Ss. Joseph and Cabrini Parish

Maria Zuber, an American planetary scientist involved in multiple NASA missions (left), and Meng Anming, a Chinese developmental biologist specializing in embryonic research, are among five new members whom Pope Francis has appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced March 7, 2025. / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; WMShen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Mar 7, 2025 / 09:50 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed a NASA geophysicist, a Harvard genetics professor, and a Chinese embryonic development researcher among five new members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced Friday. 

The new appointees include Maria Zuber, an American planetary scientist involved in multiple NASA missions; Olivier Pourquié, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School; and Meng Anming, a Chinese developmental biologist specializing in embryonic research.  

Also joining the academy are Chilean molecular geneticist Luis Fernando Larrondo Castro and Mexican environmental scientist Cecilia Tortajada. 

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences brings together leading international experts to promote scientific progress and interdisciplinary research. Members participate in study groups and Vatican-hosted meetings to examine key scientific and ethical issues. 

Meet the new members: 

Maria Zuber 

A geophysicist from Norristown, Pennsylvania, Zuber is the E.A. Griswold professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a trustee of Brown University. She has contributed to more than half a dozen NASA planetary missions studying the moon, Mars, Mercury, and asteroids. In 2021, she was appointed co-chair of President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. 

Meng Anming

A professor of developmental biology at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Meng specializes in embryonic development, using zebra fish as a model for studying early growth processes. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Olivier Pourquié

A French-born geneticist, Pourquié is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He previously directed the Institute for Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in France. In 2024, he co-authored a study on standardizing stem-cell-based embryo models.

Luis Fernando Larrondo Castro 

A professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Larrondo has served as director of the Millennium Institute for Integrative Biology (iBio). His research focuses on fungal biological clocks and their role in physiology and host-pathogen interactions.

Cecilia Tortajada

An environmental scientist from Mexico, Tortajada specializes in water, environment, and natural resource management. She is a professor at the University of Glasgow’s School of Social and Environmental Sustainability and an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore. She has advised global organizations, including the World Bank and the United Nations.

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, speaks with “EWTN News Nightly” on March 4, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 7, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron during his visit to the nation’s capital this week to attend President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress called on Catholic politicians to bring their faith into the public square.

“EWTN News Nightly” Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales sat down with Barron for an interview before the bishop celebrated Mass in the Capitol for lawmakers on March 4 ahead of the address. 

Barron, the founder of the nonprofit global media apostolate Word on Fire, shared with EWTN his message to Catholics serving in Congress: “Don’t leave your faith at the door.”

“We don’t impose the faith. [Pope] John Paul [II] always said, ‘We don’t impose, we propose.’ But they should bring their faith into the public square,” Barron continued.

“It’s not the case that we’re to sequester faith simply into the privacy of our conscience. No, it’s a public reality, and it should inform the decisions that they make here,” he said.

Barron is one of the most well-known American bishops with more than 1.8 million followers on his YouTube channel, where he discusses faith and culture, often touching on politics.

The bishop from the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who serves as chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, was invited to the joint session of Congress by Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia. 

During the interview, Barron said he hoped to “just take in the beauty of the event.” 

“I was graciously invited here by Rep. Moore from West Virginia. I’m a student of American history, and I’ve been watching these addresses for many years,” he said.

“Just the chance to be in the chamber and to hear the president, see the whole government assemble. All that was attractive to me, so I accepted the invitation,” Barron added.

Earlier this year, the media apostolate announced plans to establish a new order of Word on Fire priests. During the “EWTN News Nightly” interview, Rosales asked Barron what he hopes this order will bring to the Church. 

“I just think the needful thing today in the Church is this outreach to the unaffiliated,” Barron responded. “I think it’s the central problem we have, is the number, especially of young people, who are disaffiliating from the Church.”

“A lot of my ministry has been focused on that — to appeal through truth and beauty, to bring the great tradition forward, and to try to draw people back to the Church,” he said.

“What I didn’t want was this ministry simply to end with me. I thought, I want it to go on after I’m gone. Could there be an order, I wondered, that would carry on this charism of using the media in an intelligent way, in a beautiful way, reaching out to the unaffiliated?” he said.

The interview wrapped up with a brief discussion of Pope Francis and the bishop’s thoughts on the Holy Father’s health battle.

“We’ve been praying for him for the last now almost three weeks he’s been in the hospital. So it’s been a pretty dicey time, and we’ve been following the news and accompanying him with our prayers,” he said.

“Just praying for him and hoping that he can recover and get back to his mission,” Barron concluded. 

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity. / Credit: National Catholic Register files

National Catholic Register, Mar 7, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Many have heard of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, early saints mentioned in Eucharistic Prayer I (the Roman Canon). But most don’t know much more than that, which is a pity. The two have a dramatic story — which St. Perpetua recorded herself in the days before her death. She also recorded the visions she received during that time.

As the Church celebrates the feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity on March 7, here are 10 things to know about these early martyrs.

1. Who was St. Perpetua?

Perpetua was a young Christian woman and martyr who died just after the year 200 in North Africa. When she was still a catechumen, she and several acquaintances were taken into custody.

According to the “Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity”:

“And among them also was Vivia Perpetua, respectably born, liberally educated, a married matron, having a father and mother and two brothers, one of whom, like herself, was a catechumen, and a son an infant at the breast. She herself was about 22 years of age.”

No mention is made of her husband, who may have already been dead.

After being baptized, Perpetua received several visions and was eventually martyred. We also learn about her companions and other members of her family, including her father and her younger brother, who had died previously of cancer.

2. What is the ‘Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity’?

It is a document describing what happened to Perpetua and her companions. It is also called “The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity.”

The document is composed of a preface followed by six chapters.

What is particularly special is that about half of the document was written by the martyr herself:

• Chapters 1–3 were penned by St. Perpetua while she was awaiting execution. 

• Chapter 4 was written by one of her companions and fellow martyrs, Saturus.

• Chapter 5–6 (and the preface) were written by the anonymous editor, who was apparently an eyewitness of the martyrdoms.

3. What does Perpetua’s writing reveal about her father?

Perpetua’s father was a most remarkable and persistent man.

Apparently, he was the only member of her family who did not share the Christian faith. He made repeated attempts to get her to renounce the faith, and he suffered greatly at the thought his daughter would be killed by the authorities. Perpetua was deeply moved to see how much he was suffering because of his love for her.

He comes to her repeatedly throughout the text, trying to find a way to save her life. He doesn’t realize what it would mean for her to abandon the faith, but you can’t help feeling for his persistence, inventiveness, and raw desperation in trying to find a way to save his daughter’s life.

On one occasion, this happened:

“And then my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down [from my profession of faith], saying,

“‘Have pity my daughter, on my gray hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. ...’

“These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet; and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady.

“And I grieved over the gray hairs of my father, that he alone of all my family would not rejoice over my passion.

“And I comforted him, saying, ‘On that scaffold whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power, but in that of God.’ And he departed from me in sorrow.”

On another occasion, he tried to get her to renounce the faith using an appeal to her infant son:

“Another day, while we were at dinner, we were suddenly taken away to be heard [by the judicial authorities], and we arrived at the town hall.

“At once the rumor spread through the neighborhood of the public place, and an immense number of people were gathered together. We mount the platform. The rest were interrogated, and confessed [the Christian faith].

“Then they came to me, and my father immediately appeared with my boy, and withdrew me from the step, and said in a supplicating tone, ‘Have pity on your babe.’”

The pagan authorities even beat Perpetua’s father with rods in front of her to try to get her to abandon the faith, but she wouldn't.

Ultimately, though, her father’s efforts fail. She stays true to what she told him at the beginning of his efforts:

“‘Father,’ said I, ‘do you see, let us say, this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?’

“And he said, ‘I see it to be so.’

“And I replied to him, ‘Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’

“And he said, ‘No.’

“‘Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.’”

4. What visions does Perpetua receive?

Several visions are narrated in the text:

• The first is a vision of a ladder, and it concerns Perpetua’s martyrdom and arrival in heaven.

• She also has a pair of visions concerning her deceased brother, Dinocrates, who is trying to drink from a fountain.

• In another vision, she fights the devil in the form of an Egyptian gladiator.

5. What happens in the vision of the ladder?

One vision concerns the fact that she will be martyred:

“Then my brother said to me, ‘My dear sister, you are already in a position of great dignity, and are such that you may ask for a vision, and that it may be made known to you whether this is to result in a passion [a martyrdom] or an escape.’”

She then receives the following vision:

“I saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven, and very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one; and on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron weapon. There were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers; so that if any one went up carelessly, or not looking upwards, he would be torn to pieces and his flesh would cleave to the iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who ascended, and frightened them from the ascent.

“And [my companion] Saturus went up first, who had subsequently delivered himself up freely on our account, not having been present at the time that we were taken prisoners. And he attained the top of the ladder, and turned toward me, and said to me, ‘Perpetua, I am waiting for you; but be careful that the dragon does not bite you.’

“And I said, ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.’ And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up his head; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his head.

“And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of garden, and in the midst of the garden a white-haired man sitting in the dress of a shepherd, of a large stature, milking sheep; and standing around were many thousand white-robed ones.

“And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and said to me, ‘You are welcome, daughter.’

“And he called me, and from the cheese as he was milking he gave me as it were a little cake, and I received it with folded hands; and I ate it, and all who stood around said ‘Amen.’

“And at the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediately related this to my brother, and we understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in this world.”

6. What happens in the visions of her little brother?

Perpetua relates the first as follows:

“I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid color, and the wound on his face which he had when he died.

“This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age who died miserably with disease — his face being so eaten out with cancer, that his death caused repugnance to all men.

“For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other.

“And moreover, in the same place where Dinocrates was, there was a pool full of water, having its brink higher than was the stature of the boy; and Dinocrates raised himself up as if to drink. And I was grieved that, although that pool held water, still, on account of the height to its brink, he could not drink. And I was aroused, and knew that my brother was in suffering.”

Perpetua then begins to pray daily for him to ease his suffering, and she eventually receives the following vision:

“I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. 

“And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and that pool which I had before seen, I saw now with its margin lowered even to the boy’s navel. 

“And one drew water from the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled with water; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink from it, and the goblet did not fail. 

“And when he was satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke.

“Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment.”

This pair of visions testify to the belief in the early Christian community of the value of praying for the departed and to what we would now refer to as purgatory.

7. Who was Felicity?

Perpetua is often mentioned together with one of her companions — Felicity — as is the case in Eucharistic Prayer I.

Felicity was another woman who was arrested at a time when she was eight months pregnant. She was eager to go to heaven, however, and did not want to be delayed by being martyred after her friends.

The fact that she was pregnant, however, might have interfered with this, since it was not lawful to put a pregnant woman to death.

She and her companions therefore prayed and, though she was not yet full term, she delivered her baby — a girl — who was given to a “sister” (a fellow Christian woman) to raise as her own daughter.

Felicity thus was able to be martyred with her friends.

8. How did Perpetua and Felicity die?

Perpetua and her companions were martyred by being subjected to wild beasts.

The men were subjected to a leopard, a bear, and a boar.

Perpetua and Felicity were subjected to a fierce cow (or ox).

The account of their martyrdom includes interesting details, such as the fact that when Perpetua’s garment was torn, she drew it over herself to protect her modesty and, when her hair was disheveled, she did it up again, lest she be thought to be mourning in the moment of her glory.

It is also reported that she and her companions experienced the pains of martyrdom in a kind of ecstasy, as if someone else were suffering them.

As they died, they exhorted others to find salvation in the Lord.

At the end, they were dispatched by a gladiator, with Perpetua guiding the gladiator’s sword to her own throat.

The anonymous editor comments:

“Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit [the devil].”

9. Are Perpetua’s visions approved private revelations?

The Church did not have the modern system of approving private revelations in place in her day, nor has it gone back over Church history and applied it to ones in early Church history.

Perpetua is a saint, however, and her visions do not contain anything contrary to the faith. They seem (to me) entirely wholesome, and I see no reason to doubt that they were prompted by motions of God’s grace.

10. Where can we read the full story of Perpetua and her companions?

They can be read here.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.

null / Credit: FabrikaSimf/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 6, 2025 / 16:50 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Catholic bishops reiterated their support on Thursday for a bill to protect women’s sports after the measure failed to pass the Senate in a procedural vote this week.

In a statement released by the bishops’ conference, Bishop Robert Barron and Bishop David O’Connell called the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act “commonsense legislation that would ensure fairness for female athletes.”

The proposed legislation, which passed the House in January, would have prevented federally funded sports programs under Title IX from allowing male students to compete or participate in women’s and girls’ athletic programs.

Although a majority of senators backed the legislation on a 51-45 vote, the proposal received no support from Democrats and failed to reach the necessary three-fifths supermajority.

In a joint statement, the bishops said: “The teaching of the Catholic Church calls us to advocate for the equal dignity of men and women, recognizing that God created us male and female. This legislation would ensure a level playing field for women and girls to compete in fairness and safety with other females.”

“An ideological promotion of personal identity, detached from biological reality, undermines human dignity and the role sports play in true educational formation.”

Barron and O’Connell, who chair the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, and Committee on Catholic Education, respectively, stated their full support of the legislation in a January letter sent to Senators urging them to vote for the bill.

After the failed vote the bishops said: “We reiterate our long-standing support for this act and encourage female student athletes nationwide to continue to strive to uphold fairness and equality in athletic competitions.”

The exterior of the new Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. / Credit: Joe Holdren/EWTN News

CNA Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

A Catholic charter school is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to approve the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school in a case that could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S.

In an opening brief filed on Wednesday, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School — a Catholic charter school managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma — maintained that it is religious discrimination for the state to withhold generally available funding solely because the school is religious.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ordered Oklahoma’s charter school board to rescind the contract with St. Isidore in June, citing the First Amendment’s prohibition of laws that would establish a state religion.

Shortly after, both St. Isidore and the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board filed separate petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2024.

In the opening briefs, St. Isidore and the school board maintained that if the state is going to offer general funding for private charter organizations, it cannot deny that funding to a charter school on the basis of religion. 

“The First Amendment protects St. Isidore from discriminatory state laws that would bar it from participating in that program or receiving funding solely because the school it has designed is religious,” read the brief filed by the Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, a teaching law practice that trains Notre Dame law students.

The attorneys pointed out that Oklahoma designed the program “to foster educational diversity through privately designed and operated charter schools … but Oklahoma denies that opportunity to religious entities solely because they are religious.” 

In a similar vein, the charter school board argued on Wednesday that the Oklahoma Supreme Court decision was a “distortion of the First Amendment” that “would have devastating effects on religious organizations,” according to the opening brief filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit that defends First Amendment rights. 

“Faith-based groups often provide vital public services in which they partner with the government or are subject to government regulation,” the brief read. “Yet under the decision below, many of these organizations would be deemed state actors disqualified from providing broad-ranging social services — including foster care, adoption services, medical care, homeless shelters, and other aid to disadvantaged communities.”

Isidore was initially approved to be a charter school by the state board in 2023, but Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the board, arguing the establishment violated the state’s religious liberty protections.

Drummond opposed the charter school’s petitions to the Supreme Court last year, maintaining that having a Catholic charter school is a “clear-cut First Amendment violation,” according to a Dec. 9 press release.

Nicole Stelle Garnett, John P. Murphy Foundation professor of law at Notre Dame, said St. Isidore is asking the Supreme Court to uphold its “basic right against religious discrimination.”

“States routinely partner with faith-based organizations to serve the public — whether by providing education, shelter, food, health care, you name it,” Garnett said. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear that the government may not offer support to private groups like these and then deny that opportunity to organizations based on their religion.”

Oklahoma ranked 49th in education in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, with 84% of its eighth graders testing “not proficient” in math and 76% of its fourth graders “not proficient” in reading.

Michael Scaperlanda, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and chairman of St. Isidore's Board, noted that the archdiocese wanted to improve educational access for Oklahomans. 

“Too many children in Oklahoma — particularly in remote and rural communities — don’t have robust learning opportunities or access to schools that may serve their children’s individual needs,” Scaperlanda said in a March 6 statement. “We want to help fill that gap by offering an excellent, Catholic education to all interested families across the state, regardless of their zip code, their income, or any other circumstance.” 

“All children deserve to thrive in an environment that fits them, and we hope to help make that a reality,” Scaperlanda added. 

There are more than 30 privately operated charter schools in Oklahoma. John Meiser, director of Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic, lauded Oklahoma’s endeavor to “foster educational pluralism” and “create a diversity of learning options for all children” but noted that this must be open to all.  

“That is a great endeavor. But bedrock constitutional law is clear: Oklahoma cannot invite any and all educators to participate in it except those who happen to be religious,” Meiser said. 

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 30, with a decision expected this summer. 

In a prerecorded audio message, Pope Francis thanked those gathered for the rosary prayer service in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday night, March 6, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media/EWTN YouTube

CNA Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

In a prerecorded message, Pope Francis thanked those gathered for the rosary prayer service in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday night.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the square; I accompany you from here,” the Holy Father said in Spanish. “May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you.” 

The Holy Father’s voice was hoarse, and he was noticeably out of breath in the brief audio message, which the Holy See Press Office said was recorded today. 

The message marks the first time Francis’ voice has been heard publicly since his hospitalization 21 days ago. It was met with applause by those gathered in the square. 

Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, led Thursday night’s rosary. 

“We gather in prayer for the health of the Holy Father Francis with Mary, Mother of the Church and of Good Counsel,” he said in his opening prayer.

“The Lord filled Mary of Nazareth with gifts so that she might become a worthy mother of the Redeemer. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she sought in everything and always the will of the Lord, and magnifying his mercy she adhered intimately to Christ. To her, constituted the mother of believers, we turn to a sure refuge,” he continued.

The Vatican announced on Feb. 24 that cardinals in Rome would lead a nightly rosary for Pope Francis with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin presiding over the inaugural gathering. The nightly rosary has been broadcast across EWTN’s television networks and digital platforms. 

“Starting this evening, the cardinals residing in Rome, along with all collaborators of the Roman Curia and the Diocese of Rome, responding to the sentiments of the people of God, will gather in St. Peter’s Square at 9 p.m. to recite the holy rosary for the health of the Holy Father,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement at the time. 

Maryland Capitol. / Credit: Dave Newman/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

Maryland’s Catholic bishops recently expressed concern that a proposed change to the state’s tax code, specifically the elimination of itemized deductions, could reduce charitable giving in the state. 

As part of a broad tax reform agenda pushed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, the bill in the Maryland Legislature would double the standard deduction — the flat amount that tax filers can claim without having to list and prove all their deductions — while eliminating itemized deductions. The latter are often used by taxpayers to claim charitable expenses.

A 2023 state report cited by the Baltimore Sun showed that roughly 20% of Maryland taxpayers made use of itemized deductions. Moore’s office has claimed that only wealthy households use them and that middle- and low-income taxpayers largely won’t be affected.

The Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC), which represents the state’s bishops, said in a Feb. 28 testimony to the state Legislature’s Budget and Taxation Committee that the Catholic Church’s presence in Maryland, which includes parishes, schools, hospitals, and numerous charities, “combine to form our state’s second-largest social service provider network, behind only our state government.”

The conference warned that the proposed change could have “unintended consequences” on charitable giving in the state, because eliminating itemized deductions removes the tax incentive for charitable donations.

Research from the Tax Policy Center suggests that when a similar policy was enacted at the federal level in 2018, charitable giving declined by billions of dollars. 

“Charitable giving is not merely a financial transaction, it is an expression of our shared moral responsibility to care for the poor, the vulnerable, and those in need,” the Maryland Catholic Conference said in its statement. 

“Catholic social teaching calls us to solidarity and the preferential option for the poor, recognizing that human dignity is upheld when we work together to support those who are struggling,” the conference said.

“Faith-based and nonprofit organizations play a vital role in meeting the needs of our communities, offering food, shelter, education, and support to countless individuals and families.”

While the intention of increasing the standard deduction may be to provide financial relief to Maryland taxpayers, “it should not come at the expense of charitable giving and the ability of civil society to care for those in need,” the conference continued. 

“Catholic teaching affirms the principle of subsidiarity, which holds that needs should be met at the most local level possible. Charitable organizations and religious institutions are often best positioned to provide direct assistance efficiently and compassionately,” the group said. 

“Removing this incentive will weaken the financial foundation of these organizations and ultimately shift the burden to government programs, which are already strained.”

The Maryland bills are currently being considered by committees in the state House and Senate.

Perpetual Pilgrims from the St. Juan Diego Route process into Lucas Oil Stadium in July 2024 with an image of their patron saint. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

The National Eucharistic Congress announced this week the names of the eight Perpetual Pilgrims who will accompany the Eucharistic Jesus on a 3,300-mile walking pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles this summer, beginning in May.

The latest iteration of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, dubbed the Drexel Route, was announced in mid-February, while the biographies of the pilgrims were posted online this week. 

This year’s pilgrimage is a continuation of last year’s unprecedented four simultaneous Eucharistic pilgrimages, which started at the edges of the country and eventually converged in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress in July 2024. 

The goal of the pilgrimages is to bear public witness to the truth that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. 

This year’s Drexel Route will open with a Mass of Thanksgiving in Indianapolis on Sunday, May 18. The route then heads northwest through Illinois to Iowa before turning to the southwest and descending through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. From Texas the route continues roughly west through New Mexico, Arizona, and finally California.

Over a quarter of a million people across the country encountered the pilgrimages last summer, organizers said. As with last year, the small group of young adult Perpetual Pilgrims will accompany the Eucharist the entire way, while any person wishing to join for small portions of the route will be able to sign up to do so.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage website includes biographies for each of the eight young Perpetual Pilgrims who will be walking the entire route with Jesus. 

Arthur “Ace” Acuña is originally from Las Vegas and graduated from Princeton University in 2023 with a degree in chemical and biological engineering. He works for the Aquinas Institute — Princeton’s campus ministry — finding creative ways to share the joys of the Catholic faith with students. 

Stephen Fuhrmann is from Lindsay, Texas, and plans to graduate from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural business. He developed a deep love for Jesus in the Eucharist while in college. 

Johnathan “Johnny” Silvino Hernandez-Jose resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and helps run his family’s construction company. He has a heart for service in his diocese, assisting with confirmation, young adult groups, and a ministry for the Hispanic community. 

Cheyenne Johnson is originally from Lakeland, Florida, and currently lives in Indianapolis, where she serves as the director of Catholic campus ministry at Butler University. She is a convert to Catholicism. 

Leslie Reyes-Hernandez is from Phoenix, originally from Illinois, and teaches freshman algebra at a public high school. She encountered Christ’s love through the Eucharist in college and serves in college ministry at the Grand Canyon University Newman Center. 

Rachel Levy grew up in small-town Indiana and graduated from Indiana University with a degree in marketing before transitioning to full-time ministry. She currently serves the Office of Young Adult and College Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, accompanying young adults in their faith journey. 

Frances Webber, originally from Virginia but currently living in Minnesota, is a senior in college studying theology and business. She works for the Center for Catholic Social Thought and is involved with Saint Paul’s Outreach. 

Charlie McCullough, a recent Texas A&M graduate, is the only 2025 pilgrim who is a returner from last year. In 2024 he completed the southern Juan Diego Route, which began in Brownsville, Texas; this year he will serve as team leader for the Drexel Route. 

Speaking to CNA last year ahead of the first round of pilgrimages, McCullough expressed openness to God radically altering the course of his life during the pilgrimage. He said at the time that he was most looking forward to being able to help people experience small, “seemingly insignificant” interactions with Christ in the Eucharist that “radically change everything.”

“My hope for the pilgrimage is that every person that we encounter has something stir inside of them that makes them question: ‘Why do I feel differently when I was encountered by this procession? … What if that is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ?’” McCullough said in 2024.

“I have full confidence that Jesus Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist and if the pilgrimage simply stirs questions in the hearts of those that we encounter, I know that those questions will be answered with the truth.”

The 2025 pilgrimage route will include numerous opportunities to encounter the Eucharistic Jesus, including daily Mass, Eucharistic adoration, Eucharistic processions, witness talks, and fellowship meals with the Perpetual Pilgrims, organizers said.

Like last year’s events, this year’s pilgrimage will focus on Eucharistic encounters with marginalized communities, bringing the Eucharist to assisted-living facilities, food banks, a juvenile detention center, a hospital, and a federal prison along the route.

In addition, there will be a number of stops with particular significance to Catholics along the way: the tomb of Venerable Fulton Sheen in Illinois; the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City; several mission churches in Southern California; and St. Michael Church near Window Rock, which is the capital of the Navajo Nation in the southwestern desert.

In honor of the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope, there will be an additional focus on Eucharistic healing, organizers said.

Prayer intentions for the pilgrims to carry with them on their journey can be submitted here.

Maria Valtorta (1897–1961) was an Italian Catholic mystic who was bedridden for more than 30 years and claimed to have received visions and revelations from Jesus and the Virgin Mary, which she related in extensive writing. The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said in a Feb. 22, 2025, press release that the messages contained in her writing “cannot be considered to be of supernatural origin.” / Credit: Public domain

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said that messages contained in the writings of Maria Valtorta (1897–1961), an Italian Catholic mystic, “cannot be considered to be of supernatural origin.”

In a press release dated Feb. 22, the Vatican dicastery noted that the Holy See “frequently receives requests from both clergy and laypeople for clarification on the Church’s position” regarding Valtorta’s writings.

The author, who remained bedridden for more than 30 years following an incident, claimed to have received visions and revelations from Jesus and the Virgin Mary, which she related in extensive writings about the life of Christ, including details that do not appear in the canonical Gospels.

Among her works, the most notable is “Il Poema dell’Uomo Dio” (“The Poem of the Man-God”), today known as “L’Evangelo Come Mi è Stato Rivelato” (“The Gospel as Revealed to Me”), which is 13,000 pages long.

Despite its international success and the support of Pope Pius XII, the work was included in the Index of Prohibited Books in 1959 along with other publications classified by the Catholic Church as heretical, immoral, or harmful to the faith. The index was abolished in 1966.

In this context, the Vatican reiterated that the alleged “visions,” “revelations,” and “messages” contained in Valtorta’s writings, or attributed to her, are simply “literary forms that the author used to narrate the life of Jesus Christ in her own way.”

To justify its position, the dicastery clarified that “in its long tradition, the Church does not accept as normative the Apocryphal Gospels and other similar texts since it does not recognize them as divinely inspired. Instead, the Church refers back to the sure reading of the inspired Gospels.”

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

Father Sylvester Okechukwu of the Diocese of Kafanchan in Nigeria was found murdered on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. / Credit: Diocese of Kafanchan, Nigeria

ACI Africa, Mar 6, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Kafanchan in Nigeria is paying tribute to Father Sylvester Okechukwu, a diocesan priest who was murdered on Ash Wednesday, March 5.

According to the information provided by the Diocese of Kafanchan, Okechukwu was kidnapped from his residence at about 9:15 p.m. on March 4.

After being taken by his abductors, the 45-year-old priest was killed in the early hours of Ash Wednesday.

“It is yet to be determined why he was killed,” said Father Jacob Shanet, chancellor of the Kafanchan Diocese.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, Shanet said: “Father Sylvester was a dedicated servant of God who worked selflessly in the vineyard of the Lord, spreading the message of peace, love, and hope.”

Okechukwu was always available and accessible to his parishioners, Shanet added. 

“This untimely and brutal loss has left us heartbroken and devastated,” Shanet said in the statement. 

“His untimely death has left an indelible void within our diocesan family, and we share in the pain of his passing with his family, friends, and all those who knew and loved him,” Shanet said, also calling for prayer for the repose of Okechukwu’s soul and inviting priests, religious, and all faithful to offer Masses and rosary prayers for the beloved priest.

Shanet also called for the youth and community members to remain calm and steadfast in prayer. “No one should take the law into their hands,” he stated.

Details of Okechukwu’s funeral arrangements will be announced when they are made available, Shanet said. “May we continue to hold one another in prayer and unity during this dark moment,” he added.

Insecurity is rife in Nigeria, where kidnappings, murder, and other forms of persecution against Christians remain rampant in many parts of the West African country, especially in the north.

On the day Okechukwu was kidnapped, the Diocese of Auchi in Nigeria also sent out a prayer appeal for the release of a priest and a seminarian who had been abducted from a parish rectory the previous day. The two are still missing.

Okechukwu’s murder follows a series of other incidents that have targeted Catholic priests in the country, the most populous on the continent.

On Feb. 6, Father Cornelius Manzak Damulak, a priest of the Diocese of Shendam, and a student at Veritas University Abuja in Nigeria were abducted and later escaped from captivity. 

Later, on Feb. 19, Father Moses Gyang Jah of St. Mary Maijuju Parish in the Shendam Diocese was abducted alongside his niece and the parish council chairman, Nyam Ajiji. Ajiji was reportedly killed. Jah and his niece are yet to be freed.

Most recently, on Feb. 22, Father Matthew David Dutsemi and Father Abraham Saummam were abducted from the Diocese of Yola. They have not yet been released.

Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009 when Boko Haram insurgency began with the aim of turning the country into an Islamic state.

According to pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, a total of 13 priests were kidnapped in Nigeria in 2024 alone, all of whom were eventually released, and one was murdered, for a total of 14 incidents.

In a note shared with ACI Africa, ACN said it has joined the Catholic authorities of Nigeria in their call for prayers for the repose of Okechukwu as well as in their appeal to the government to increase security and put an end to the climate of fear that reigns in many parts of the country.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.