgrimage on this earth, she shows us that salvation is not a reward for our own merits but a free gift of God’s love.” 

“May this torch continue to light our path, bringing us ever closer to her Son, who is our savior and who brings us to our final destination, which is his glory with the Father,” the archbishop concluded.

As an undocumented immigrant who was brought here as a child and who hopes to become a citizen eventually, Garcia said he is “a little worried” for himself, but he is still pushing through and hoping to bring faith, hope, and awareness to people. 

Because he is undocumented, he cannot travel to Mexico to visit the basilica. He said that through the pilgrimage, however “a little piece of Mexico comes over.” 

“I can travel with the Virgin and, through her intercession, can pray for all of these people who don’t have a true home.” 

Recent immigration raids have led to dwindling numbers of participants, Garcia said, but 8,000 runners’ hands will still have touched the torch by the time it reaches St. Patrick’s Cathedral. 

The torch is made of galvanized metal, he said, and by the end of the journey, the bottom of it becomes shiny from wear.

“That so many hands have touched this torch,” Garcia said, “is powerful. Families that participated in Mexico and are divided from their family here by the border have that connection: ‘I held the torch and I know my family in the U.S. has touched it, too. We held something together.’”