A young woman prays the rosary in front of the Planned Parenthood facility on Bleecker Street in Manhattan in an undated photo. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno via the National Catholic Register

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 20, 2025 / 15:40 pm (CNA).

Amid an ongoing financial crisis for the organization, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) is selling the property of its only Manhattan facility, a location where New York pro-life Catholics have prayed outside for years.

Planned Parenthood announced the sale of the building in a statement on Wednesday, coming as the company said it was “fighting to overcome social and political obstacles and structural challenges within the country’s health system.”

PPGNY CEO Wendy Stark said funds from the sale of the Manhattan facility would be funneled toward “systemically underserved communities — the people who need us most.” 

The PPGNY statement described the building as “outdated” and “not designed to support the health care needs of the future.” 

‘A miracle’ and ‘an answer to prayer’

The 26 Bleeker St. location will debut on the market for $39 million. This comes as PPGNY works to recover from the $31 million deficit it incurred from last year, as reported by the Gothamist on Wednesday. The move is currently pending state approval. 

“If you’ve spent time outside that Planned Parenthood, you know that they’re fulfilling our legacy,” Kathyrn Jean Lopez, a longtime pro-life advocate and senior fellow and editor at National Review, told CNA on Thursday. 

“So many Black and Hispanic girls go in there for abortions. It’s just devastating,” she said. “That particular Planned Parenthood, it’s [a] flagship. It’s no small thing that it’s closing.” 

Lopez described herself as having “spent way too much time outside that clinic.” Its closure, she said, “is definitely an answer to prayer and sacrifice, no question about it.” 

Lopez spent over a year and a half attending prayer vigils and doing sidewalk counseling outside of the Manhattan clinic almost every day, she said.

While she acknowledged the closure of the building as a milestone for the pro-life movement after decades of prayer, Lopez said the landscape of the abortion industry has shifted, with most abortions taking place “in the shadows” via abortion pills like mifepristone. 

The space for encounters between women experiencing crisis pregnancies and the pro-life movement are becoming less frequent, Lopez said. But, she added, “I actually think the challenge right now is an excellent one because it forces us in all human encounters to show what a dedication to the sanctity of human life looks like.” 

“Ultimately, that’s what the pro-life movement is about,” she said. “It’s not about debating abortion. It’s about showing people that we love them and their lives are eternally valuable. And they were loved into existence by the creator of the universe, every single one of us.”

The Sisters of Life told CNA on Thursday that “the announcement of the closing of the Planned Parenthood in Manhattan is an incredible answer to prayer.” 

The religious sisters in their statement thanked those who organized and participated in prayer vigils throughout the years, including the monthly Witness for Life — a Mass and rosary procession on first Saturdays that has taken place since 2008 — as well as efforts by the 40 Days for Life campaign of prayer and fasting, present in Manhattan since 2015. 

“It is through prayer that the culture of death will be transformed into a culture of life, and we rejoice to see the fruit of this constant and faithful prayer,” the sisters said. “We also recognize God’s providence, as the announcement was made on the solemnity of St. Joseph and within a week of the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s landmark encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).” 

The closure “might seem like just another business decision, another casualty of financial strain to the outside world,” said Catholic photographer Jeffrey Bruno at the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Wednesday. 

But “to those who’ve knelt on those sidewalks, who’ve poured out their hearts in prayer, it feels like something far more profound: a miracle — a moment when heaven touched earth and the countless prayers of the faithful were answered.” 

Bruno, who has photographed pro-life prayer vigils outside the Manhattan clinic for decades, said at the Register that it “seemed especially fitting that the announcement came today, on the feast of St. Joseph,” whom he described as the “guardian of the Holy Family.”

“The battle for life is far from over; but, today, there’s cause to celebrate, because this reveals firsthand how God works in ways we cannot always see,” he wrote. 

“And today, we’ve witnessed a glimpse — proof that, through prayer, trust, and love, miracles can … and do … happen. And sometimes, they happen on a quiet street in Manhattan.”

PPGNY, which recently shut down four clinics as it scales down operations across the state, has three remaining facilities in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.  

The abortion clinic, which has been around since the early 1990s, once bore the name of Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger. News of its closure comes just short of five years since the organization opted to remove her name from the facility over her “harmful connections to the eugenics movement.” 

Sanger had a history of speaking to racist and extremist organizations in support of birth control — including the Ku Klux Klan — which Planned Parenthood acknowledged in 2016. 

null / Credit: HQuality/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 20, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

“Assisted suicide is a false charity” with alarming consequences that must be rejected, said Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, in a pastoral letter in response to the possibility that the Illinois General Assembly could approve the practice.

The prelate referred to a Senate bill and a House bill that would legalize assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses.

In his March 12 letter Malloy noted that proponents of both bills claim they will “end suffering at the end of life.”

However, he warned that “although well-intentioned, assisted suicide is a false charity that brings with it many alarming consequences that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to reject.”

The prelate encouraged the faithful not only to pray and fast to stop both bills but also to write or call their state elected officials and encourage them to vote no on the legislation. Malloy referred them to the Illinois Catholic Conference website or they could call 217-528-9200 to request information on how to contact their local elected officials.

Assisted suicide affects the most vulnerable

In his letter, Malloy reiterated that “assisted suicide is clearly not the compassionate solution for those suffering.”

He pointed out that where this practice has been legalized, “there are documented cases of insurance companies refusing to pay for the necessary care of the terminally ill while at the same time they will cover the small cost of the drugs resulting in the end of life.” 

He also noted that “every major national organization that represents people with disabilities is opposed to assisted suicide.”

Furthermore, “experience shows that it is especially the poor and those with disabilities who are particularly in jeopardy as they are the most vulnerable to such abuses,” he pointed out.

“There is no way to prevent the vulnerable from being coerced or intimidated to end their lives once this assisted suicide is legal. The American Medical Association (AMA) has summed up the case against assisted suicide well: ‘Physician assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would provide serious societal risks,’” Malloy noted.

Palliative care is right response to suffering

Malloy affirmed that “our Catholic faith strongly believes that no one should needlessly suffer or have to watch a loved one experience unnecessary pain and suffering.” 

Malloy recalled that the history of Catholic health care is filled with testimonies of “compassion for those who are suffering and for their loved ones. In this way we show our love and respect for the gift of human life and the dignity even of those who are ill or suffering.”

And, “thanks to the advancement of medical knowledge, there are now effective ways to make a person more comfortable at the end of life through palliative care,” he continued.

He explained that this specialty “utilizes physician-led teams to care for the whole person — physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually — to relieve the symptoms and the stress that often accompany serious illness and side effects of treatment.”

“Through palliative care, expanded access to mental health care, and stronger family and community support, providers and families are finding better ways to accompany these people compassionately that truly confers the love for, and dignity of, each human life,” Malloy emphasized.

In addition to Illinois, bills to legalize assisted suicide have also been introduced in Maryland and Delaware.

If passed, they would join California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia, which have already legalized the practice.

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

The 2023 Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) being held Sept 25-28 outside of Toronto. / Credit: CCCB/CECC

Toronto, Canada, Mar 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Canada’s Finance Department has avoided providing a clear answer to a written appeal from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) urging the federal government not to adopt budget recommendations that would strip charitable status from “anti-abortion” and “advancement of religion” nonprofit organizations.

A statement provided to The Catholic Register in Canada on March 13 by the department’s media relations officer, Marie-France Faucher, did not reference the CCCB or its specific concerns surrounding recommendations 429 and 430 of the pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2025 budget.

In her email response, Faucher said “the government of Canada recognizes the vital role charities play in delivering essential services to those in need” and provided general information about how an organization may apply for charitable registration under the Income Tax Act.

Her only comment about the next budget was that the Finance Department “continues to explore ways to ensure the tax system remains fair and effective in supporting Canadians and the organizations that serve them.”

The CCCB’s permanent council sent its March 10 letter to then-Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and a follow-up letter on March 18 to François-Philippe Champagne, who was appointed finance minister on March 14 by newly minted Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The CCCB said a clearer stance on the concerns is required soon, highlighting in its letters that “40% of all charitable organizations in Canada are faith-based.”

The bishops said depriving these organizations of charitable status “would decrease donations, causing their revenue to dwindle, thus crippling their ability to inspire, operate, and maintain essential social services that benefit the wider community.”

Among the 14 signatories are conference president Bishop William McGrattan of Calgary, vice president Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Cardinals Francis Leo of Toronto and Gerald Lacroix of Quebec, and Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine.

Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) applauded the permanent council’s letter.

“Thank God the Canadian bishops have joined in this fight to save Christian Canada,” said CLC national president Jeff Gunnarson. “Canada, as our charter states, is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God. The government is attacking the very foundation of our country with these proposals. United together we will stave off this governmental assault on our nation and our treasured faith.”

Chalice, a Canadian Catholic international child sponsorship charity headquartered in Bedford, Nova Scotia, is one of the nonprofits registered with the Canada Revenue Agency that would be targeted by recommendation 430.

Chalice founder and president Father Patrick Cosgrove said in an email the recommendation “reveals a negative bias against religion that is not supported by the evidence that active faith and the practice of religion have a measurably positive impact on society and the individual.”

Cosgrove, whose 29-year-old organization operates 52 sites in 14 different countries, said a 2018 study released by the Christian research organization Barna found Christians are more likely than others to donate clothing or furniture, provide food, and volunteer to serve in the community.

Pregnancy Care Canada executive director Dr. Laura Lewis sent a letter to LeBlanc on March 6 noting that recommendation 429 “does not define the scope of this proposal,” leaving it unclear how an organization will be classified as “anti-abortion.” She added that the mission of Pregnancy Care Canada and 81 affiliated centers is to offer alternatives to abortion.

“The free support available at local pregnancy care centers is crucial to providing a national safety net for women looking for support for an unexpected pregnancy,” Lewis said.

She also suggested that recommendation 429 is a way to implement a pledge in the Liberals’ 2021 election platform to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations that provide dishonest counseling to women about their rights and about the options provided to them at all stages of pregnancy.”

This story was first published by The Catholic Register and is reprinted with permission.

Father Mike Depcik, one of the few Deaf priests in the world, signs a Catholic Mass in American Sign Language. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Mike Depcik

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

The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Maryland is hosting the first-ever Eucharistic Congress for the Catholic Deaf community this spring. 

The congress, which will take place April 4–6, will bring together about 230 Catholics to pray and honor the Eucharist, according to the event organizer, Father Mike Depcik, who is one of just a few deaf priests in the world. 

Depcik serves as the chaplain for the Deaf ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is known for his work in growing the Deaf Catholic community in Maryland and beyond.

Depcik designed the congress for deaf people to be able to actively participate. He noted that the Deaf community has limited accessibility to services in and from the Catholic Church and that the majority of deaf people don’t attend Mass. 

“Several statistics have shown that 96% of Deaf people, including those baptized Catholics, do not go to any church due to very limited services available to them in their own language (American Sign Language),” Depcik explained.

While the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indiana had ASL interpreters, Depcik wanted to focus on the Deaf community by holding this congress.

“This Deaf Eucharistic Congress is unique and focused entirely on the members of the Deaf Catholic community, which includes the Deaf, hard of hearing, DeafBlind, hearing pastoral workers working within Deaf ministry, hearing parents of Deaf children, etc.,” he told CNA. 

“We believe this event is going to be a memorable one since it will be the first time ever for such a Eucharistic Congress specifically by and for Deaf Catholics.” 

“It is our goal to have those people attending the Deaf Eucharistic Congress to feel inspired with their Catholic faith and appreciate the Eucharist,” Depcik continued. “We also hope this will bring awareness to the Church hierarchy on the needs of Deaf Catholics.”

The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, has been a place of gathering for deaf Catholics before. The Seton Shrine frequently hosts retreats, including a Lenten retreat for the deaf last year. The Seton Shrine is located just a half hour away from the K–8 Maryland School for the Deaf. 

The event will draw speakers from around the United States, including Deacon Patrick Graybill, a deaf retired professor with a background in the creative arts known for acting, ASL poetry, and translating English texts into ASL.

Also attending will be Jeannine Adkins, a member of the National Catholic Office for the Deaf. Graybill is set to give a presentation titled “Eucharist: Holy Ground,” while Adkins will present on “The Healing Power of the Eucharist.”

Attendees are anticipated to come from all over the United States, including from as far as California, Florida, and South Dakota.

On the first day of the Congress, ASL tour guides will be available to give tours of the shrine, which includes St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s tomb and a museum about her life as well as historical buildings associated with Seton and the basilica. 

Adoration, confessions, and Mass will also be held on Saturday in addition to various presentations and time for fellowship. On Sunday, Mass will be held with the local Deaf Catholic community in Urbana, Maryland. 

For more information about the event or to register, visit here.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church needs to expand its safeguarding efforts to include the new threats and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence, top organizers of a Vatican conference said.

"We are really currently in a war" on two fronts when it comes to protecting children from abuse and mistreatment, Joachim von Braun, president of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, said at a Vatican news conference March 20.

There is the traditional battleground that most safeguarding guidelines and policies address: protecting minors from "one-on-one" exploitation by a perpetrator in their environment at home, school, church, society and online, he said. But the new frontier is where AI and gender-based violence have come together in very sophisticated ways and "at scale" that is, where the crime and its victims are easily and rapidly multiplied, he said.

The church has a role to play, he and other speakers at the conference said. 

The Catholic Church must work with science-based knowledge about AI and "deeply engage in the regulatory debate, otherwise, we cannot win these two wars at two frontiers," von Braun said.

The president of the papal academy and others were presenting a conference organized by the academy with the Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care in Rome and the World Childhood Foundation, founded by Queen Silvia of Sweden to help prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The conference, scheduled for March 20-22 at the Vatican, was to look at the risks and opportunities of AI for children and to come up with a common commitment for safeguarding.

Some of the risks include AI being used to: generate and distribute child sexual abuse material; groom children online; facilitate human trafficking; and infringe on a child's right to privacy and dignity with excessive monitoring, according to the conference program.  

However, AI can also be used to promote the safety and dignity of children as well as expand their access and opportunities in health care and education, the speakers said.

But to do that, they added, there must be greater awareness about AI, clear and consistent regulation by governments and ethical guidelines in AI development.

"Scientists play a key role," said von Braun, a German agricultural scientist specializing in food security. Scientists at corporations or in academia "are writing the algorithms out of which the risks and opportunities result."

Calling on mathematicians and applied computer scientists to follow ethical rules is new, he said. "For centuries, mathematics was considered free of ethical concerns. That's no longer the case." 

Cardinal Peter Turkson, chancellor of the papal academy, said church members are already working with AI practitioners and scientists "from Silicon Valley" who come to Rome for the so-called "Minerva dialogues."

These "conversations" focus on the impact of AI so that when experts go back to work, "they will be able to also influence their colleagues in the development of these models" to be more ethical, he said. However, what AI does cannot be left only in the hands of industry, and governments must address the use of AI, too.

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, director of the Institute of Anthropology, said there has long been a "lack of consistency in policy making and in the engagement of tech companies that make enormous mountains of money but don't invest in the safety of young people as much as they could and should."

"The church has an important part to play in this," he said, "even with all the history of abuse that has been going on in the church."

"We also have our moral and ethical responsibility to raise our voice and to point out where governments and tech companies fail" to come up with consistent and meaningful rules or guidelines, the Jesuit priest said.

Von Braun said that because advancements in AI are moving at lightning speed, each national bishops' conference should have "an AI council of scientists and practitioners from their respective country so that they have evidence-based advice in this extremely dynamic field."

These councils could function like the pontifical academies, which invite experts to provide their findings and recommendations to the pope, he said. The church should "build such an architecture in order to not only track but to influence the AI risks" and become open to opportunities. 

Father Zollner said the Catholic Church "has a unique convening power" that can bring "together the key players that need to sit around one table because this artificial intelligence and child dignity in the digital world are way beyond the capacities and the competencies of one player alone."

Britta Holmberg, deputy secretary general of the World Childhood Foundation, said prevention starts with speaking clearly about how common child abuse is. "One in five girls and one in seven boys globally are affected by child sexual abuse. They are among us."

"We also know that technology is part of the problem, but it needs also to be part of the solution," for example, by utilizing new technologies to reach out to those who are most at risk, she said. 

Partnering with the tech companies "is really crucial," she said, "because we know that the people who want to abuse or misuse technology, they will always find a way."

Those who "develop tech understand the problems, understand how it can be misused," she said, so they can help those who are trying to "introduce safeguards early on."

Because the church is influential and its leaders are role models, she said, Catholics must "speak up" and increase awareness about AI's risks and possibilities. "Just choosing to not do something because it's scary" will have consequences.

Queen Silvia, 81, "serves as an example for all of us that you are not too old, we're not too little tech savvy to care about AI" and seek ways it can help protect children, Holmberg said. 
 

WASHINGTON - In response to the Executive Order signed today by President Trump, “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offered the following statement from its spokesperson, Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs:

“While the USCCB does not take a position on the institutional structure of government agencies, the Catholic Church teaches that parents are the primary educators of their children and should have the freedom and resources to choose an educational setting best suited for their child. The Conference supports public policies that affirm this, and we support the positive working relationships that the dioceses, parishes, and independent schools have with their local public school system partners. As this Executive Order is implemented, it is important to ensure that students of all backgrounds in both public and non-public schools, especially those with disabilities or from low-income backgrounds, will continue to receive the resources they need.”

###

State capitol in Dover, Delaware. / Credit: Jon Bilous/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 19, 2025 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

Officials in the state of Delaware have agreed to temporarily halt enforcement of a law that would require pro-life pregnancy centers to display notices that their facilities do not have licensed medical professionals on staff — even when they have licensed nurses on staff.

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings agreed to a March 17 court order that requires the state to stop any enforcement of the mandate while pro-life pregnancy centers challenge the legality of the mandate in court. This order applies until the court issues a final ruling on whether the law is constitutional.

“We’re pleased Delaware officials won’t enforce their unconstitutional law against the pregnancy centers we represent as this case continues,” William R. Thetford, an attorney representing the pro-life pregnancy centers, said in a statement.

Thetford, an associate with Simms Showers LLP, and lawyers affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) are representing A Door of Hope Pregnancy Center and the pro-life pregnancy center network National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) in a lawsuit challenging the Delaware law.

“Pregnancy centers are a force for good in Wilmington and the surrounding community, offering families true, life-affirming care and resources during unplanned or unsupported pregnancies,” Thetford said.

The law, which would have gone into effect on March 26, would require pregnancy centers to display the following notice on site and in print and digital advertisements: “This facility is not licensed as a medical facility by the state of Delaware and has no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services.”

This would apply to a facility unless it has a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), a radiologist, or an ultrasound technician. A facility that staffs other registered nurses but not APRNs would need to display the notice even though its nurses are also licensed by the state.

In the lawsuit, the pregnancy centers argued the notices would mislead the public when facilities have nurses on staff. The lawsuit contends the mandate is meant “to undercut the opportunities the pregnancy care centers have to engage pregnant women in unplanned or unsupported pregnancies.”

The lawsuit notes that the Wilmington-based A Door of Hope Pregnancy Center would need to display the notice under the law, even though the facility employs licensed nurses who provide medical services under the supervision of other licensed medical personnel. The lawsuit alleges the law forces the facility to engage in “untrue compelled speech.”

Additionally, the lawsuit asserts the law is burdensome because it would limit, and in some cases prevent, digital advertising. It notes that displaying this notice would prevent any advertisements with Google ads because of the character limits.

Lawyers representing the pregnancy centers contend the state is engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and curtailing the free exercise of religion because the pregnancy centers are faith-based. For those reasons, the lawyers argue that the law violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

“We applaud Delaware officials for allowing NIFLA and A Door of Hope to serve women and families free from government punishment as this case moves forward,” ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot said in a statement.

“We’ve seen too many state attorneys general ramp up their efforts to silence, censor, and shut down pregnancy care centers across the country,” Theriot added. “We are urging the court to follow the Supreme Court’s guidance and respect pregnancy centers’ freedom to continue their lifesaving service in their communities.”

Theriot, who is on the legal team for this case, also served on the legal team for a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the free speech rights of pregnancy resource centers. In that case, the court ruled that California had violated the First Amendment by requiring pregnancy centers to display notices that provided information on where one could obtain an abortion.

Courts have issued rulings in some states, such as Illinois, to halt similar laws that sought to regulate the speech of pregnancy resource centers. In other states, such as New York, attorneys general have also begun targeting the speech of pregnancy centers through civil action.

A general view of the Louisiana State Capitol on April 17, 2020, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. / Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 19, 2025 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

Louisiana carried out its first execution in 15 years on Tuesday evening, using nitrogen gas for the first time amid Catholic criticism of both the death penalty itself and the mode of execution.

Jessie Hoffman Jr. was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. after undergoing 19 minutes of nitrogen gas. According to a CBS News report, a witness to the execution said the convicted killer was “convulsing” throughout the process. His death comes after numerous attempts by his lawyers to stay his execution.

According to court documents, Hoffman in 1996 kidnapped Mary “Molly” Elliot at gunpoint near New Orleans and forced her to withdraw $200 from an ATM. He then raped her before marching her naked down a dirt path to a makeshift dock, where he shot her in the head “execution style.” She was found by a duck hunter the next morning.

The nitrogen method requires that the gas be administered for at least 15 minutes or for five minutes after the inmate’s heart is no longer beating. Hoffman was the seventh death row inmate to be executed in the country this year.

Nitrogen gas has been used in four other executions, each in the state of Alabama, where the method — also known as nitrogen hypoxia — has been legal since 2018. The process was first used last year, when the state of Alabama executed death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith in January 2024. 

The practice is also legal in Mississippi and Oklahoma, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. 

Catholics opposed to execution

The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops (LACCB) had not released a statement on the execution by Wednesday afternoon. But the prelates issued a statement last month condemning the state’s intention to carry out its pending executions, writing that “no method of execution is acceptable including nitrogen hypoxia.” 

Capital punishment “only contributes to the culture of death,” they wrote. “We promote a culture of life, not death, in this great state we love. As bishops, we will continue to promote life from conception to natural death and work to end the execution of another human being.” 

A representative with LACCB told CNA that Baton Rogue Bishop Michael Duca had attended a prayer vigil ahead of Hoffman’s execution on Tuesday. 

The anti-death penalty group Catholics Mobilizing Network similarly opposed the execution, arguing that Hoffman’s experience of “extreme child abuse” led to his criminality. 

“We oppose this execution as we do every execution,” the group wrote. “Capital punishment is an act of state-sanctioned violence that violates the sacred dignity of every human life.”

In a Tuesday statement, meanwhile, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said: “It is unfortunate that bad people exist, and they do real bad things. When these acts of violence happen, society must not tolerate it.” 

“God is as just as he is merciful; and my hope is that when Louisiana empties death row, there will never be another victim whose perpetrator must be placed there,” he said.

“In Louisiana, we will always prioritize victims over criminals, law and order over lawlessness, and justice over the status quo,” the governor said. “If you commit heinous acts of violence in this state, it will cost you your life. Plain and simple.”

The Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Pope Francis. / Credit: Courtesy of Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires/Screenshot

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mar 19, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has gifted the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to him by former U.S. President Joe Biden to the metropolitan cathedral of Buenos Aires. 

The medal is the highest honor given to a civilian by the United States, which the former president in January, before leaving office, decided to bestow upon the Holy Father, announcing the award by telephone.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction recognizes “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant social, public, or private endeavors” and has been awarded only 55 times.

In presenting the award to the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the White House noted that Jorge Bergoglio “for decades served the voiceless and vulnerable across Argentina. As Pope Francis, his mission of serving the poor has never ceased. A loving pastor, he joyfully answers children’s questions about God. A challenging teacher, he commands us to fight for peace and protect the planet. A welcoming leader, he reaches out to different faiths.”

“The first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, Pope Francis is unlike any who came before. Above all, he is the People’s Pope — a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world,” the White House stated at the time.

Addressing the pontiff on X, Biden said “your humility and your grace are beyond words, and your love for all is unparalleled. As the People’s Pope, you are a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world. Today, it was my honor to award His Holiness Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction.”

After receiving this recognition, the Holy Father decided to send the medal to the Buenos Aires cathedral, where he served as archbishop and cardinal primate until the conclave that elected him the successor of Peter in 2013.

The cathedral’s ceremony to receive the medal took place on March 13, the 12th anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, during a Mass of thanksgiving for his pontificate.

Upon receiving it, Father Alejandro Russo, rector of the cathedral, said: “Note how today we view this award that the pope has received from President Biden of the United States as a symbol, simply beyond any nation that could have done so, and any president who could do so.”

“The pope must accompany, lead, and preside over the Church and the sheep of Christ’s flock. But it is also the pope’s role, as the clear presence of the voice of Jesus Christ in time, to bring the mystery and preaching of the Gospel through justice and peace, through human elements, but which are certainly clear conditions for the life and establishment of the Gospel in time to the rest of the world,” he explained.

The Holy Father, he added, “preaches, brings justice, peace, and truth to all areas of life. The Holy Father is present in the various situations of conflict, and the Holy Father is present in the preaching of justice and truth in the various area of public life, when he is invited, when he visits, when he is in different realities. And the Holy Father is present there, also giving a new imprint to this preaching, to this landing of the kingdom in the temporal.” 

“Wanting to take away this mission from the Church, wanting to take away this mission of preaching justice and truth, is wanting to separate her from the mission that Jesus himself gave her. Wanting the pope to remain available only inside St. Peter’s Basilica, merely to issue rules and regulate the internal life of the Church, is wanting to obscure the figure of the pastor, the figure of the representative of Jesus that Christ himself intended,” Russo noted.

“And so we give thanks on this 12th anniversary, receiving this award. But we give thanks because Pope Francis had the courage to preach justice, to preach the truth, to be present in armed conflicts to try to help resolve them; that Pope Francis also had the courage to make it an issue throughout the world the ecological care of our common home; that Pope Francis had the courage to bring the preaching of the Gospel into the temporal realm,” he summarized.

“We ask God then, in these days, as we continue to pray for the pope, that he may continue to recover, for the presence of Pope Francis in the Catholic Church,” Russo prayed, and quoting the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he prayed “that oxygen may be taken in by the pope’s lungs, that the pope, who, thank God, gave so much oxygen to the Church, may be healed.”

This is the second time a pope has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The first was presented by George W. Bush to John Paul II during a visit to the Vatican in 2004.

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

Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks to EWTN News in Oslo, Norway, on Jan. 17, 2025. / Credit: Fabio Gonella/EWTN News

Vatican City, Mar 19, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin denied that during his three recent visits to Pope Francis — who has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since Feb. 14 — they had discussed the possibility of the pope’s resignation.

“No, no, not at all,” the cardinal replied when asked by reporters after the “Iftar: Ramadan Table” event held at the St. Regis Hotel in Rome on Monday.

Parolin addressed the 88-year-old pontiff’s health and his ability to lead the Catholic Church.

“I think we should go by the medical reports, because they’re the ones that tell us exactly what the pope’s condition is,” he said.

The cardinal added that during his last visit to Pope Francis at Gemelli Hospital on March 9, he found him in better condition.

“I saw him a week ago, so I didn’t have the opportunity to see him again. I found him better than the first time,” he related, although he emphasized that this was only his personal observation and that it is necessary to follow the official information provided by the doctors.

Regarding the governance of the Catholic Church and the Holy Father’s role in decision-making, Parolin explained that, although they have been unable to discuss issues in depth during their conversations in the hospital due to his delicate health, the pontiff was presented with several situations that required his decision.

“The pope gives his instructions,” Parolin emphasized.

Concern over rearmament in Europe

The Vatican secretary of state also expressed his concern about Europe’s rearmament plan and its possible consequences. “When you rearm, sooner or later you have to use the weapons, right?” he reflected.

He also recalled that the Holy See has always advocated for disarmament.

“This has always been the policy of the Holy See: to insist on controlled and across the board disarmament on the international level. So one cannot be happy with the direction things are taking,” he commented.

Parolin also addressed the situation in Ukraine and expressed his hope that the dialogue process could move forward without obstacles.

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