Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

A choir poses before an image of Pier Giorgio Frassati during a celebration of the centenary of his death, Turin, Italy, Friday, July 4, 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Turin, Italy, Jul 5, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

On the 100th anniversary of Pier Giorgio Frassati’s death this week, crowds packed into the Turin Cathedral to pray at the tomb of the charismatic young man who is set to be canonized as a saint in September.

The three-day celebration of the centenary, dubbed “Frassati Days,” drew pilgrims from the United States, Poland, and Switzerland to Piedmont, the northern Italian region where Frassati lived and left a lasting legacy of faith and charity.

 “These 100 years made Frassati a popular young man. Not only in Turin, not only in Piedmont, not only in Italy, but all over the world,” Cardinal Archbishop Roberto Repole said during the centenary Mass on July 4.

He described Frassati as “an authentic witness to Christ and the eternal God” and remembered him as “a natural leader” who loved the mountains and inspired those around him. 

Eucharistic adoration followed the evening Mass, with the cathedral remaining open late into the night as young people knelt in silence at the tomb of the man whom John Paul II called “the Man of the Beatitudes.” 

Born in Turin in 1901 into a prominent family — his father was the founder of the La Stampa newspaper and a diplomat — Frassati balanced a deep life of faith with active engagement in politics and service to the poor. He joined the Dominican Third Order, climbed Alpine peaks, and distributed food and medicine to the needy in the poorest parts of Turin. He died on July 4, 1925, from polio at the age of 24, believed to have contracted the disease from one of the people he served.

In the cathedral’s front pew for the solemn Mass was Frassati’s niece, 93-year-old Giovanna Gilardini.

“He’s my uncle,” she told CNA. “My mother [Luciana] used to talk to us about Pier Giorgio.”

She recalled a moment in 1981 when Frassati’s coffin was opened during the beatification process. “I saw him,” she said. “He was intact, perfectly intact.”

Frassati’s body was found to be incorrupt, or preserved from the natural process of decay after death. According to Catholic tradition, incorruptible saints give witness to the truth of the resurrection of the body and the life that is to come. That moment, Gilardini explained, solidified her belief in his sanctity.

“Pier Giorgio helps me a lot [from heaven] all the time,” she said.

Just behind her sat her grandson, 14-year-old Pier Giorgio Gilardini, named after the soon-to-be saint. “To live up to his name, I feel like I have to be good,” the teenager said. “He inspires me.”

The Archdiocese of Turin and the neighboring Diocese of Biella shared responsibility for the commemorations, just as Frassati had split his own time between the city and the mountains. While he lived most of the year in Turin, his summers were spent with his grandparents in the mountain town of Pollone, where he hiked and prayed in the Alps.

On Thursday evening, a vigil Mass was celebrated under the shadow of those Alps on the grounds of Villa Ametis, the Frassati family home in Pollone, by Bishop Roberto Farinella of Biella, who described the centenary as a celebration of Frassati’s “birth into heaven.”

The Mass took place beneath a towering sequoia tree planted by Frassati’s grandfather — a tree that the young Pier Giorgio used to climb as a boy. 

“Here everything speaks to us about Pier Giorgio,” said Father Luca Bertarelli, the local parish priest in Pollone. “The house, the yard, the sequoia which he used to climb, his pickax, these candelabras that were in his room for his last Communion, the viaticum before his death.”

 “But what speaks to us most are the pilgrims,” he added. “I have met in these years thousands of pilgrims, especially young people… and I have also seen some tears that flowed from their eyes because of the holy life of Pier Giorgio.”

“Pier Giorgio really is the saint for today,” Bertarelli said.

Eucharistic adoration under the stars followed the Pollone Mass, with candles illuminating the façade of the Frassati home. Passages from Frassati’s letters were read aloud until late into the night.

Among the attendees were Cedric Ebiner and his brother Vincent, who drove from Switzerland to be there. The Ebiner brothers began the day with a climb up Mount Mucrone, following the Poggio Frassati trail Pier Giorgio once hiked himself. 

“I have a big devotion to Pier Giorgio,” said Cedric, a Swiss native who now teaches French and Latin at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

 “Saints are just like other people — the more you know about them, the closer you can get to them, and so just visiting the place where they lived gets you closer to them. … being there just adds to it,” he said.  

Growing up, he added, “we did a lot of hiking, mountain climbing… so that aspect of him being an outdoors kind of guy is really appealing. … He’s a real man.” 

In Turin, young people took part in the “Frassatour,” visiting key sites in Frassati’s spiritual life, from the Church of St. Dominic, where he discovered his vocation as a lay Dominican, to the Sanctuary of the Consolata, a Marian shrine he frequented. 

Paolo Reineri, who helped lead the tour and wrote a children’s book on Frassati, said he wanted kids to know that Frassati “is a friend who can be with them and inspire them.” He added: “He is an inspiration because he found time to do a lot of good — and he always found time for God.” 

Frassati’s canonization, alongside Blessed Carlo Acutis, will take place Sept. 7, making them the first new saints declared by Pope Leo XIV. 

Germana Moro, president of the Pier Giorgio Frassati Association in Turin, credited much of the progress in his sainthood cause to Frassati’s sister Luciana. “It was thanks to Luciana’s immense amount of work… that her brother’s beatification process was reopened,” she said, noting that Luciana had gathered more than 900 testimonies about her brother’s life. 

“Pier Giorgio teaches us that without constant deep union with the Blessed Sacrament… we will not survive,” Moro said. “Celebrations are not enough if they do not help us follow the path of faith that he walked before us and whose footprints he left clearly visible.” 

Christine Wohar, president of Frassati USA, a Nashville-based nonprofit apostolate dedicated to spreading awareness of his life, reflected on the timing of the upcoming canonization.  

“We cannot improve on God’s plans. This is certainly the case with the centenary of Pier Giorgio’s death, the diocesan Year of Frassati that is concluding in Turin on his feast day, and the fact that he will soon be canonized,” she said.  

“What is more significant is that it is happening in a jubilee year because it was also a jubilee year [when Frassati died] in 1925. And how appropriate that it is a year dedicated to hope — as devotees of Frassati have hoped and prayed for so long to be able to put ‘saint’ in front of his name.”

null / Credit: A and I Kruk/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 5, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

As more Catholic parishes and notable Catholic figures become the targets of scammers, a new initiative has been launched to help Catholics spot a scam and avoid becoming victims.

Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions and former White House chief information officer, is spearheading the initiative, called “Protecting the Faithful.” The campaign is being actively rolled out in parishes across the country through bulletin announcements and the distribution of infographics, videos, and guides highlighting the red flags of a scam.

Many of these scams come in the form of emails sent to parishioners that look to be from their pastor asking them to donate to parish charities or ministries. Scammers are also targeting the fans of notable Catholic figures.

For instance, there have been several incidents where scammers impersonated Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie. The scammers have messaged Roumie’s followers on social media, pretending they are Roumie and promising a visit to the set of “The Chosen” or being the president of his fan club if they send a certain amount of money.

The Protecting the Faithful initiative is also being distributed on social media through official fan accounts of notable Catholic names in order to warn other fans as well as through podcasts and other Catholic news media outlets.

Payton told CNA that she was inspired to do something about the problem because of “how the faithful are being taken advantage of by criminals and fraudsters.”

“I’ve had victims on the other end of the phone, ashamed that they were a victim, crying, sending their hard-earned money to bad people, and I just had such a broken heart over this that I was like, something must be done,” she said.

“I’ve spent a whole career profiling criminals, and what people need to know is they play to our heart, they play to our human nature,” she added. “They know how to get us to act fast, they know how to get to our sympathies, to the best things about us, and they exploit the best things about us.”

Payton pointed out that with the recent technological advancements, specifically artificial intelligence, it is even easier for scammers to create voice clones, fake videos, and fake images, such as fake driver’s licenses and passports, which can be created “at speed and at scale.”

There are several red flags Payton warns individuals to be aware of in order to be able to spot a scammer, specifically when it comes to impersonators on social media. 

The first is receiving a message from an impersonator saying that the account the person is messaging from is his or her personal or backup account, not the person’s official account. Second is if the person asks to move the conversation over to WhatsApp or Telegram, which are encrypted apps used for communicating. The third red flag is when a scammer invites the individual to become the president of a fan club for a certain amount of money. Lastly, any kind of link that is sent should never be clicked on. 

Payton emphasized that those who’ve been a victim of a scam need to know that “you’ve done nothing wrong, you’re not dumb, you are a good person and because you’re a good person, somebody took advantage of you and you should not feel ashamed of that.”

She also urged individuals to report scams to their local police and IC3.gov, which is monitored by the FBI, and when a large trend is seen, an investigation is conducted and a public service announcement is released warning people nationwide of the scam that is taking place.

Another resource Payton mentioned for those who’ve been a victim is the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that offers free resources and guidance to help individuals take the proper steps to recover their identities and other information that may have been stolen.

Returning to the goal of the campaign, Payton said it is to “make sure that everybody around me in the Catholic faith, and even outside the Catholic faith, is as safe and secure as possible.”

She added: “I love being Catholic, and part of what we’re called to do is to take the talents God gave us and invest those in a way that is pleasing to him.”

“If my team and I can do something to avoid another victim, then every moment we spend on this initiative and on this campaign is worth it,” she said.

Bishop Robert Barron is the founder of Word on Fire, a media apostolate focused on evangelization. / Credit: Word on Fire

CNA Staff, Jul 4, 2025 / 15:29 pm (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron on July 4 urged a federal court to strike down a Washington state law that would force priests to violate the seal of confession, telling the court that the law is “manifestly” disrespectful of the ancient and vital Church practice.

Barron, the bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and a member of the White House Religious Liberty Commission, made the argument in a proposed amicus brief filed in U.S. district court in Washington state.

The filing comes on behalf of the bishops of Washington state, who in May sued the state government over its new mandatory reporting law that requires priests to report child abuse learned during the sacrament of confession or face jail time and fines.

The law has drawn criticism from religious liberty advocates who say it unjustly targets Catholics. The Department of Justice and a coalition of Orthodox churches have also sued the state government over the rule.

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, representing over 500 Roman Catholic priests and deacons from the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom, last month issued a statement defending the inviolability of the seal of confession, arguing against laws like Washington state’s and pointing out that child protection “can be lawfully and morally done without violating religious liberty.”

Barron’s brief stressed to the court what it described as the “oft-misunderstood theological underpinnings of the seal of confession.”

“Few religious practices are more misunderstood than the sacred seal of confession in the Catholic Church,” the bishop wrote in the document.

Since Catholics believe that penitents who seek the sacrament of confession are “speaking to and hearing from the Lord himself” via the priest, then “absolutely nothing ought to stand in the way of a sinner who seeks this font of grace,” Barron wrote.

“If a penitent is aware the priest might (let alone must) share with others what was given in the most sacred confidence, he or she would be reluctant indeed to ever approach confession,” he said.

The bishop argued that the state law is “manifestly premised on a disrespect for the confessional seal,” in part because it explicitly exempts clergy from an otherwise broad exception for privileged communications.

The law violates long-standing precedent on religious freedom, the bishop wrote, as well as established legal rules regarding religious neutrality.

Barron urged the court to grant an injunction against the law barring it from being enforced. The law is scheduled to take effect July 27.

A hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for July 14.

Attorney and columnist Andrea Picciotti-Bayer was named the winner of the Religious Freedom Impact Award by the Religious Freedom Institute on July 2, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Andrea Picciotti-Bayer

CNA Staff, Jul 4, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is the 2025 recipient of the Religious Freedom Impact Award, the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) announced July 2.

The Religious Freedom Impact Award honors leaders who demonstrate “consistent, effective, and innovative leadership in advancing religious freedom” through law, policy, or culture. It will be presented at the RFI Annual Dinner on Nov. 6 in Washington, D.C. 

Picciotti-Bayer is an accomplished attorney, policy expert, political commentator, and mother who has spent her career defending the conscience rights and religious liberty of individuals and institutions, particularly in the areas of education, parental rights, and health care.

A Catholic mother of 10, Picciotti-Bayer told CNA that she sees God’s hand in her life and credits him with her success, saying Christians, especially young women navigating careers and motherhood, should trust that “we can never outdo God in generosity.” 

She said motherhood has played a vital role in informing her work. 

“Having children made me a better lawyer,” she told CNA. “It allowed me to understand firsthand the concerns of parents fighting for their ability to raise their children according to their consciences.” 

After more than a decade focused on raising her children, she returned to the legal world “ready to roll up my sleeves.” 

Picciotti-Bayer is the director of the Conscience Project, where she works with intellectuals and legal scholars to craft public arguments and file amicus briefs in significant religious freedom cases at the appellate level as well as at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

She fights against government overreach, helping individuals and institutions to exercise their faith without unjust interference.

“Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a tenacious advocate for religious Americans threatened by government intrusion into their public and private lives,” said Religious Freedom Institute President David Trimble. “Her voice brings clarity to the confusion that so often surrounds some of the most charged religious freedom conflicts in American law and culture today.”

Picciotti-Bayer began her career in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she served as a trial and appellate attorney. 

She later advised the Catholic Association and worked as a strategic consultant for the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America, authoring amicus briefs in pivotal religious freedom and free speech cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appellate courts.

Beyond the courtroom, Picciotti-Bayer is a prominent voice in the media, serving as a legal analyst for EWTN News and a weekly guest on “Ave Maria in the Afternoon.” She also writes a column for the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been published in multiple other news outlets. 

Her impactful journalism recently earned her the 2025 Catholic Media Association Award for Best Coverage of Religious Liberty Issues.

Cardinal Dominique Mathieu, archbishop of Tehran, Iran (left), and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 4, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

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

Pope appoints Pizzaballa and Mathieu to Vatican’s interreligious dialogue office

Pope Leo XIV on July 3 appointed two prominent cardinals, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and Dominique Mathieu, archbishop of Tehran, Iran, to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.

Their appointment comes amid a broad reshuffle that also brought in cardinals from Japan and Canada as well as bishops and experts with experience in fostering relations among faiths. The two newly named members are already active in Vatican circles: Pizzaballa also serves in the Eastern Churches and Christian unity offices, while Mathieu is part of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Pope Leo turns attention to St. Augustine’s Algerian roots

In a personal reflection on his Augustinian roots, Pope Leo XIV this week expressed his heartfelt desire to visit Algeria, homeland of St. Augustine of Hippo, whose writings profoundly shaped Christian thought, ACI MENA reported.

Speaking of Augustine as a spiritual father, the pope shone a spotlight on the saint’s birthplace in Tagaste (modern-day Souk Ahras) and the historic church that bears his name in the coastal city of Annaba.

The Church of St. Augustine, completed in the early 20th century on a hill overlooking the ruins of ancient Hippo, remains a symbol of North Africa’s rich Christian heritage. Recently restored with the help of the Algerian government and international partners, the church combines diverse architectural styles and houses a monastery, school, and library.

Palestinian churches urge global action against Israeli violations

Christian leaders in Palestine issued a strong call this week for churches worldwide to speak out against what they described as systematic violations by Israeli authorities against Palestinians, particularly Christians, ACI MENA reported.

They lamented in a statement the increasing attacks on Christian clergy and property, citing incidents such as vandalism, harassment, and denial of worship permits during Easter. The statement also drew attention to recent strikes on sacred sites in Gaza and threats to church assets in Jerusalem over disputed tax claims. “What Christians here are facing is no longer an exception but a growing pattern of targeted oppression,” the committee warned, calling on global churches to exercise moral leadership and uphold human dignity.

Parish in DRC closed after tabernacle desecrated, hosts burned 

St. Francis of Assisi Luano Parish in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been closed down after a June 30 incident in which vandals broke into the building, desecrated the altar, and set all of the consecrated hosts on fire, according to a report by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa.

The vandals also “emptied the cupboard, taking liturgical vestments, the altar cross, the processional cross, the altar cloth, the mixer, drums, microphones, [and] liturgical books,” according to Father Emmanuel Mumba, vicar general of the Congolese Metropolitan See. “Prayer can no longer be organized in an environment or in a church that has been desecrated. It is the archbishop, who must come to celebrate the Mass here, in order to open the church for worship,” he added.

Togo bishops condemn police brutality after 7 killed in protest against government 

The Episcopal Conference of Togo (CET) issued a condemnation of police brutality after seven people were killed during a protest against the country’s President Faure Gnassingbé following constitutional changes that could extend his rule indefinitely. 

“Having followed with deep concern, distress, and sadness the painful events that marked the days of June 26, 27, and 28, in light of acts of unprecedented gravity, we strongly condemn these unacceptable and intolerable acts of violence, regardless of their origin, perpetrators, or justification,” they said in the statement shared with ACI Africa on July 2.

Head of Swiss abbey resigns in connection with abuse report

Abbot Jean César Scarcella, CRA, has resigned as abbot of the territorial abbey of Saint-Maurice in Switzerland in connection with an abuse report, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. The Holy See confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation.

Scarcella’s resignation came after the publication of a sexual abuse report that documented at least 67 cases of sexualized violence in the period from 1960 to 2024. Scarcella had previously resigned temporarily in November 2023 after sexual harassment allegations were made against him, but the Vatican never found any proof of misconduct.

German Catholics protest against ‘child protection congress’ 

Approximately 900 people demonstrated in Hanover, Germany, against a “child protection congress” of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party in the Lower Saxony state Parliament — including representatives of the Catholic Church, according to CNA Deutsch. At the event, the right-wing AfD party called for the protection of children from “early sexualization” and from unilateral “gender propaganda.”

“Hanover is colorful, diverse, democratic, and open. We want to preserve this for our children. We do not allow so-called ‘concerned citizens’ to pursue their right-wing extremist goals under the guise of the alleged care for our children,” the Catholic Church in Hanover said in a statement.

An aerial view of Oxford, England, taken on Oct. 14, 2016. / Credit: Chensiyuan via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 2, 2025 / 16:17 pm (CNA).

A prominent Catholic bioethics center in Oxford, England, has shut down after nearly 50 years due to financial constraints, according to an announcement from its director, David Albert Jones. 

“It is with immense sadness we announce that staff have recently been informed of ‘the closure of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford’” Jones wrote in a statement on Anscombe’s website.  “This decision has been made on financial grounds by the center’s corporate trustee, the Catholic Trust for England and Wales.”

The center said it is no longer accepting donations and will no longer respond to queries after July 31. 

The Anscombe Bioethics Centre is an Oxford-based research institute dedicated to serving the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland through its promotion of research on bioethics.

Bioethicists at the center have regularly engaged in global discussion on bioethics, publishing biomedical research and academic books as well as making frequent expert commentary on breaking news stories in the media, including for CNA. 

Anscombe is the oldest national institute in bioethics in the British and Irish Isles, according to its website. The center takes its name from Elizabeth Anscombe, a Catholic philosopher who “taught in Oxford and Cambridge, debated with C.S. Lewis, and studied with Wittgenstein [and] was well-known for her defense of human life and for sparking the contemporary revival of virtue ethics.” 

Describing the announcement as being “in sorrow but with gratitude and steadfast hope,” Jones thanked Anscombe’s donors, noting that much of its funding had been provided through “the generosity of many thousands of parishioners” across the U.K. as well as the Catholic community in Ireland. 

“We would like to emphasize that, though the center is now being closed, these donations have not been wasted but have helped educate and support generations of conscientious health care professionals, clerics, and laypeople over almost 50 years,” Jones wrote. “This support has also helped prevent repeated attempts to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide in Britain and Ireland from 1993 to the present.”

Even in instances where laws that go against Church teaching on human dignity have passed, Jones noted that “the center has maintained a witness [to] the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.”

“We give thanks to God, and to our patron St. Raphael, for all that has been done through our work,” he said. 

While Anscombe will soon no longer be able to provide expert witness on bioethics, Jones encouraged people to make use of its resources made available throughout the years and to continue to “engage with the Scottish Parliament and with the House of Lords as these bodies continue to debate dangerous and ill-thought-out legislation.”

“The burning issues of our day, from IVF to genetic manipulation of humans, to end-of-life decision-making, demand an expert voice to be able to explain the key moral and ethical concerns that are at stake, and to do so in a way that is convincing in the midst of our turbulent and confused culture,” Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior bioethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA in reaction to the news.

“The Anscombe Bioethics Centre provided a much-needed voice in the midst of so many of these challenging public debates, not only in Britain but in Europe and beyond,” he continued. “We are all very grateful for the excellent work they offered. Their closing reminds us of the importance of assuring robust and ongoing support for the unique kind of ethical analysis offered by committed Catholics working together in the fields of medical ethics and bioethics.”

Carmen Sánchez Maíllo is academic secretary of the CEU Institute of Family Studies. / Credit: San Pablo CEU

Madrid, Spain, Jul 1, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Analyzing the consequences of the law that equated same-sex unions with marriage in Spain 20 years ago, Carmen Sánchez Maíllo, academic secretary of the CEU (Center of University Studies, by its Spanish acronym) Institute of Family Studies, considers the statute to be difficult to overturn but “not impossible.”

On July 1, 2005, Spain’s lower house passed the law that then-President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced a year earlier that his government would introduce. Article 44 of the Civil Code was reworded as follows: “Marriage shall have the same requirements and effects when both parties are of the same or different sexes.”

Spain thus became the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to equate marriage with same-sex unions, which also allowed same-sex couples to apply to adopt children in the latter two.

A few days before the final vote, a huge demonstration took place in Madrid featuring the theme “The Family Does matter, for a Father and a Mother.” Numerous civic groups participated in the event, which had the explicit support of the country’s Catholic Church.

As many as 20 Spanish bishops could be seen marching in the streets of Spain’s capital city, including the then-president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela.

On Sept. 30, 2005, the People’s Party (PP) filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court arguing that the law “denaturalizes the institution of marriage” and violates numerous constitutional articles. The court never ruled on the appeal until seven years later, in 2012, when it rejected it.

Despite its initial opposition, the PP has now wholeheartedly supported the so-called LGBTI pride celebrations for years, as evidenced on its social media.

In the six months remaining in 2005 after the law came into effect, 1,269 same-sex unions were entered into, mostly between men, a trend that continued until 2018, when those between women became more numerous.

In comparison with all marriages, same-sex unions have gone from representing 1% of the total population to 4% in two decades.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Sánchez said that “turning these issues around is difficult [but] not impossible” and that achieving it requires “great determination” on the part of a parliamentary majority.

As precedents in the field of family law, she cited the cases of Slovenia and Hungary, by referendum and legislation respectively, and with regard to the right to life, the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that returned the issue to state legislatures.

‘Gender ideology has swept through Spanish legislation’

As Sánchez sees it, the law equating marriage with same-sex unions “affects the very concept of marriage, its purposes, and its social function in such a way that it is denaturalized,” but that is not its only effect.

With such unions, “a breach was opened on many issues, a spearhead through which an ideology enters in and fully affects politics and legislation,” she added.

“Gender ideology has swept through Spanish legislation,” Sánchez noted, with important “social, cultural, and demographic implications.”

Focusing exclusively on the law equating same-sex unions with marriage, Sánchez emphasized the special impact on minors: “In this type of union, one of the two role models, paternal or maternal, is absent,” which is detrimental to minors “who need both figures” in their lives.

In the case of boys, the paternal figure offers “a model of virility, of masculinity, which today are politically incorrect words,” as are “chivalry” or “nobility,” she pointed out.

In the case of girls, the father figure “is extremely important for their self-esteem, identity, and security. They will compare any relationship they have with their father figure.”

For her part, the mother figure “provides that tenderness, that affection, and is also necessary for sons and daughters.”

For Sánchez, this type of law also carries the danger that “children can be exploited in ideological debates,” which goes against the best interests of the child.

In this regard, she pointed out that what is “healthiest and most balanced” is to have both parents, male and female, and that “the best interest of the child is a marriage” with both role models.

On the other hand, the natural infertility of same-sex relations has other effects. In the case of two men, these types of laws become “a lever” to resort to surrogacy, which “commodifies the female body” and which, Sánchez noted, “has been prohibited in Spain since 2006.”

In the case of lesbian couples, naturally infertile sexual activity leads some to resort to assisted reproduction techniques. In the researcher’s opinion, beyond how these procedures affect the dignity of human life, “this is a huge problem, because these are children born without a known, identified father figure.” 

The importance of nurturing marriage

Faced with this situation, Sánchez proposed highlighting the witness of “strong, stable, united marriages,” including large families, that offer “an image that society needs,” of families living life with joy.

Furthermore, she said she believes it is necessary to “speak well of the fact that a strong, united marriage is possible” and for families to help each other, because “a marriage always needs support,” whether from other spouses, experts, or counselors.

“There is a desire inscribed in the human heart to love and be loved, and it must be nurtured at all stages of life,” explained Sanchez, who went on to emphasize that marriage is “a very well-designed” institution. It is God’s plan for the person. It is a natural vocation.”

“We are called to this communion of persons, to a very deep union between husband and wife, for the family, and children need their parents to love each other and they need those two role models who form the way they see the world,” she explained.

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

Faithful pray before a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during Croatia’s consecration ceremony on June 27, 2025, as the nation dedicated itself anew to Christ’s divine love following the tradition established by their ancestors at the Church of Our Miraculous Lady of Sinj. / Credit: Petar Malbaša/Laudato TV

CNA Newsroom, Jun 30, 2025 / 10:46 am (CNA).

Croatian bishops led their nation in a solemn consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday, marking the 125th anniversary of an extraordinary 1900 ceremony that saw 160,000 young Croatians make a similar sacred pledge.

The consecration began June 27 at 7 p.m. local time across churches and chapels throughout Croatia, initiated by church bells ringing for five minutes before solemn Eucharistic celebrations commenced.

Following the Prayer after Communion, clergy proclaimed the formal Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In Zagreb, the faithful gathered at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus while EWTN affiliate Laudato TV broadcast live from the Church of Our Miraculous Lady of Sinj in the small town of Sinj. 

The decision to renew this historic devotion was made by the Croatian Bishops’ Conference at their 69th Plenary Assembly in November 2024, coinciding with the Jubilee Year 2025 proclaimed by Pope Francis.

“We, Croatian believers, trusting in your goodness, come to you to open for us once again your Most Sacred Heart,” the consecration prayer begins, addressing Christ as “Wisdom, Love, and the Word of the Father.”

The Sacred Heart consecration was followed Saturday, June 28, by Croatia’s first-ever solemn consecration of youth to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the Church of Croatian Martyrs in Udbina.

Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, apostolic nuncio to Croatia, presided over the 3 p.m. ceremony, which was broadcast live by Laudato TV. The initiative was launched by priests of the Marian Priestly Movement in Croatia.

The comprehensive prayer consecrated Croatian families, clergy, religious communities, parishes, married couples, children and young people, the sick and elderly, and workers across various fields to the Sacred Heart.

Ksenjia Abramovic contributed to this report.

The British Parliament building in London. / Credit: Marinesea/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jun 29, 2025 / 19:05 pm (CNA).

A British politician has publicly criticized his parish priest for refusing to give him holy Communion after he voted in favor of the United Kingdom’s assisted dying bill.

Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament Chris Coghlan took to social media on Sunday and reportedly complained to Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton, describing his treatment as “outrageous.”

Father Ian Vane, parish priest at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dorking, Surrey, had warned Coghlan before the June 20 vote that supporting the controversial bill would constitute “obstinately persevering” in sin. He then reportedly named Coghlan, who represents Dorking and Horley in Surrey, from the pulpit two days later.

Coghlan described the priest’s actions as “completely inappropriate” and claimed it “undermines the legitimacy of religious institutions.”

The politician posted on social media that the incident raised “grave public interest” about pressure that religious members of Parliament (MPs) faced during the vote, calling it “utterly disrespectful to my family, my constituents including the congregation, and the democratic process.”

The MP’s public criticism sparked significant backlash on social media platforms, with many defending Vane and criticizing Coghlan’s comportment.

Several commentators reminded the politician of the Vatican’s doctrinal note about participation in public life, “that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.”

“Those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them,” the Doctrinal note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life states.

The Diocese of Arundel and Brighton also reportedly reminded the media of the Church’s position while acknowledging the complexity of the vote.

“The Catholic Church believes in the sanctity of life and the dignity of every person,” the diocese stated, adding that Moth spoke to Coghlan “earlier this week and has offered to meet him in person to discuss the issues and concerns raised.”

Church leaders warn of grave consequences

The controversy comes as Catholic bishops and others have repeatedly raised serious concerns about the U.K.’s assisted dying legislation.

Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, the lead bishop for life issues for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said he was “shocked and disappointed” by the bill’s passage.

“Allowing the medical profession to help patients end their lives will change the culture of health care and cause legitimate fears amongst those with disabilities or who are especially vulnerable in other ways,” Sherrington stated.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and Sherrington had previously warned that Catholic hospices and care homes may have no choice but to shut down if the bill becomes law, since they “may be required to cooperate with assisted suicide.”

To become law, the bill still needs to pass in the second chamber of Parliament, the unelected House of Lords. The Lords can amend legislation, but because the bill has the support of the Commons, it is likely to pass.

One unique feature of the monastery at Subiaco is that it was built into the mountain. In any room, at least one wall is bare rock. During construction, the connection with the mountain was always preserved. Even above the main altar of the upper church, the rock juts out and looms overhead, enveloping the worship space like a vast cloak. / Credit: D. Ermacora

Paris, France, Jun 29, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Nestled among the majestic cliffs of the Simbruini mountains in Subiaco, a town about an hour from Rome in the heart of the Aniene River valley, stands the Monastery of St. Benedict, also known as the “Sacro Speco” (“Sacred Cave”). It is from this place that the famous rule of religious life was born and would spread through the centuries, still followed by thousands of monks and nuns around the world today.

In the sixth century, the young Benedict of Nursia withdrew into solitude, fleeing a corrupt and noisy world in search of an inner state that would bring him closer to God through reflection and the listening of silence. Among the rocks and trees, he found a cave — the “speco” — which sheltered him in hermitage for about three years. Thanks to the charity of a local monk and nearby shepherds, to whom he offered knowledge in exchange for food, he survived hunger and hardship.

From that cave began a spiritual journey of prayer and asceticism that led St. Benedict to formulate the rule that countless religious follow today. He devoted great attention to contemplation and prayer, considering silence an essential condition for receiving the word of God and the inspiration for a life of prayer, work, and brotherhood — according to the motto “Ora et Labora” (“Pray and Work”). 

The cave later became a pilgrimage site and source of spiritual inspiration. Over the centuries, a magnificent monastic complex was built around the Sacred Cave, nestled in greenery like a jewel, welcoming faithful and visitors from all over the world. The monastery was constructed on multiple levels and adapted to the shape of the mountain. 

Wrapped in the rocks of the mountain

One unique feature of the place is that in any room, at least one wall is bare rock. During construction, the connection with the mountain was always preserved. Even above the main altar of the upper church, the rock juts out and looms overhead, enveloping the worship space like a vast cloak.

To link the various parts — upper and lower churches, chapels, and the cave itself — an intricate network of staircases was built, making the pilgrim’s path even more fascinating. On the walls of the many chapels and corridors are frescoes painted in various artistic styles from different centuries.

The holy image of St. Francis of Assisi

One of the most important frescoes, found in the Chapel of St. Gregory, is the image of St. Francis of Assisi — considered the oldest portrait of the saint. It was painted by an anonymous friar, likely living in the same convent as Francis between 1220 and 1224. This date suggests that the face depicted in the fresco is one of the most faithful representations of the saint’s actual appearance — almost like a “photograph” of the time.

The absence of the stigmata (which appeared in 1224) and the halo further support the belief that this fresco is an extraordinary testimony to the real face of Francis while he was still alive.

The frescoes that adorn the chapels and corridors were painted in different eras by various artists and mostly depict the life of St. Benedict, especially in the lower church. There, in a style with Roman and Byzantine traits from the 13th century, scenes include “The Miracle of the Poisoned Bread,” with a crow carrying away the poisoned bread meant for Benedict by enemies; “The Miracle of the Goth,” where Benedict blesses a broken jar that miraculously reforms; and “Young Benedict in Subiaco,” illustrating his hermitic life in the cave.

Other frescoes in the lower church narrate Benedict’s arrival in Subiaco and his hermit life, showing his struggles against temptation and the strength with which he persevered; the first disciples and birth of the communities, the beginning of his mission; and his first miracles, bearing witness to the divine power manifesting through Benedict’s actions.

To this day, Benedictine monks still live in the monastery, faithfully upholding the rule.