St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and Divine Infant of Prague Mission

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska in St. Peter's Square, a day before the canonization Mass of St. John Henry Newman, Oct. 12, 2019. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 23, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Lincoln, Nebraska Bishop James Conley this week said a proposed federal immigrant detention facility in the state must allow Catholic ministers to provide sacramental and pastoral care.

The bishop made the announcement after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced the repurposing of the state Work Ethic Camp in McCook to house immigrants in the country illegally.

The state website says the camp presently offers "an integrated program that combines evidence-based practices with treatment and educational opportunities" for prisoners. Pillen told local media this week that the facility "would be converted and provide capacity for 300 migrants," according to the Nebraska Examiner.

In his own statement this week, Conley said the Diocese of Lincoln has been allowed to administer the sacraments and pastoral care to detainees at the camp "for decades." The diocese has been allowed to say Mass there "on a weekly basis," he said.

"It will be of utmost importance that any person detained in the federal immigration detention center in McCook can also access regular and ongoing pastoral care," the bishop said. "This is fundamental to the dignity of every human person, as each of us is called to union with God."

Conley further urged that the facility should not be used to detain immigrants who are only in the country illegally, but rather "those who have committed crimes that endanger public safety."

"To do otherwise would undermine the facility’s moral legitimacy and erode public trust," he argued.

Conley said he remains "committed to safeguarding human dignity which maintains public safety and respects our migrant brothers and sisters."

The bishop's letter comes a few weeks after Catholic leaders in Florida were allowed pastoral access to the state's so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" immigrant detainment facility in the Everglades.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski had previously expressed concern that Catholic ministers were not being allowed access to the facility, though the state ultimately allowed Mass to be celebrated there earlier this month.

A view from the entrance of Christ the King Chapel during the solemn blessing Mass on Aug. 17, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Franciscan University of Steubenville

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 23, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the U.S.:

Franciscan University blesses newly renovated Christ the King Chapel

Franciscan University of Steubenville has officially reopened its Christ the King Chapel after 15 months of renovation and expansion as part of the school’s Rebuild My Church Capital Campaign. 

“Franciscan’s chapel has nearly doubled its seating capacity — from 325 to 590 — to better accommodate the growing student population and has added a new altar and tabernacle, new sacred art, and stained-glass windows to beautify the space,” the school said in a press release on Monday. 

A Mass of solemn blessing was celebrated on Aug. 17 by Diocese of Steubenville Apostolic Administrator Bishop Edward Lohse to mark the occasion.

Former Black parish in Kentucky to be converted into science building at local college

Christ the King Catholic Church, a historically Black parish in Louisville, Kentucky, will be converted into a science and technology campus for Simmons College of Kentucky after the Archdiocese of Louisville donated it to the school following the church’s closure on March 7, according to local reports.

“Converting the church property into classrooms and labs is expected to cost around $32 million in total,” a university news article stated, noting the project has been in the works for years.

“At Simmons it’s so important for us to meet workforce needs,” said Simmons Chief of Staff Myra Rock. “There’s a need in our community, not just in the West End, not just in the city, but across the commonwealth, for talent in the STEM fields and specifically underrepresented talent.” 

Archbishop Shelton Fabre said the parish closure was due to declining membership and the financial burden of maintaining the historic property.

Oklahoma archdiocese celebrates grand opening of migrant education center

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of its Holy Angels Education Center for immigrants in an event attended by Archbishop Paul Coakley and other Catholic leaders, according to the Oklahoman. 

The center will operate on the property of the former Holy Angels Parish, which has been closed since February 2023. 

“The Holy Angels Education Center was born out of a deep desire to serve, uplift, and walk alongside our immigrant brothers and sisters as they build new lives in our community through education, language learning, skills development, and cultural integration,” said Larann Wilson, the associate director for the archdiocese’s secretariat for evangelization. “This center will become a beacon of support and opportunity.”

ExxonMobil donates $5,000 to STEM program at Catholic school in Maryland

ExxonMobil Baytown has donated $5,000 to St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School to promote “enhancing science education and empowering the next generation of innovators and problem solvers,” according to a local report.

Located in Beltsville, Maryland, St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School’s mission “is to cooperate with families, who are the primary educators, in developing the whole child in the Catholic Christian faith,” according to its website.

Louisiana Catholic school brings nuns, therapy dogs to help students as classes begin

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School in Baton Rouge kicked off the school year by inviting nuns and service dogs for the first weeks of classes to help ease anxiety among students, according to a local news report.

“Their presence here has been so transformative,” the school’s pastor and prominent Catholic speaker, Father Joshua Johnson, said in the report.

“And with the sisters came the dogs. When I saw the effect that the dogs were having on our kids, especially our kids who experience anxiety and the peace it brought to those kids, I knew we needed more dogs and more nuns.”

Pope Leo XIV views a gift from an attendee at the International Catholic Legislators Network meeting at the Vatican, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 23, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday urged Catholic lawmakers to draw inspiration from St. Augustine’s “City of God” as they navigate shifting global politics, warning against reducing the idea of human flourishing to mere wealth or consumer comfort.

Speaking to the International Catholic Legislators Network in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the pope called on parliamentarians to ensure that “power is tamed by conscience and law is at the service of human dignity.”

“Authentic human flourishing is seen when individuals live virtuously, when they live in healthy communities, enjoying not only what they have, what they possess, but also who they are as children of God,” he told the lawmakers.

“It ensures the freedom to seek truth, to worship God, and to raise families in peace. It also includes a harmony with creation and a sense of solidarity across social classes and nations.”

The International Catholic Legislators Network, founded in 2010 by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and British peer David Alton, gathers Catholic parliamentarians annually in Rome to discuss religious liberty, Church-state relations, the protection of life, and the role of Catholic thought in politics.

This year’s four-day meeting in Rome took up the theme “The New World Order: Major Power Politics, Corporate Dominions, and the Future of Human Flourishing.”

In his speech, Pope Leo pointed to St. Augustine of Hippo, who wrote “The City of God” during the collapse of the Roman Empire.

“To find our footing in the present circumstances — especially you as Catholic legislators and political leaders — I suggest that we might look to the past, to that towering figure of St. Augustine of Hippo,” he said.

“As a leading voice of the Church in the late Roman era, he witnessed immense upheavals and social disintegration. In response, he penned ‘The City of God,’ a work that offers a vision of hope, a vision of meaning that can still speak to us today.”

The pope shared how Augustine taught that there are two “cities” intertwined in human history that signify two orientations of the human heart: “The City of Man, built on pride and love of oneself, is marked by the pursuit of power, prestige, and pleasure; the City of God, built on love of God unto selflessness, is characterized by justice, charity, and humility.”

Leo said that lawmakers are called to act as “bridge-builders between the City of God and the City of Man.”

“Augustine encouraged Christians to infuse the earthly society with the values of God’s kingdom, thereby directing history toward its ultimate fulfillment in God, while also allowing for authentic human flourishing in this life,” he said.

“The future of human flourishing depends on which ‘love’ we choose to organize our society around — a selfish love, the love of self, or the love of God and neighbor.”

Pope Leo also challenged prevailing cultural notions of progress and development. “We must clarify the meaning of human flourishing. Today, a flourishing life is often confused with a materially wealthy life or a life of unrestricted individual autonomy and pleasure,” he said.

“The so-called ideal future presented to us is often one of technological convenience and consumer satisfaction. Yet we know that this is not enough. We see this in affluent societies where many people struggle with loneliness, with despair and a sense of meaninglessness.”

Instead, he insisted, true flourishing stems from what the Church calls “integral human development,” or “the full development of a person in all dimensions: physical, social, cultural, moral, and spiritual.”

“This vision for the human person is rooted in natural law, the moral order that God has written on the human heart, whose deeper truths are illuminated by the Gospel of Christ,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from the Order of St. Augustine, also known as the Augustinians, an ancient religious order with thousands of members worldwide. Leo served as the head of the order from 2001 to 2013.

In the first months of his pontificate, Pope Leo has cited his spiritual father, St. Augustine, on multiple occasions, establishing a pastoral approach deeply rooted in the Augustinian tradition.

Before greeting the lawmakers one by one, the pope thanked them for “bringing the Gospel message into the public arena.”

“Be assured of my prayers for you, your loved ones, your families, your friends, and especially today for those whom you serve,” he said. “May the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, bless and guide your efforts for the true flourishing of the human family.”

St. Pius X. / Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 23, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church celebrated the feast of St. Pius X on Aug. 21 — an influential pope at the turn of the 20th century whose warnings about the heresy of “modernism” help shine light on the deterioration of faith in the West today and the disregard of Church teaching, according to one Catholic scholar.

Pius, who reigned as pope from 1903 to 1914 after the death of Pope Leo XIII, took charge of the Church in the aftermath of the Enlightenment era, which had spurred rationalist and liberal movements throughout Europe and the Americas.

Several of Pius’ predecessors combatted certain Enlightenment-era philosophies, which appeared to be a predominantly outside threat to the Church. This included Pope Gregory XVI’s rebuke of liberalism in the 1830s — which he saw as promoting religious indifferentism and secularism — and Blessed Pius IX, who condemned trends toward naturalism and absolute rationalism, which sought answers to philosophical questions absent divine revelation.

Pius X followed in their footsteps, combatting the heresy of “modernism” in his 1907 encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis. This heresy, he taught, was the pervasion of “false philosophy” within the Catholic laity and clergy, even within the Catholic university system and the seminaries that threatens the foundations of the faith itself.

“The danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain, the more intimate is their knowledge of her,” Pius wrote. “Moreover they lay the axe not to the branches and shoots but to the very root; that is, to the faith and its deepest fires.”

Modernism, Pius explained, is essentially a form of agnosticism within the Church, which views human reasoning as confined to “things that are perceptible to the senses.” With agnosticism as their foundation, modernists see human reason as “incapable of lifting itself up to God, and of recognizing his existence, even by means of visible things.”

“It is inferred that God can never be the direct object of science and that, as regards history, he must not be considered as an historical subject,” the Holy Father wrote.

Because modernists hold that God cannot be understood through reason, Pius explained, the heresy reduces one’s relationship with God to an “experience of the individual.” A belief in God, the modernists believe, is rooted in “a kind of intuition of the heart, which puts man in immediate contact with the very reality of God.”

Pius continued to say this position can be used to justify any religion. He wrote: “Modernists do not deny but actually admit, some confusedly, others in the most open manner, that all religions are true.”

Pius called modernism “the synthesis of all heresies” because when one applies this foundation to all facets of the faith — such as the divinity of Christ, miracles, tradition, and Scripture itself — the modernists promote an ever-evolving understanding of dogma “that ruins and destroys all religion.”

“[Modernists believe] dogma is not only able, but ought to evolve and to be changed,” the Holy Father explained. “This is strongly affirmed by the Modernists, and as clearly flows from their principles.”

Ron Bolster, the dean of philosophy and theology at Franciscan University, told CNA that the concern about modernism is primarily rooted in its belief that “you cannot know the things of God” and that “all we can do is look toward our internal religious experience.”

“If you have a religious person convinced by a modernist that you can’t really know these things, it leads to a kind of despair,” he said.

“When people are convinced by that or too lazy to sort it out, they abandon the practice of the faith and they no longer have access to the means of salvation that God made available to them,” Bolster warned.

Modernism’s impact on modern society

Bolster said he believes there is “a very clear connection” between Pius X’s warnings against modernism in the Church and the subsequent decline in religiosity in the Western world, along with the large number of Catholics openly dissenting from Church teaching.

A Pew Research Center survey in January 2024 found that the largest religious category in the United States is the “nones,” which is no religion in particular. These individuals make up about 28% of the American population, but only 17% of people in that category identify as atheist. The majority of the category, 63%, identify as “nothing in particular” and the other 20% are agnostic.

The modernist impact on Catholicism itself is also clear. A 2025 Pew survey found that only about two-thirds of Catholics are certain that God exists. About 86% believe heaven exists, but just 69% believe in hell. A majority of Catholics support legal abortion and homosexual civil marriages.

A 2024 EWTN/RealClear poll found that about 52% of Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, while 32% do not and 16% are unsure. Among Catholics, the strongest dissent from teaching appears to consistently be the issue of contraception, with a 2024 survey showing that 90% have used condoms and 60% have used hormonal birth control.

Bolster said the Catholic dissent on contraception, which occurred about 60 years after Pius X published the encyclical, “was the first time that there was kind of a precedent-setting public dissent against Church teaching.”

“That was really your turning point where you see for the first time [a large number of Catholics] publicly dissenting from … Church teaching,” he said.

Bolster noted that “calling into question the teaching of the Church because [of the belief that] we cannot know [the truth]” is a major symptom of modernist trends.

When speaking about Pius X’s warnings about modernism, Bolster said “the language of that document is astoundingly strong” and the pope is “not pulling any punches and the threat is real and the solutions are heavy-handed.”

At the time of the encyclical, Pius X called for ousting clergymen who promote modernism and censoring the promotion of those beliefs, along with establishing diocesan watch committees to find promoters of the heresy.

Pius X also called for a resurgence of the teaching of Scholastic philosophy, for which he said modernists only have “ridicule and contempt.” Many scholastics, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, taught that people can learn about and understand God through the use of reason.

The encyclical also notes that the First Vatican Council anathematizes any person who states that God “cannot be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason by means of the things that are made.”

Bolster noted that Aquinas and other Scholastics point out that Greek pagans like Aristotle and Plato “reasoned to the existence of God” and understood certain limited truths about God that they could gather without specific revelation.

“We can know by natural reason that God exists, that he contains all perfections, that he’s all powerful, and that he’s limitless,” Bolster said.

In spite of the impact that modernism has had on society, Bolster said Catholics should “remain positive.” He said the easy availability of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and “materials that are available for teaching the faith today … [are] reason to hope and reason to give credit to the bishops.”

“We have to get back — double down on the teachings of the Church,” he said.

The streets of Qaraqosh — also known as Baghdeda — in Iraq are filled with joy as residents celebrating Palm Sunday carry olive branches and palm fronds in a grand procession of nearly 20,000 Christians on April 13, 2025. / Credit: Ismael Adnan/ACI MENA

ACI MENA, Aug 23, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

As Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission announces the final lists of political coalitions, parties, and individual candidates ahead of November’s parliamentary elections, a critical question hangs over the country’s Christian community: Will their voice truly be heard in decision-making or will it be sacrificed to the interests of political parties and influential blocs?

More than 30 Christian candidates, running individually or with specific blocs and parties, are competing for the five seats reserved for them under Iraq’s electoral law. These seats are distributed across the provinces of Baghdad, Nineveh, Kirkuk, Dohuk, and Erbil. Meanwhile, the Independent High Electoral Commission recently disqualified three of these candidates for various reasons.

In an effort to attract Christian voters, several electoral entities and coalitions have emerged in what observers describe as the “political exploitation of the Christian component.”

Despite their different political affiliations and disagreements on multiple issues, they share a common strategy: adopting Christian names and aggressively competing for the five seats. This has raised serious concerns about the independence of Christian political decision-making in the upcoming Parliament.

Call to action

Despite a significant decline in Iraq’s Christian population over recent decades, particularly after many were forcibly displaced by ISIS in 2014, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, has consistently urged Iraqis, especially Christians, to participate in the upcoming elections. He emphasized the crucial role each individual can play in shaping the country’s future.

Sako, whose church represents the majority of Iraq’s Christians, has long advocated for restricting voting for Christian quota seats to Christians only. He has expressed growing concern within his community, noting that the threat of emigration is intensifying “due to armed factions seizing control of their towns, especially in the Nineveh Plain, along with blackmail, harassment, and the confiscation of quotas and government positions, all while effective measures to protect their rights and security remain absent.”

Accusations and demographic decline

Accusations continue to fly between the so-called “Christian” alliances, with groups blaming one another for being controlled by larger, non-Christian parties and for hijacking quota seats while failing to provide genuine Christian representation. This infighting persists as the Christian community faces ongoing demographic decline and harsh conditions.

Meanwhile, new parliamentary figures are gaining prominence, often with success attributed to non-Christian votes, as they are seen as aligned with powerful political parties and alliances.

Calls for electoral law reforms are growing louder, with advocates demanding changes to prevent Christian quota seats from being captured by outsiders. They argue that reform is necessary to ensure the genuine voice of Christian voters is heard, free from marginalization, dependency, or exploitation.

As the election approaches, a critical question remains: Will the upcoming elections provide an opportunity for genuine Christian representatives to win, or will history repeat itself?

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

Tyler Duffy, director of evangelization at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in Centennial, Colorado, outside More Coffee. / Credit: Francesca Fenton/CNA

Denver, Colo., Aug 23, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Step into More Coffee and you’re immediately greeted by the smell of fresh ground coffee, vintage images of the London skyline on the walls, quotes from Catholic saints on the chalkboard, and a crucifix hanging by the pickup counter.

The new coffee shop, owned and run by St. Thomas More Catholic Parish (STM) in Centennial, Colorado, hopes to become a gathering place of evangelization for those within the parish boundaries.

Tyler Duffy, director of evangelization at the parish, told CNA that the pastor of STM, Father Randy Dollins, “had this vision for an outpost of evangelization for our parish.”

According to canon law, a pastor is responsible for the spiritual care of all those within the boundaries of his parish — Catholic and non-Catholic alike. This, Duffy explained, is a responsibility Dollins takes “very seriously.”

“So he was thinking, ‘OK, what are we doing to evangelize within our territory? What are we doing to spread the faith?’ And one of the big things was people may not feel comfortable or may not want to step into a Catholic church, but maybe there’s a place that we could find within our territory that people would be comfortable stepping into,” Duffy explained.

From there they decided to find “an outpost … a place where we can naturally encounter people where their guard isn’t up, where they’d be happy to have a conversation, a natural place to build community.”

After hearing that the Augustine Institute — a private Catholic graduate school in theology — was moving to Missouri and had no plans for the space, STM decided to jump on the opportunity. Since the space had previously been a coffee shop, they were able to keep some of the furniture and equipment. However, they did redecorate, rebrand, and rename the shop. Additionally, STM also became the owners of the chapel in the building and a conference room that is attached to the coffee shop that they plan to allow anyone in the community to use for free. 

Duffy explained that through the coffee shop they are aiming to focus on “the transcendentals — truth, beauty, goodness.”

“We want to make the space beautiful and inviting. We want to speak the truth through our books and the conversations here and goodness — we just want to show what it is to live an upright moral life as a business, but also as individuals working the coffee shop,” he said.

However, Duffy added that he believes “one of the best uses of the coffee shop is if we could get our parishioners to utilize the space for their own evangelization.” 

He explained that while an individual might not feel comfortable asking someone to go to Mass with them, it is most likely very easy to ask someone to go grab a coffee together.

“So then you come into the space and you’re like, ‘Oh, let me tell you about this coffee shop. It’s actually owned by my church. And this is why I love my church so much.’ And that itself is like an easy way to be able to equip you to go out and evangelize.”

Duffy hopes that in time More Coffee “really becomes like a Catholic hub … [that] this place becomes known in the archdiocese as, ‘Oh, this is the Catholic coffee shop.’ And … that it becomes this meeting space and this gathering space just for Catholic conversation and ideation.”

Not only does Duffy want to establish a “robust Catholic atmosphere” but he also hopes that it will become the hub for good coffee in the area for everybody. The coffee shop is currently located in what is known as “The Denver Tech Center,” or DTC, a business and economic trading center located in Colorado in the southeastern portion of the Denver metropolitan area. 

“So, I would love to attract businesspeople to the area, work-from-home people to the area, people who are just looking for good coffee,” he shared. “And then if you combine the two — a robust Catholic community and atmosphere with this really beloved coffee shop in the community — then I think that naturally what you’ll find is these people who are coming just for the coffee, or just for the space, are just going to run into the beauty and the joy of the faith because they’re going to encounter a Catholic community here.”

Michael Iskander as David in Prime Video's "House of David." / Credit: Jonathan Prime/Prime

CNA Staff, Aug 22, 2025 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Michael Iskander, the actor known for playing the lead role of King David in the new hit Prime Video series “House of David,” announced Aug. 21 that he has become Catholic.

“Today is a very special day, that looking back has been a long time in the making. Today I joined the Catholic faith,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I’ve felt a calling to this Church for a long time, and as time went on, this calling became louder and louder.”

He added: “Eventually I ran into some really amazing people that helped me along the way. And rather than being the end of the road, this is the beginning of the journey. Please pray for me as I continue my walk with God, and thanks for celebrating this day with me.”

Iskander, 23, has shared in several interviews that he always dreamed of portraying King David but never thought it would happen. He was taking part in a Broadway production when he heard about the upcoming series focusing on Israel’s famous king. After his initial audition, Iskander was given a “no.” A couple weeks later, he was called to reaudition. Iskander was advised by his mother to pray and fast ahead of the second audition. Two months later, he was offered the role.

“For me, oftentimes God speaks with the softest voice and, for me, the softest voice was telling me ‘just hold out’ ... I don’t want to say that I knew this was mine — I really believe that God can choose anyone to accomplish his will,” Iskander said in an interview with Naomi Raine. “It’s not about me, it’s about him doing his will and it’s about someone who was willing to do his will.”

“So, I think in a way having that audition kind of not go through … I think it was God’s way of telling me: ‘Listen, there’s going to be rejection and there’s going to be a tough time and there’s going to be challenges, but the only way you get through is with me,’” he added.

Speaking at the Liberty University convocation, he shared that it’s easy for actors who have a role such as this to “make it about the human being rather than about God.”

“The show, for me, shouldn’t be called ‘House of David.’ It should be called ‘House of the Lord,’ ‘House of God,’ because it’s about him,” he said. “David’s heart was for the Lord and so that’s what I try to find in every scene, in every moment is where the Lord is and where the Holy Spirit can be found.”

Iskander has also spoken about the importance Scripture played while filming the series and portraying this famous figure.

“Keeping in mind the reverence for Scripture and what he means biblically, I found myself reading the Psalms and the Book of Samuel constantly just to be reminded of the true character of David and his heart and truly trying to find his heart in every single moment,” he told CNA in an interview.

He emphasized the importance of “focusing on the reverence for Scripture” in approaching his portrayal of David.

“House of David” is produced by the independent studio Wonder Project, which caters to faith-based and values-oriented audiences. The first season of the series — which aired exclusively on Prime Video — garnered over 40 million views worldwide and reached No. 1 on Prime Video in the United States.

In June, Wonder Project announced the launch of an exclusive subscription that will be offered on Prime Video that will allow subscribers to get early access to new original films and series produced by the production studio.

Season 2 of “House of David” will first be released on the Wonder Project subscription service this fall. It will then be available to all Prime Video users at a later date.

The Monument to Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. In early August 2025, President Luis Abinader promulgated the Dominican Republic’s new penal code, one of the most significant aspects of which is that it maintains an absolute ban on abortion. / Credit: Soto.Creativo/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 22, 2025 / 15:42 pm (CNA).

In early August, President Luis Abinader promulgated the Dominican Republic’s new penal code, a law that replaces legislation more than a century old and will come into effect in August 2026.

The approved text incorporates crimes such as “femicide,” contract killings, cyberbullying, economic violence, pyramid schemes, kidnapping, crimes against humanity, and genocide. It also increases maximum prison sentences up to 60 years for serious crimes.

However, one of the most significant aspects is that it maintains the absolute ban on abortion, a milestone for the Dominican pro-life movement.

‘A code that enshrines the inviolability of life’

Father Mario de la Cruz Campusano, episcopal vicar for Family and Life Ministry of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, expressed his gratitude for the passage and promulgation of the new penal code.

“We want to recognize the great work of the [representatives] and senators in approving a code that enshrines the inviolability of life. Likewise, we thank President Luis Abinader for listening to us and enacting this law that the vast majority of the Dominican people requested and needed,” he stated in a video posted on social media.

The priest emphasized that the new legislation “resolves many problems needing attention with regard to the penal code, classifies new crimes, increases penalties where necessary, and introduces provisions not addressed in the previous legislation.”

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Damaris Patrocinio, president of the Forum of Women in Defense of Life and the Family, (FOMUDEVI by its Spanish acronym) stated that this victory “has been the fruit of a decades-long struggle.”

“They say that every era has its battles and every battle has its warriors. FOMUDEVI would not have been a key component in this phase for the passage of the constitutional penal code if the great warriors who preceded us more than 25 years ago had not laid the foundations for the defense of life,” she stated.

The pro-life leader recalled names such as Pelegrín Castillo, Mercy Núñez de Avilés, Bishop Víctor Masalles, the late Father Luis Rosario, and other advocates “who passed the generational torch to us.”

A joint effort by experts

Patrocinio explained that in January, FOMUDEVI called on five lawyers who “worked on amendments to the current penal code on a pro bono basis.” These jurists — Fabio Caminero, Carolina Moreno, Laura Félix, Katerine Gómez Hernández, and Martha Jáquez — drafted and revised articles to strengthen the protections for life and family.

Among the key provisions, she highlighted, “abortion was maintained, fully criminalized, as established by the constitution in Article 37.” At the same time, an exemption was added, stating: “The termination of pregnancy performed by specialized health personnel will not be punished if, to save the life of the mother, the fetus, or both in danger, all available means at the time of the event are exhausted.”

“What was done was to include in the law what was already addressed in a medical protocol of the Ministry of Public Health,” Patrocinio explained.

Regarding the family, the pro-life leader emphasized that “it remains untouchable, since the constitution establishes in Article 55 that marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Conscientious objection and new crimes

The leader also welcomed the inclusion of two paragraphs on conscientious objection.

“Conscientious objection entails important social and legal consequences. It is a person’s right to refuse to fulfill a legal obligation when said obligation profoundly contradicts their moral, ethical, or religious convictions,” she noted.

Regarding the inclusion of new crimes, Patrocinio acknowledged progress and nuances: Adding “‘contract killings’ was an achievement, as these crimes have been on the rise in the Dominican Republic. We believe that cyberbullying has room for improvement in its wording. Economic violence, on the other hand, is subjective and more susceptible to the manipulated gender agenda and the 2030 agenda,” she commented.

Criticisms and challenges

Regarding those in society who take issue with the prohibition of abortion, Patrocinio was emphatic: “For them, the only perfect code would be one that contains only three articles: first, unrestricted abortion in all its forms, including infanticide; second, sexual orientation for the purpose of indoctrinating children; and third, an article that eliminates our sovereignty,” she stated.

Facing the year of “vacatio legis” (the period of time between the publication of a law and its going into effect), the president of FOMUDEVI anticipates some challenges: “We have a great opportunity to improve what has already been passed; not to add anything new but to adapt penalties, eliminate articles, or improve wording.”

Asked about the risk of attempting to introduce changes, she pointed out that “this danger will always be latent, because pro-abortion groups continue to receive significant funding from international organizations.”

Along the same lines, Martharís Rivas, coordinator of 40 Days for Life in the Dominican Republic, emphasized that the group will continue “praying for this ‘vacatio legis’ so that life and family continue to be defended in the Dominican penal code.”

Finally, Patrocinio reiterated FOMUDEVI’s commitment to the transition process, saying the organization will remain “on high alert for any attempt to modify what was passed.” 

“This has been a severe blow to the head of the serpent of the groups involved in the industry of death, who were defeated and crushed to their shame,” she noted.

With the passage of the law in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) by a margin of 159-4 and with 27-1 in the Senate, the new Dominican penal code marks a before and after in the country’s legislative history.

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

Pope Leo XIV meets with a U.S. ecumenical group led by Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America on July 17, 2025, at the Vatican, encouraging them to “return to the roots of our faith” in their pilgrimage to Italy and Turkey. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 22, 2025 / 15:07 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has issued an ecumenical appeal to all Christians to be architects of reconciliation and peace throughout the world on the occasion of Ecumenical Week, which is being celebrated in Stockholm Aug. 18–24.

In a message published Aug. 22 by the Vatican press office, the pontiff recalled that this initiative, in which Christians of different denominations participate, coincides with the centenary of the Christian Conference on Life and Work held in Stockholm in 1925 and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

Regarding the council held in 325, Leo XIV explained that with the formulation of the Creed, the Council Fathers “articulated the faith that continues to bind Christians together,” making that occasion “a courageous sign of unity amid difference — an early witness to the conviction that our shared confession can overcome division and foster communion.”

Regarding the meeting convened in Stockholm 100 years ago, the pope emphasized that its proponent “the pioneer of the early ecumenical movement, Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, Lutheran archbishop of Uppsala,” held the conviction that “service unites” and proposed joining forces in “‘practical Christianity’ — to serve the world together in the pursuit of peace, justice, and human dignity.”

Leo XIV noted that, although the Catholic Church was not present at that first meeting, “we stand with you today as fellow disciples of Christ, recognizing that what unites us is far greater than what divides us.”

He emphasized that since the Second Vatican Council, “the Catholic Church has wholeheartedly embraced the ecumenical path,” reflected in the decree Unitatis Redintegratio, which called “dialogue in humble and loving fraternity, grounded in our common baptism and our shared mission in the world.”

“We believe that the unity Christ wills for his Church must be visible and that such unity grows through theological dialogue, common worship where possible, and shared witness in the face of humanity’s suffering,” the pontiff said in his message.

Leo XIV also highlighted the theme of this year’s meeting, “Time for God’s Peace,” as a message that “could not be more timely” as we contemplate “the deep scars of conflict, inequality, environmental degradation, and a growing sense of spiritual disconnection.”

Peace, the Holy Father emphasized, “is not merely a human achievement but a sign of the Lord’s presence with us. This is both a promise and a task, for the followers of Christ are summoned to become artisans of reconciliation: to confront division with courage, indifference with compassion, and to bring healing where there has been hurt.”

In reference to the ecumenical work carried out by his predecessors, Leo XIV said he is pleased that during the ecumenical meeting “my delegation is able to be present as a sign of the Catholic Church’s commitment to continuing the journey of praying and working together, wherever we can, for peace, justice, and the good of all.”

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

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate former Rep. Abigail Spanberger speaks during an Everytown for Gun Safety rally on April 10, 2025, in Alexandria, Virginia. / Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 22, 2025 / 14:08 pm (CNA).

Years-old video that surfaced this week showed Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger endorsing assisted suicide and appearing to suggest that even religious hospitals should be required to perform the procedure.

The footage, which shows then-U.S. House candidate Spanberger at a 2018 campaign event, depicts the Democrat being asked about her position on “legislation that would legalize medical aid in dying,” a common euphemism for assisted suicide.

“I support and I would support legislation that legalizes the right to die with dignity of a person’s choosing,” Spanberger responded. “That would include allowing for medical providers to provide prescriptions for life-ending prescriptions.”

Spanberger at the same time was asked to speak on “permitting religious health care institutions to dictate what their physicians are allowed to discuss with their patients.”

“I oppose the ability of religious institutions to put their religious-based ideas on individuals and their health care choices and options,” she responded in the video.

“I believe that we should trust people to have relationships with their health care providers that lead them to make strong decisions based on their medical practices, and I do not believe that people should have the option to allow their own personal beliefs to dictate the type of medical care that they are providing their patients,” she said.

The Democrat is running against current state Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

Spanberger’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday morning asking if she still supports assisted suicide or forcing individuals and hospitals to perform it.

The resurfaced video generated backlash online this week. Republican State Del. Geary Higgins wrote that Spanberger’s remarks were “absolutely unbelievable.”

“Not only will religious organizations that do not believe in assisted suicide have to talk about it, they will have to make it available,” he said.

The National Right to Life Committee, meanwhile, described the Democrat’s position as “a window into how far some are willing to go to prioritize ideological consistency over constitutional rights.”

“Voters and lawmakers should take her at her word and reject the premise that the state may dictate the moral framework of faith-based institutions,” group outreach director Raimundo Rojas said.

State lawmakers in Virginia last year voted down an effort to legalize assisted suicide there. Nearly a dozen states and the District of Columbia presently allow the practice. 

Ahead of the Virginia bill’s defeat in the state Legislature last year, Virginia’s Catholic bishops warned that the proposal would “[make] the most vulnerable even more vulnerable” and put them at risk of “deadly harm.”

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond called the bill a “lethal measure” and reminded voters that human life “is sacred and must never be abandoned or discarded.”