Ss. Joseph and Cabrini Parish

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley preaches during a Mass in the Oklahoma City cathedral in 2021. / Credit: Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City was elected to serve as the next president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a secret ballot on Nov. 11.

Bishops chose Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, to serve as vice president. Flores, who serves in the southernmost diocese in Texas, finished second in balloting for president. Coakley subsequently won a runoff.

Coakley, who was previously secretary of the USCCB, will serve a three-year term as president, succeeding the former president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio. The bishops held the election at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

He has a history of promoting a culture of life, opposing gender ideology, and supporting migrants.

The archbishop, who turned 70 years old in May, became a bishop in 2004. He has served in the Oklahoma City Archdiocese since 2011. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology.

Coakley’s defense of a culture of life is a continuation of Broglio’s leadership on the subject. Under Broglio, the bishops maintained that abortion is the “preeminent priority” in elections.

In 2022, Coakley praised Oklahoma lawmakers “for supporting pro-life measures” following a law that banned nearly all abortions. He said, to build a culture of life, one must recognize “the inherent dignity of every person [and it] requires the protections afforded by pro-life legislation and a profound change of heart.”

Coakley has criticized the Oklahoma government for its support of the death penalty. In 2022, he said: “The use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence.”

In 2023, he expressed concern about the rise of gender dysphoria and the promotion of gender ideology in American society. He provided advice to parents but criticized drugs and surgeries used to facilitate a gender transition.

Coakley has also criticized the mass deportation efforts taken by President Donald Trump’s administration. In February of this year, he said deportations are “creating fear and even distress for our immigrant, migrant, and refugee neighbors who have arrived in search of the same dreams that awaited many of our ancestors at a different moment in time.”

He also said in the statement that “illegal immigration is wrong, and renewed efforts should be considered to protect our nation’s borders.” He mentioned concerns about human and drug trafficking but said the majority of people who entered the country illegally “are upstanding members of our communities and churches, not violent criminals.”

Flores to serve as vice president

Flores is former president of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and was the only southern-border bishop in contention for the role of president.

Flores will serve a three-year term as vice president, succeeding the former vice president, Archbishop William Lori.

Flores, who is 64 years old, holds a doctorate in sacred theology and is a former theology professor. He has been a bishop since 2006. He was one of 12 bishops to serve on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Synodality and is a promoter of synodality in the Church. 

In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic. He has expressed concern about polarization in the Church and urged “civil conversation … to seek what is good and make the priority how to achieve it and how to avoid what is evil.”

null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).

An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.

From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.

Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.

Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”

The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”

U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”

“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”

“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said. 

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, speaks with EWTN News on Oct. 9, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).

Legislation that would provide protections for people lacking legal immigration status has won praise, but not a full endorsement, from Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who serves as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration.

The bill (HR 4393), which would not lay out a direct path to citizenship, would give people who lack legal status the chance to earn it through labor and financial penalties if they lack a criminal record. It would apply to people who entered the United States before 2021.

The measure would authorize funding for border security and create overseas centers for asylum seekers during consideration of their case. It would also require asylum cases to be completed within 60 days.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, sponsored the measure, which she named the Dignity Act and first introduced in 2022. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, cosponsored the measure, along with 22 other members of Congress.

Following the reintroduction of the bill earlier this year, Seitz said he is “deeply grateful to Congresswoman Salazar, Congresswoman Escobar, and their colleagues for this sustained commitment to working across the aisle.”

He added: “Bipartisan proposals such as the Dignity Act are a step toward fulfilling the call made by our Holy Father to offer a better way forward — one that begins and ends with respect for the God-given dignity of every person.”

Nonetheless, Seitz stopped short of endorsing the bill, telling EWTN News correspondent Mark Irons in a Nov. 12 interview that while “we recognize they are looking for a workable solution given the political realities today” he and his fellow bishops have not come to the decision to formally support the legislation because of its lack of a pathway to U.S. citizenship for its intended beneficiaries.

“While we can certainly support many aspects of it,” Seitz specified, that “are in accord with our understanding of the way immigrants ought to be treated, we have never supported a bill, formally, that doesn’t give a pathway to citizenship.”

Meanwhile, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, comprising over 42,000 affiliated churches, has formally endorsed the measure. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Immigration Forum, Business Roundtable, and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities also are backing the bill.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, on the other hand, has voiced opposition to the measure, saying it would forgive illegal entry and allow authorities to waive offenses such as certain controlled substance crimes and prostitution.

The group criticized the bill’s proposal to create the Dignity Program to provide a renewable seven-year grant of deferred action, saying it is likely that future legislation would attempt to provide a direct path to citizenship if “Dignity status” was granted.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Bishop Seitz endorsed the immigration bill; in fact he did not give his full endorsement but rather lauded the bill. The headline and lede have been corrected with this information, and quotes from Seitz to EWTN News have been added to paragraphs 7 and 8. (Published Nov. 13, 2025) 

Swiss Guards and faithful pilgrims holding olive branches line the processional route in St. Peter’s Square for Palm Sunday celebrations, April 13, 2025. The ancient Vatican obelisk stands at the center of the square as clergy process toward the basilica. / Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren/EWTN News

Vatican City, Nov 11, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).

The Pontifical Swiss Guard this week opened an internal investigation to clarify an alleged act of antisemitism committed by one of its guards against two Jewish women in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican confirmed. 

“The Pontifical Swiss Guard received a complaint regarding an incident that occurred at one of the entrances to Vatican City State in which elements interpreted as antisemitic were allegedly detected,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni stated on Monday.

The reported incident took place during Pope Leo XIV’s Oct. 29 general audience commemorating the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the 1965 declaration on the Church’s relations with non-Christian religions.

According to a Nov. 7 report published in Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Israeli writer and theater director Michal Govrin said a Swiss Guard “hissed at” her and a female colleague, saying “les juifs, the Jews,” before “making a gesture of spitting in our direction with obvious contempt.”

The two women were part of an international Jewish delegation in Rome to participate in Nostra Aetate anniversary celebrations, which included the Oct. 29 audience with Pope Leo in St. Peter’s Square.

During that audience dedicated to interreligious dialogue, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that “the Church does not tolerate acts of antisemitism in any form” and reiterated “the Holy See’s commitment to friendship and respect towards our elder brothers in faith.”

According to the Vatican’s preliminary investigation, the complaint stems from “a dispute that arose regarding a request for a photograph while on duty.” Members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard are strictly prohibited from taking photographs with tourists or pilgrims while on duty.

Bruni on Monday explained that “the case is currently the subject of an internal verification procedure” and that this process “is being carried out in accordance with the principles of discretion and impartiality, in compliance with current regulations.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Swiss Guard, Eliah Cinotti, also confirmed that the alleged antisemitic incident involved “a photo taken at a duty station” in St. Peter’s Square.

“The case remains under internal investigation,” Cinotti explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. 

“There will be no further comments on the matter,” as the proceedings must remain “confidential,” he added.

In a Nov. 10 statement given to The Catholic Herald, Cinotti said: “The Pontifical Swiss Guard firmly distances itself from any expression or act of antisemitism.”

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops’ spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. / Credit: USCCB

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 11, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Archbishop Timothy Broglio’s leadership of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) comes to an end Nov. 11 after a three-year term.

Broglio, the archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was elected to the office of president in November 2022. In his time, the USCCB has defended religious freedom and the right to life, opposed gender ideology, defended migrants, and promoted international peace.

The USCCB voting guide continued to highlight abortion as its “preeminent priority” through the Broglio presidency. Because the conference represents the Church in Washington, D.C., this led to tension with the presidency of Joe Biden, which overlapped with Broglio’s tenure.

When Biden told an EWTN reporter that “not all” of the Catholic bishops oppose tax funds for abortion, Broglio responded in 2023: “The Catholic bishops of the United States are united in our commitment to life and will continue to work as one body in Christ to make abortion unthinkable.”

The USCCB declined to deny Biden Communion over his abortion support. It sued the administration when it passed regulations to force employers, including religious groups, to accommodate women who are procuring an abortion. Enforcement was blocked by a judge.

During his time, the bishops also fought against an anti-discrimination rule. As president of the USCCB, Broglio frequently criticized gender ideology, saying efforts to change one’s gender are incompatible with Church teaching.

The USCCB issued annual religious freedom reports. Under Biden, the conference focused on issues related to abortion and gender. Under President Donald Trump, the bishops expressed more concerns over immigration policy jeopardizing religious freedom.

In this year’s report, the USCCB referenced Annunciation House, an El Paso, Texas-based nonprofit that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tried to shut down for “alien harboring” — an allegation they are contesting in the state Supreme Court.

The USCCB also sued the Trump administration over the decision to strip funding for refugee resettlements. The USCCB ultimately phased out its migration programs, which had been receiving more than $100 million annually under Biden.

Broglio said in June that “enforcement alone” is not the solution to immigration issues. He said: “The mass arrest and removal of our neighbors, friends, and family members on the basis of immigration status alone, particularly in ways that are arbitrary or without due process, represent a profound social crisis before which no person of goodwill can remain silent.”

The USCCB issued immigration reform guidelines in January, which said “a country’s rights to regulate its borders and enforce its immigration laws must be balanced with its responsibilities to uphold the sanctity of human life, respect the God-given dignity of all persons, and enact policies that further the common good.”

Broglio repeatedly encouraged the U.S. government to promote peace internationally, such as in conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The archbishop has also criticized the U.S. Army’s decision to cancel certain religious contracts, which he said is straining the archdiocese’s ability to minister to Catholics in the armed forces.

As Broglio’s term comes to an end, the bishops are set to decide the next conference president from a slate of 10 candidates on Nov. 11. The election takes place at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller. / Credit: La Sacristía de la Vendée

Madrid, Spain, Nov 11, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called for overcoming ideological divisions within the Catholic Church in a Spanish-language interview on the “Sacristy of the Vendé” YouTube channel in which he reflects on the “instrumentalization” of abuse cases.

Held last July, the interview was released this week after the coordinator of the priests’ YouTube discussion group, Father Francisco José Delgado, was acquitted of charges of “inciting hatred” against the Holy See, interfering in the Vatican’s investigation into the Sodality of Christian Life, and damaging the “good reputation” of layman José Enrique Escardó, one of the main proponents of the case against that apostolate.

Müller stated that, since its inception, the Catholic Church has experienced divisions “because of these false doctrines, heresies, or pagan ideologies” and thus proposed that “everyone has to be aware that one is following Jesus Christ and not ideologies.”

For the cardinal, within the Catholic Church it is not possible to define oneself as conservative, traditionalist, or progressive: “We must overcome these divisions that stem from the French Revolution, from the Jacobins. In the Parliament of that time, these right-wing and left-wing groups existed, but these are political and ideological concepts, not Christian ones.”

“We form one unity in Jesus Christ, one Christ, the head of the Church, and we are members of one body, one Lord, one God, one baptism, and one Eucharist. The sacraments are valid for everyone, and we are united in love, faith, and hope. This is the definition of the Church, not of an ideology or an NGO [nongovernmental organization].”

The exploitation of abuse cases

The prelate also addressed the issue of canonical processes stemming from accusations of sexual abuse and their exploitation both within and outside the Church. After acknowledging that victims “have every right to demand justice,” he stated that “justice cannot be demanded or achieved at the expense of the innocent.” To convict a person, he argued, “we need the certainty that he is guilty and also had a proper trial.”

“Alongside these real cases, we also have quite a few false accusations,” especially against deceased priests, noting that “some enemies of the Church exploit scandals, or non-scandals, when it comes to innocent people falsely accused, in order to damage the image of the Catholic priest.”

Faced with sweeping investigations into the entire Catholic Church, the cardinal advocated for examining individual cases “not indiscriminately against a group,” since, in his view, “this is also totalitarian thinking.”

In this regard, he added that the crime of abuse “has its cause in the morality or immorality of a person, not in the divine grace” of the sacrament of holy orders, in the case of priests. Otherwise, he pointed out, it would have to be said that “Jesus Christ is responsible for Judas’ betrayal.”

Delgado’s conversation with Müller also turned to the reality of martyrdom in 20th-century Spain and the Valley of the Fallen as a monument of reconciliation that the current Spanish government wants to redefine.

The Valley of the Fallen is a massive complex about 30 miles from Madrid inaugurated in 1959 and dedicated to the memory of those killed on both sides of the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War. Among those buried there are a number of blesseds and servants of God martyred for the faith. During the war, the leftist side martyred thousands of clerics, religious, and laity. Some have been canonized and quite a few have been beatified.

The Valley of the Fallen was intended to be a place of national reconciliation and includes a basilica and monastery. However, as it was built by order of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, whose right-wing Nationalist side won the conflict, the current leftist government led by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party considers it to be in some way a monument to the Franco regime and wants to “resignify” it for other purposes.

For the cardinal, “reconciliation in society, in the Church, in any community is not possible if the events of the past are forgotten,” emphasizing that the martyrs “are the crown, the jewels of the Church.”

“They are martyrs of the Gospel, witnesses to the Resurrection, to the victory of the risen Jesus, and therefore they are the first ones to invite all of us to overcome the ideologies that divide communities and the Church,” he said.

“The state must not decide on the value of the lives of others or the thoughts or beliefs of others. The state must remove itself from the conscience of people. The state is not God in the world,” he added.

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

The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Scotland’s Catholic bishops and pro-life groups have raised alarms about the effects a proposed assisted suicide bill may have upon disabled and vulnerable people after a number of key amendments were rejected. / Credit: Reinhold Möller, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Edinburgh, Scotland, Nov 11, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Scotland’s Catholic bishops and pro-life groups have raised alarms about the effects a proposed assisted suicide bill may have upon disabled and vulnerable people after a number of key amendments were rejected.

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in Scotland, but if Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill becomes law, terminally ill adults will be given assistance to end their own lives.

After the committee considering the bill on Nov. 4 rejected several amendments to make the bill safer, the president of the Scottish bishops’ conference, Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, told CNA: “Almost [all of the] vulnerable groups in Scotland representing the disabled, elderly, and mentally ill are against the [bill] and continue to point out how it puts them at greater risk.”

One of the rejected amendments would have restricted eligibility to those with six months or less to live. Another proposal would have required people who are seeking an assisted death to be provided with a fully funded palliative care support plan. Both amendments were rejected, raising fears that the most vulnerable will suffer and those with nonterminal conditions will be able to access assisted suicide.

Expressing concerns about the bill, Keenan said: “It will also not exclude a person whose primary motivation for their request is among [the] following nonterminal conditions: eating disorders; intellectual disabilities, including but not limited to [Down] syndrome; mood disorders, including but not limited to depression; anxiety disorders; the receipt of any disability or sickness-related benefits, including but not limited to Adult Disability Payment, or any equivalent welfare payment; loneliness or social isolation; financial hardship or low income; feelings of being a burden to others; poor or unsuitable housing conditions; any other mental health condition or developmental disorder that is not a terminal illness.”

The Catholic Church teaches that assisted suicide is inherently immoral.

“Life is a gift to be protected, especially when threatened by sickness and death,” the Catholic bishops of England, Wales, and Scotland have said. “Palliative care, with expert pain relief and good human, spiritual, and pastoral support, is the right and best way to care for people towards the end of life.”

The definition of terminal illness in McArthur’s bill has been viewed as problematic, with the bill stating that it can be applied to people who have an “advanced and progressive disease, illness, or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death.” 

Paul Atkin, pro-life officer at the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, highlighted this danger, telling CNA: “The bill’s definition of ‘terminal illness’ is so vague that it could include people with conditions such as dementia or heart failure, who may live for years. The boundaries keep moving, and what starts as a choice for a few becomes an assumption for many.”

Atkin continued: “We should be honest: This law would put some lives at risk — not from disease, but from despair. True compassion means standing beside those who suffer, not offering to end their lives. Scotland can do better than that.”

Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Jeremy Balfour made a proposal to exclude individuals with nonterminal conditions from accessing assisted suicide. These conditions include intellectual disabilities, eating disorders, and feelings of being a burden. Again, this was rejected.

Speaking to CNA, Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, described the assisted suicide bill in Scotland as “a clear danger to people with disabilities.” 

“Many disabilities can quickly become ‘terminal’ if not managed properly. This remains the case whether done intentionally for people with disabilities who are actively seeking to end their own lives or through lack of access to medical assistance,” Robinson said.

“People with disabilities recognize the risk the McArthur’s bill poses to them, which is why major disability groups in Scotland, such as Inclusion Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance, and Disability Equality Scotland, do not support this bill.”

MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, who is the first permanent wheelchair user in the Scottish Parliament, shared her own concerns about the rejected amendments upon disabled people. 

“The committee rejected placing timescales on prognosis. This means anyone with an illness that could result in their premature death is eligible. That’s me and thousands of disabled people and people with conditions like diabetes across Scotland. I don’t believe that is what Parliament intends. This is dangerous for disabled people and I will fight it all the way,” Duncan-Glancy said. 

McArthur’s bill is separate from the bill currently progressing through Parliament in London, which proposes the legalization of assisted suicide in England and Wales. 

Catholics in Scotland are asked to urge their local MSP to vote against the bill when it comes to the final debate at Stage 3.

Credit: Flamingo Images/shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Although school vouchers were not on any statewide ballot in recent elections, the legislative push for and implementation of voucher programs is growing throughout the country, particularly in Republican-led states.

While the programs continue to receive pushback from Democrats and teachers unions, traditionally conservative groups like home-schoolers and rural residents have been increasingly voicing their disapproval.

David Tamisiea, executive director for the North Dakota Catholic Conference, said in a recent presentation at the Society for Catholic Social Scientists conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville that he was surprised when he first encountered Catholic parents who opposed educational choice in the form of school vouchers.

He defined educational choice as “the idea that parents should have the freedom to choose the educational setting best suited to their child” and said that “to be truly free, these choices should be supported with public funding.”

Tamisiea said this freedom for parents to choose their children’s education was affirmed in a document issued during the Second Vatican Council known as Gravissimum Educationis, the “Declaration on Christian Education.”

“That’s where you find the most well known of its teachings, the idea that parents are the primary educators of their children,” Tamisiea told CNA. As primary educators, parents have the “fundamental and inalienable right to see to the education of their children, a right so fundamental it cannot be taken away by the state.”

“But it doesn’t mean the state has no role,” he said. 

Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a $1 billion voucher program that will begin in early 2026.

Residents in the 10-county district in rural west Texas represented by state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, opposed the program, however.

“In rural Texas, there’s not a whole lot of private school options, and we want our schools to get every dollar they can. This doesn’t add $1, and it’s not good for rural Texas,” Darby said last year of the voucher program.

The home-schooling community is divided on the idea of vouchers. Home-schooling families can spend thousands of dollars a year on books, sports, music lessons, and other classes, and some families would welcome seeing some of their tax dollars returned to them in the form of vouchers. 

Others, however, are opposed to accepting public funds. In Texas, home schooling is currently unregulated by the state and local governments. Home-schooling families worry that accepting taxpayer money in the form of vouchers will lead to government mandates and overregulation.

“We do have zero oversight, zero accountability, and we want to keep it that way,” Faith Bussey, president of Texans for Homeschool Freedom, told the Texas Tribune in 2023. The organization opposed the voucher program, calling it “a real threat to parental freedom.”

These fears are not unfounded. As the Heritage Foundation documented in 2024, Arizona’s voucher program launched in 2011 with $7,000 per student and zero curriculum mandates for home-schoolers. By year three of the program, the state required standardized testing and later added vendor preapproval and bans on “divisive concepts.”

Tamisiea acknowledged that there are legitimate concerns about state overreach but said those concerns should not mean that Christians should not support publicly funded educational choice programs like school vouchers.

“It’s a matter of both/and,” he told CNA. “Parents should fight for both rights. Fight for your right to receive funding from the state to support your choices as a parent, to teach your children the way you think is best, whether that is in private, charter, or home school, and fight for your right to be the primary educator of your children and not have that be interfered with by the state.”

Tamisiea, an attorney, said the “right of religious liberty is involved here as well. We have a right to exercise our faith and act according to our consciences in matters of education.”  

Regarding the concerns of rural parents, Tamisiea, who said he lives in a rural state, said it is a “harder question.”

“People in the rural areas feel left out because many don’t have the option of sending their kids to a private school because there aren’t any,” he said.

This is why he favors educational savings accounts (ESAs) over school vouchers. In states with ESAs, parents are given funds from the state that they can use for private school but also for tutoring, online classes, summer educational camps, and computer technology. 

Those who live in rural areas could therefore benefit from ESAs, Tamisiea said.

St. Martin of Tours sharing his cloak with a beggar by François Joseph Thomas De Backer. / Credit: François Joseph Thomas De Backer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Nov. 11, the Catholic Church honors St. Martin of Tours, who left his post in the Roman army to become a “soldier of Christ.”

Martin was born around the year 316 in modern-day Hungary. His family left that region for Italy when his father, a military official of the Roman Empire, was transferred there. Martin’s parents were pagans, but he felt an attraction to the Catholic faith, which had become legal throughout the empire in 313. He received religious instruction at age 10 and even considered becoming a hermit in the desert.

Circumstances, however, forced Martin to join the Roman army at age 15, when he had not even received baptism. Martin strove to live a humble and upright life in the military, giving away much of his pay to the poor. His generosity led to a life-changing incident, when he encountered a man freezing without warm clothing near a gate at the city of Amiens in Gaul.

As his fellow soldiers passed by the man, Martin stopped and cut his own cloak into two halves with his sword, giving one half to the freezing beggar. That night, the unbaptized soldier saw Christ in a dream, wearing the half-cloak he had given to the poor man. Jesus declared: “Martin, a catechumen, has clothed me with this garment.”

Martin knew that the time for him to join the Church had arrived. After his baptism, he remained in the army for two years but desired to give his life to God more fully than the profession would allow. But when he finally asked for permission to leave the Roman army, during an invasion by the Germans, Martin was accused of cowardice.

He responded by offering to stand before the enemy forces unarmed. “In the name of the Lord Jesus, and protected not by a helmet and buckler but by the sign of the cross, I will thrust myself into the thickest squadrons of the enemy without fear.”

But this display of faith became unnecessary when the Germans sought peace instead, and Martin received his discharge.

After living as a Catholic for some time, Martin traveled to meet Bishop Hilary of Poitiers, a skilled theologian and later canonized saint. Martin’s dedication to the faith impressed the bishop, who asked the former soldier to return to his diocese after he had undertaken a journey back to Hungary to visit his parents. While there, Martin persuaded his mother, though not his father, to join the Church.

In the meantime, however, Hilary had provoked the anger of the Arians, a group that denied Jesus was God. This resulted in the bishop’s banishment, so Martin could not return to his diocese as intended. Instead he spent some time living a life of severe asceticism, which almost resulted in his death. The two met up again in 360, when Hilary’s banishment from Poitiers ended.

After their reunion, Hilary granted Martin a piece of land to build what may have been the first monastery in the region of Gaul. During the resulting decade as a monk, Martin became renowned for raising two people from the dead through his prayers. This evidence of his holiness led to his appointment as the third bishop of Tours in the middle of present-day France.

Martin had not wanted to become a bishop and had actually been tricked into leaving his monastery in the first place by those who wanted him to the lead the local Church. Once appointed, he continued to live as a monk, dressing plainly and owning no personal possessions. In this same spirit of sacrifice, he traveled throughout his diocese, from which he is said to have driven out pagan practices.

Both the Church and the Roman Empire passed through a time of upheaval during Martin’s tenure as bishop. Priscillianism, a heresy involving salvation through a system of secret knowledge, caused such serious problems in Spain and Gaul that civil authorities sentenced the heretics to death. But Martin, along with the pope and St. Ambrose of Milan, opposed this death sentence for the Priscillianists.

Even in old age, Martin continued to live an austere life focused on the care of souls. His disciple and biographer, St. Sulpicius Severus, noted that the bishop helped all people with their moral, intellectual, and spiritual problems. He also helped many discover their calling to the consecrated life.

Martin foresaw his own death and told his disciples of it. But when his last illness came upon him during a pastoral journey, he felt uncertain about leaving his people.

“Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I refuse no labor. Thy holy will be done,” he prayed. He developed a fever but did not sleep, passing his last several nights in the presence of God in prayer.

“Allow me, my brethren, to look rather toward heaven than upon the earth, that my soul may be directed to take its flight to the Lord to whom it is going,” he told his followers, shortly before he died in November 397.

St. Martin of Tours has historically been among the most beloved saints in the history of Europe. In a 2007 Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope “that all Christians may be like St. Martin, generous witnesses of the Gospel of love and tireless builders of jointly responsible sharing.”

This story was first published on Oct. 6, 2011, and has been updated.

Pope Leo XIV blesses a baby in St. Peter’s Square during his general audience on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 10, 2025 / 18:32 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has revealed the names of Pope Leo XIV’s favorite films, including “The Sound of Music” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” upon announcing the Holy Father’s upcoming meeting with the world of cinema on Saturday, Nov. 15.

In total, the Vatican shared four titles of the “most significant films” for Leo XIV:

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946) by Frank Capra

The Christmas classic stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has sacrificed his dreams because of his sense of responsibility and generosity but feeling like a failure, he contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve. This prompts the intervention of his guardian angel (Henry Travers), who shows him all the good he has done for many people. 

‘The Sound of Music’ (1965) by Robert Wise

The film tells the story of a postulant at a convent in Austria in 1938.  After discerning out, the postulant (Julie Andrews) is sent to the home of Captain Von Trapp, a widowed retired naval officer (Christopher Plummer) to be the governess of his seven children. After bringing love and music to the Von Trapp family, she eventually marries the captain. As Von Tapp refuses to accept a commission in the Nazi navy, the family is forced to leave Austria in a dramatic escape. 

‘Ordinary People’ (1980) by Robert Redford

The film tells the story of the breakdown of a wealthy Illinois family after the death of one son in an accident and the suicide attempt of the other. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.

‘Life Is Beautiful’ (1997) by Roberto Benigni

In this film, Benigni — whose father spent two years in a prisoner-of-war camp — plays Guido Orefice, an Italian Jewish bookstore owner who uses his imagination to protect his young son from the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.

Nov. 15 meeting with the world of cinema 

The meeting will take place on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m. Rome time in the Apostolic Palace of Vatican City, according to a statement from the Dicastery for Culture and Education, in collaboration with the Vatican Museums.

The event follows previous meetings with the world of visual arts (June 2023), comedy (June 2024), and the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture in February of this year.

The Vatican statement highlights that Pope Leo XIV “has expressed his desire to deepen the dialogue with the world of cinema, and in particular with actors and directors, exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values.”

Actors and directors the pope will meet

Among those who have already confirmed their participation are the Italian actresses Monica Bellucci, famous for her role as Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” and Maria Grazia Cucinotta (“Il Postino” and “The World Is Not Enough.”)

Also joining the Holy Father will be, among others, American actress Cate Blanchett (“The Lord of the Rings,” “The Aviator”), the African-American director Spike Lee, the director Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting,” “Elephant”), the Australian director George Miller, creator of the Mad Max saga, and the Italian Giuseppe Tornatore, director of “Cinema Paradiso,” for which he won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1989.

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