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

The Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission meets in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 16, 2025. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA

CNA Staff, Dec 11, 2025 / 11:05 am (CNA).

The White House’s Religious Liberty Commission held its fourth hearing on Dec. 10, focusing on reports of the suppression of the right to religious freedom in the U.S. military.

The commission — on which sit the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham; Ryan Anderson, head of the Ethics and Public Policy Center; and Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, among others — heard testimony from expert witnesses who served in the various branches of the military, many as chaplains. 

The commission, which met in Dallas, will present its findings from these hearings to President Donald Trump.

Retired Army chaplain and Maj. Gen. Doug Carver spoke to the commission about the importance of the chaplaincy in the U.S. military. He recalled that in 1775, George Washington asked Congress for a religious leader to serve the needs of the military because the president recognized the crucial role religious faith played in the founding of the new nation, and especially to men who were giving their lives to protect it.

Historian and activist David Barton gave a brief timeline of the history of religious freedom in the U.S. military, emphasizing that along with Washington, many presidents have considered it invaluable since the country’s founding. 

He argued that hostility against religious freedom started in earnest in 2009 under the Obama administration and continued under the Biden administration. There was no widespread suppression of religion in the military until this time, he said. 

In 2010, troops were directed to “scratch off and paint over” Bible verses that had been inscribed for decades on scopes and gun sights, he said. The Air Force in California stopped a decades-old practice of teaching just war theory to members in 2011, he said, because it was taught by chaplains and based on biblical principles and the teachings of St. Augustine.

In 2012, the Air Force required the removal of the word “God” from the patch of the Rapid Capabilities office.

Both Democratic administrations tried to outsource military chaplains so they would no longer be embedded with the service members, Barton said. In addition, military chaplains were pushed out of their teaching positions and troops began to be educated in “an ardently secular manner with no tolerance for any religious expression.” 

“Fear and timidity” among the chaplains has become the norm as a result of the hostility against religion, according to Barton, who called for educational reform for service members that emphasizes the constitutionality of religious freedom and the important role religion has played since the nation’s founding.

Carver, who served as a chaplain for more than three decades, criticized the state of faith in the military and in the culture at large. When he entered the army in 1973, he said, chaplains taught character guidance classes and even gave soldiers “a duty day with God,” where one day a month they could spend a day in spiritual reflection. 

Those practices have long since ended, he said. Now, chaplains are called spiritual readiness coaches, values facilitators, and morale officers, Carver said.

“There is nothing wrong with chaplains taking on other duties,” he said, noting they are trained in handling crisis and trauma situations and serve as support for those struggling in family life. “But their primary role is as religious leaders, first and foremost.” 

“The role of chaplain has been diminished,” he said. 

“We are losing ground in the area of religious liberty. There’s a degradation of the Supreme Being having any input into our lives,” he said. “I am not sure how we can change direction without serious repentance.”

Marine veteran Mike Berry, now the executive director of external affairs and senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, a religious freedom law firm, also testified at the hearing.

Berry, like thousands of others, refused a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine on religious freedom grounds. He was placed on inactive status without being informed by his superiors, he said, and only found out when his family was told they were no longer eligible for Tricare, the military’s health insurance program.

He said during the hearing that religious liberty “isn’t merely an esoteric concept or a punchline. It’s a matter of national security.”

Since the military made the vaccine mandatory, more than 19,000 troops have either resigned or were pushed out, Berry said.

“Religious conviction is the source of America’s moral strength,” he said. “Highly religious young Americans are way more likely to join the military than nonreligious people.”

He warned that if religious freedom is not respected, young Americans will not enlist and the military “will become soft and weak.”

Berry made three recommendations that he hopes the commission will present to the president.

First, echoing Barton, Berry said that education and training must improve. Berry told the commission he received only one hour of training on the constitutional foundations of religious liberty as a new Marine. He also called for the elimination of “misguided” educational materials. 

“America is not evil, racist, imperialist, or fascist. Anything implying that, and any content hostile to religious liberty” should be removed, he said. 

Finally, Berry said religious liberty should be reaffirmed in national security strategy. Such liberty is a “first freedom” and should be a strategic priority.

Kelly Shackelford, First Liberty Institute CEO and chief counsel, who also sits on the commission, said in a press release after the hearing: “The testimonies at today’s meeting highlight the importance of ensuring that the religious liberty of our service members, chaplains, and veterans are upheld both now and into the future.”

“These men and women are risking their very lives for our freedoms. To stand for theirs is the very least we can do.” 

Trump established the Religious Liberty Commission, which is housed under the Department of Justice, through executive order on May 1 and appointed Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as chairman and Dr. Ben Carson, former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as vice chair.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone serves on the commission’s advisory board, along with Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, and Father Thomas Ferguson. 

Tom Vander Woude with baby Joseph “Josie” Vander Woude. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

CNA Staff, Dec 11, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).

When Virginia father Tom Vander Woude’s 19-year-old son, a boy with Down syndrome, fell into a toxic sewage tank, Tom jumped into the tank with him, pushing him to the surface even as the toxic fumes filled his own lungs.

The father of seven, whose sainthood cause is now under investigation, will be posthumously awarded this year’s Walk for Life St. Gianna Molla Award for Pro-Life Heroism on Jan. 24, 2026, at the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco. 

“When we heard Tom’s story years ago, we were touched by the love of a father for his child,” Dolores Meehan, co-chair of the West Coast Walk for Life, told CNA. “The fact that his son has Down syndrome made it all the more important to share his story of love and sacrifice and joy.”

Unborn children with Down syndrome often become victims of abortion.

The award named for St. Gianna Molla — an Italian doctor who chose to carry her child to term ultimately at the cost of her own life after doctors found a uterine tumor — honors those who show “heroic virtue in the defense of the unborn and their mothers and fathers, usually to the extent of profound sacrifice,” according to Meehan.

Chris Vander Woude, who is traveling the U.S. and promoting his father’s cause, told CNA that “Dad was deeply committed to honoring and safeguarding the sanctity of human life.”     

“He lived by these values right up to his last breath when he saved my brother Joseph’s life,” Vander Woude said. “Following St. Gianna’s example, Dad selflessly gave his life out of love for his child.” 

“In a world that often devalues people with Down syndrome, Dad’s final act of love for my brother serves as a powerful testament to the sanctity and dignity of every human life,” Vander Woude continued. 

Openness to life 

“I don’t think Dad ever missed a March for Life,” Vander Woude said. “It didn’t matter if it was snowing or super cold, Dad would take as many family members as possible because he understood the importance of standing up for innocent unborn babies and their right to life.” 

Tom, who worked as a farmer and a commercial pilot, made time for his family, faith, and pro-life beliefs. 

Held in late January, the March for Life is the pro-life movement’s annual march in Washington, D.C., to oppose abortion and defend human life.  

Tom and his wife also frequently prayed the rosary outside of an abortion clinic that has since closed and is now a life-affirming medical clinic that serves women in need, according to Vander Woude.

Tom and his wife also taught natural family planning (NFP), a life-affirming fertility awareness method of family planning, to young couples.  

“He and Mom were always open to life in their marriage,” Vander Woude said. “Dad believed in the age-old saying that ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ and he was quick to do his part in ‘the village’ to help.”

“They had many reasons not to have a large family, but they chose the courageous path of faith, hope, and openness to God’s will,” Vander Woude said. 

When a woman tracks her cycle using an NFP method, NFP works with her fertility rather than against it. Because various NFP methods don’t obstruct conception like contraception does, the Catholic Church accepts it as a form of family planning that is open to life. 

Bob and Karen Fioramonti still remember going to NFP classes with the Vander Woudes in the early 1990s as a young married couple. 

“We learned about NFP, but we learned even more about what it looked like to be a faithful couple who had been open to life,” Karen Fioramonti told CNA. 

“At that point, neither of us knew any big families and the Vander Woudes were a joyful couple raising seven sons encouraging us to trust God’s plan for our family,” Karen Fioramonti said. “They shared what a blessing each child is and that a parent’s mission is to raise saints. In short, they shared their faith.”

“Years later, we have raised our own seven sons and two daughters, and we are so grateful for that message shared many years ago,” Bob Fioramonti said.  

A pro-life hero 

As Vander Woude has been sharing the story of his father’s self-sacrifice with parishes around the U.S., he has seen how his father’s story moves people of all ages.

“I’ve seen the story move people to tears and motivate them to follow Dad’s sacrificial example,” Vander Woude said.

Meehan said she hopes Tom Vander Woude’s story will inspire men to take up the pro-life mantle.

“Men are so in need of heroes,” Meehan said. “Our hope is that the men who hear his story will be encouraged, inspired, and motivated to emulate not just his final act of sacrifice, but his life of sacrifice and the joy he derived from his pro-life heart.”

“Men need to hear that they, too, can be the pro-life hero to their family — to step up and be present day in and day out,” Meehan said.

Former archbishop's palace in Mexico City. / Credit: Government of Mexico City

Puebla, Mexico, Dec 11, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).

Although millions of faithful recognize Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City as the site of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, not many know that the miracle of the imprinting of her image did not occur there, but in a place that is now practically forgotten.

According to tradition, in December 1531, the Virgin appeared to an indigenous man named Juan Diego and asked him to request that the first bishop of Mexico, Friar Juan de Zumárraga, build a "sacred little house," a chapel at the foot of Tepeyac.

As a sign for the bishop, the Virgin Mary caused roses to bloom in the middle of winter on the arid hill and asked Juan Diego to carry them in his cloak. When he arrived at the bishop's residence to show the bishop the roses, he unfolded his cloak, and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted on it.

After the miracle, the cloak was placed under the care of Friar de Zumárraga in this house, while a small chapel was ordered to be built at Tepeyac, which would be the first shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The old archbishop's palace

Father José de Jesús Aguilar, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mexico and a researcher of the Guadalupe event, posted a video in which he pointed out that "many people know that the Virgin appeared at Tepeyac, but they don't know where the miracle of the imprinting of the image occurred."

He explained that in 1529, Friar de Zumárraga acquired the so-called Casa de Medel, located in what is now known as the Old Archbishop's Palace, next to the metropolitan cathedral of Mexico City, which was under construction at the time.

He established his residence at that site in 1530, and it was there that he received Juan Diego. However, he noted that "it is necessary to understand that, although the location is the same, we won’t see the building as it [appeared] in Juan Diego's time because it has undergone changes."

In 1629, the edifice was damaged by a flood that affected Mexico City. Almost a century later, in 1720, it was expanded by Archbishop José Pérez de Lanciego Eguiluz y Mirafuentes. Between 1730 and 1747, the building was completely rebuilt by Archbishop and Viceroy Juan Antonio Vizarrón y Eguiarreta.

Currently, the building where 33 archbishops once resided retains its red façade, and on either side of the main entrance, it features Latin inscriptions from the Book of Revelation. On the left, it reads, "He who sat on the throne said," and on the right, "I am making all things new."

Restoration efforts

According to Aguilar, this building served as the residence of the archbishops until the Reform Laws, in the mid-19th century, forced the Church to vacate it. In 1867, it housed the offices of the Chief Accounting Office, and later the Treasury Archives, the Pension Payment Office, and a printing press.

Currently, the building functions as the Museum of the Secretariat of Finance.

Aguilar recounted that an effort was made to recognize the religious value of the site, for which a sculpture of Juan Diego and Friar Juan de Zumárraga was commissioned. He said that it was blessed by St. John Paul II and "was made with the intention of placing it somewhere in the former archbishop's palace, or even on the street in front of it, to commemorate that it was the site of the miracle."

“Unfortunately, the civil authorities did not allow it,” said the priest, who was the deputy director of radio and television for the Archdiocese of Mexico at the time. The artwork was finally installed on the side of the metropolitan cathedral, a location that, in his opinion, “loses its meaning.”

“But with or without the sculpture, with or without a plaque, let's hope that little by little, the news that the image was imprinted on the tilma in this place will lead more and more people to learn about this fact,” he added.

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

Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025.  / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025. 

The Senate is expected to vote Dec. 11 on a Democratic proposal to extend existing ACA tax credits for three years, as 24 million Americans use ACA marketplaces for health insurance. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday after a Senate Republican meeting that lawmakers also will vote on a Republican alternative measure. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who leads the Finance panel, announced the legislation on Monday. 

The measure (S. 3386) would set requirements for Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions and direct that the money cannot be used for abortion or “gender transitions.” It would require states to verify citizenship and immigration status before coverage.

Catholic bishops weigh in

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said they favor extending the taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the ACA, but said lawmakers must ensure that the tax credits are not used for abortions or other procedures that violate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life. 

The enhanced premium tax credits “should be extended but must not continue to fund plans that cover the destruction of human life, which is antithetical to authentic health care,”  the bishops wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to members of Congress. 

There needs to be a policy that serves “all vulnerable people – born and preborn” and applies full Hyde Amendment protections to them, ensuring not only that government funding does not directly pay for the procuring of an abortion, but also that plans offered by health insurance companies on ACA exchanges cannot cover elective abortion,” they wrote. 

The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.

Activists respond

A coalition of more than 300 faith leaders including NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Church Of God In Christ Social Justice Ministry, Faith in Action Network, and  Franciscan Action Network, delivered a joint letter to Congress Dec. 8 urging legislators to pass a bipartisan bill that protects and expands the ACA premium tax credits.

“Each life is sacred, therefore, there is a moral imperative to provide care for the sick and alleviate suffering particularly for those who lack resources to pay,” the letter wrote. There must be action to ensure everyone has “the health care they need to live and thrive, as people are currently making choices about coverage for 2026.”

“The letter notes that renewing the tax credits will keep healthcare premiums under the ACA from spiking by an average of 114 percent in 2026,” NETWORK reported. “This would cause an estimated 4.8 million people to lose their health coverage because they cannot afford it. Subsequently, some 50,000 people could lose their lives without their health coverage.”

Other pro-life organizations have warned against expanding the subsidies. 

“As Congress continues to face pressure to extend Obamacare’s abortion-funding premium subsidies, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is making the facts clear on how Obamacare does not include the Hyde amendment and forces Americans to pay for abortions,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

“The enactment of Obamacare ruptured the bipartisan legacy of the Hyde amendment and resulted in the largest expansion of abortion funding since the 1970s,” she said. “Obama and the Democratic leadership at the time intentionally drafted the program to avoid annual appropriations bills, bypassing the Hyde amendment.”

“Instead of stopping funding for health insurance plans that cover elective abortion, Section 1303 of Obamacare expressly permits subsidies for Obamacare plans that cover abortion using elaborate accounting requirements and an abortion surcharge to justify the funding,” she said.

SBA and more than 100 other pro-life organizations are demanding that any extensions to Obamacare include a complete application of the Hyde policy. The groups sent a September letter and an October letter to lawmakers calling on Congress to ensure pro-life provisions. 

“Preventing taxpayer funding of abortion is a minimum requirement for any new Obamacare spending advanced by a Republican Congress and Administration,” Dannenfelser said.

Empty beds in a student dormitory at St Mary's Catholic School in the Kontagora Diocese.on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna

ACI Africa, Dec 10, 2025 / 19:10 pm (CNA).

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a UK-based human rights organization, has welcomed the release of 100 schoolchildren, who were among 303 children abducted on Nov. 21 from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri community in Nigeria’s Niger State served by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.

In a press release shared with ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, on Dec. 9, officials with the Christian group called on the Nigerian government to ensure that the children receive help after their trauma.

Nigerian authorities reportedly secured the release of the children on Dec. 7, although details of how this was achieved remain unclear.

Confirming the release to Catholic pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of the Kontagora Diocese said: “It is true. So far, 100 children have been released. We thank God for everything.”

In the press release emailed to ACI Africa on Dec. 9, Christian Solidarity Worldwide CEO Scot Bower expressed solidarity with the freed children and those close to them, saying: “We wish these students and their families a swift and full recovery from this traumatic ordeal, and urge the Nigerian authorities to do all they can to assist with this.”

He added, “Nigerian citizens have been terrorized by multiple armed non-state actors for far too long and require urgent, effective protection.”

Bower challenged the Nigerian government to “spare no effort” in securing the release of every citizen who is currently in captivity, including the remaining students and staff members from the Catholic schools.

He also appealed to authorities in Nigeria to address the country’s unprecedented security crisis decisively, sourcing international assistance “wherever possible and whenever necessary.”

A total of 153 students and 12 staff members remained in captivity as of Dec. 7.

Armed gunmen attacked St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Niger State, abducting 239 nursery and primary school children, 14 secondary school children, and 12 staff members from the private boarding school.

The subsequent deaths of two parents — Anthony Musa, the father of three young abductees, and a mother of other children known only as Esther — have been attributed to trauma caused by the abductions. 

In a post on X, U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, who has introduced a resolution addressing the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and recently visited the nation, commended the Dec. 7 rescue, which he described as "a positive demonstration of the government’s increasing response to the security situation."

Moore added that he had discussed “concrete steps and actions” which he said “if fully executed … will enhance security across the country for all Nigerians, disrupt and destroy terrorist organizations in the North-East and stop the killing of Christians … particularly in the Middle Belt of the country.” 

Nigeria is in the midst of an unprecedented and multifaceted security crisis, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported, adding that while the violence occurring in central areas — including Benue, southern Kaduna, Kwara, Niger, Plateau and Taraba — bears a distinct religious nature, in northwestern areas such as Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara and the northern part of Kaduna State, the violence generally unfolds along ethnic lines.

This article was originally published by ACI Africa, CNA's African news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Pro-life advocates are calling for action as top federal health officials deny reports that they are delaying a promised safety review of the abortion pill.  / Credit: Yta23/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

Pro-life advocates are calling for action as top federal health officials deny reports that they are delaying a promised safety review of the abortion pill. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “has delayed a promised review of safety data” until after midterm elections at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request, a Tuesday report by Bloomberg Law claimed, citing unnamed sources.  

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has denied the claim, saying it is “baseless.” 

“Assertions that the FDA is slow walking this review for political purposes are baseless,” an HHS spokesperson told CNA. 

“FDA takes the time necessary to conduct comprehensive scientific reviews, and that is what Dr. Makary is ensuring as part of the Department's commitment to gold-standard science and evidence-based reviews,” the statement continued. 

In response, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri — an outspoken advocate for reviewing abortion pill safety regulations — called the FDA’s actions "unacceptable." 

In a letter addressed to Makary, Hawley urged the FDA to conduct a safety review and reinstate safety regulations that were removed during the pandemic  under the Biden administration.

“It is unclear whether you are conducting an independent safety review at all,” Hawley said in the Dec. 10 letter. “I cannot emphasize enough the danger of playing politics with women's health.” 

In June of this year, Makary told Hawley that he would conduct a review of the abortion drug. In May, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also said the FDA would do a review of the drug. 

Since then, the FDA has not completed a safety review, but has approved a generic version of the abortion drug mifepristone. 

“There are more abortions in America now than when Roe was still law,” Hawley said in the letter.

Pro-life advocates are demanding action from the FDA, saying the issue is urgent because of the lives that are at risk given the danger of mail-order prescriptions of the drug.    

Two recent, peer-reviewed studies found that one in 10 women experience serious adverse reactions after having a chemical abortion. 

FDA regulations allow abortion pills to be shipped to patients without a telehealth visit. Multiple cases have been reported where the father of the unborn child has allegedly coerced or poisoned the mother with the abortion drug. 

“The FDA must act NOW to protect children and their mothers,” said Lila Rose, founder of Live Action.  

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser has called for Makary to be fired, saying he is “undermining President Trump and Vice President Vance’s pro-life credentials and their position that states should have the right to enact and enforce pro-life protections.”

“The FDA is doing nothing while every single day abortion drugs take the lives of children, put women and girls at serious risk, empower abusers and trample state pro-life laws,” Dannenfelser said in a Dec. 9 statement shared with CNA. 

Dr. Christina Francis, head of the American Association of Pro Life OBGYNs (AAPLOG) called on the FDA to review the drug immediately and to reinstate safeguards around the drug. 

“We are tired of empty promises,” Francis said in a statement. “Women’s health matters more than political elections.”

null / Credit: Rohane Hamilton/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

The House passed a defense authorization bill Dec. 10 without a provision to allow health care coverage of in vitro fertilization for active-duty military. 

Pro-life groups cheered the provision’s removal from the bill. The original bill would have required Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “ensure that fertility-related care for a member of the uniformed services on active duty (or a dependent of such a member) shall be covered under TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select.” Tricare does not cover IVF.

The House passed the bill (S. 1071) by a vote of 312-112, and Senate consideration is next.

Like last year, the IVF provision was eliminated from the defense authorization bill shortly before its consideration. President Donald Trump had made a campaign promise to make IVF free.

A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNA in a statement that “President Trump and Congressional Republicans have been working to lower costs and expand access to IVF.”

“The Speaker has clearly and repeatedly stated he is supportive of access to IVF when sufficient pro-life protections are in place, and he will continue to be supportive when it is done responsibly and ethically,” the spokesperson said. 

Live Action President Lila Rose praised Johnson for “ensuring TRICARE was not used to subsidize this destruction of life.”

“Students for Life has opposed IVF as practiced, as it's a business model that by design, destroys far more lives than are allowed to live and thrive,” Students for Life Vice President Kristy Hamrick told CNA in a statement responding to Speaker Mike Johnson’s move to strip the bill of IVF provisions. “The move to pull the funding for IVF will free up resources to seek better answers,” she said. 

“Unquestioning financial support props up an industry known to prey on people's hopes for a child while ending many lives. We need to seek better answers for the question of how to help people have families than to assume that IVF is the solution,” she said. “We can do better.” 

The Advancing American Freedom Foundation, which is led by former Vice President Mike Pence, posted a memo on X stating “many pro-life Americans are opposed to IVF because the standard process destroys human embryos.” 

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council reacted to news that IVF would be cut from the bill by praising Johnson, and said in a post on X: “The Speaker is right to put the pause on IVF funding in the Defense spending bill.”

“The IVF industry operates with little, if any, oversight, which has led to the creation and destruction of tens of thousands of so-called ‘excess’ embryos,” he said. “There are other pro-life options. Taxpayers' dollars should fund fertility methods that respect human dignity, treat the underlying causes of infertility, AND are successful—like Restorative Reproductive Medicine.”

Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Caracas, Venezuela, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

On Dec. 10 Venezuelan immigration police confiscated and invalidated the passport of Cardinal Baltazar Porras, the archbishop emeritus of Caracas, as he was preparing to travel to Bogotá, Colombia, from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía.

According to the Grand Priory of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem in Venezuela, on Wednesday morning the cardinal "was subjected to humiliating treatment" by airport authorities under the government of Nicolas Maduro.

From Bogotá, Porras was scheduled to take a flight to Madrid and then travel to Toledo, where he was going to participate in the solemn ceremony that would invest him as Spiritual Protector of the Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela. Accompanying the cardinal were Grand Prior José Antonio Rodríguez and his wife, who were allowed to board the plane.

“Immigration police officers unjustly detained His Eminence Cardinal Porras [along with] the Grand Prior with his wife. The cardinal's Venezuelan passport was confiscated and invalidated, preventing him from boarding his scheduled flight to Bogotá, with a connection to Madrid,” the order explained in a statement.

“Even though His Eminence presented his Vatican City State passport, issued by virtue of his dignity as a cardinal and with the diplomatic prerogatives that correspond to him as a prince of the Catholic Church, he was denied boarding. The cardinal was subjected to humiliating treatment, including a search of his personal belongings and clothing, with the use of drug-sniffing dogs, while his luggage was removed from the plane,” the statement added.

The Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela emphasized that what happened constituted a “flagrant violation” of international law, especially the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Consequently, “with feelings of profound indignation and in defense of the dignity of our order, its authorities, and the Holy Church,” a complaint has been filed with the Vatican Secretariat of State, requesting that it convey a “formal protest to the Venezuelan authorities for the violation of the diplomatic prerogatives of His Eminence Cardinal Baltazar Porras.”

The Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela also requested that the Holy See demand “the immediate return of the confiscated documents and a guarantee of unimpeded international travel for His Eminence, in accordance with current international norms.”

‘Strength lies in the weakness of the manger’

In a statement addressed to the bishops of Venezuela, Cardinal Porras recounted what happened at Simón Bolívar Airport, noting that “the most common experience in this last quarter of a century is to suffer almost constantly, with few exceptions.”

Upon reviewing his passport, immigration police told him that he appeared as deceased in the identification system. The cardinal also reported that he was followed even into the restroom by the soldiers who prevented him from traveling.

“We are in the Christmas season. Strength lies in the weakness of the manger, in the fragility of the truth that is built in peace, without violence and without abuse. Hope comes through continuous work for the good of all, especially the excluded,” the archbishop emeritus of Caracas stated.

In recent weeks, Porras has been the target of numerous attacks and abuses from prominent figures in the socialist government, mainly by President Nicolás Maduro and Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Peace Diosdado Cabello. 

In the days leading up to and following the canonization of Venezuela's first saints on Oct. 19, the cardinal denounced the precarious situation in the country from Rome, specifically calling for an end to political persecution and the release of the thousands of people detained for ideological reasons.

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

Sister Lucia, visionary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. / Credit: Fatima Shrine

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:22 pm (CNA).

Today, Dec. 10, marks the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Sister Lucia of Fatima in Pontevedra province in Spain, where the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month was revealed.

After the apparitions of the Angel of Portugal in 1916, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children — Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia — occurred in Fatima the following year.

After the deaths of her two cousins in 1919 and 1920, Lucia was placed under the protection of the bishop of Leiria, who sent her incognito to study at a school run by the Dorothean Sisters in Porto, Portugal, under the pseudonym of Dolores.

When she turned 18, she expressed the desire to enter the Discalced Carmelite order, but the Dorothean Sisters persuaded her to go to their novitiate located in Tuy, a town in Spain's Galicia region north of Portugal.

Since her identity could not be revealed, the sisters were unable to certify the studies required for her to enter the novitiate, so they sent her to Pontevedra to perform manual labor at the Dorothean Sisters' house there.

The Virgin Mary asks her to reveal the devotion of the First Saturdays

Feeling discouraged by the situation, and thinking that becoming a Carmelite nun was increasingly a distant possibility, on Dec. 10, 1925, Lucia’s cell was illuminated with a supernatural light.

"Our Lady, as if wanting to instill courage in me, gently placed her motherly hand on my right shoulder, showing me at the same time Her Immaculate Heart, which she held in her other hand, surrounded by thorns," the visionary later wrote.

At that moment, the Child Jesus, who was also present, addressed her, saying, "Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them." 

The Virgin Mary then asked Lucia to reveal the devotion of the Five First Saturdays, about which she had already spoken to her, along with Jacinta and Francisco, eight years earlier in Fatima:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

‘And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?’

Five days later, on Dec. 15, 1925, according to the testimony of Lucia, who eventually became a Carmelite in 1949, while performing her assigned duties, she encountered a boy to whom she wanted to teach the Hail Mary and urged him to go to a chapel to recite a short prayer.

Several weeks passed and in February 1926, Sister Lucia said she met the boy again and asked him if he had prayed to the Virgin Mary as she had suggested. The boy turned to her and said, "And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?”

At that moment, the boy transformed "into a resplendent child," with whom Sister Lucia continued to speak. The little boy insisted that she spread devotion to the First Saturdays because "many souls begin, but few persevere to the very end, and those who persevere do it to receive the graces promised.”

“The souls who make the five First Saturdays with fervor and to make reparation to the Heart of your Heavenly Mother, please me more than those who make fifteen, but are lukewarm and indifferent,” said the child, who confirmed that confession did not have to be immediate, provided that Communion was received in a state of grace and with the intention of making reparation.

All these events were recounted by Sister Lucia in 1927, after she went to the tabernacle on Dec. 17 to ask how to reveal this devotion if it was part of the secret communicated at Fatima.

Sister Lucia said that Jesus told her unequivocally: "My daughter, write what they ask of you; and everything that the Blessed Virgin revealed in the apparition in which she spoke of this devotion, write that down as well. As for the rest of the secret, continue to keep silent."

Sister Lucia’s time in Spain

Sister Lucia resided in Spain from 1925 to 1946. During her stay in the country, she wrote her memoirs. When the Second Republic was proclaimed in 1931, and given its anti-religious character, dressed in civilian clothes she took refuge in Rianxo, a port town also in Galicia, at the home of the sister of the superior of the Dorothean Sisters in Tuy.

She also spent a month on the island of La Toja, located off the coast, where she was advised to go because she was ill. In 1945, she traveled to Santiago de Compostela for the Holy Year.

Popular devotion

The Virgin Mary's apparitions to Sister Lucia in Pontevedra have not received official recognition from the Vatican. However, like other phenomena of the same nature, they sparked popular devotion from their very beginnings.

In the 1930s, but especially in the 1940s, after the Spanish Civil War, devotional acts and pilgrimages to the site of the apparitions multiplied, and in the following decades, associations and parish projects were established.

In the last third of the 20th century, the place became known as the Shrine of the Apparitions, yet at the beginning of the 21st century it was in danger of ruin, to the point that the Spanish Bishops’ Conference acquired the site in 2021 from the World Apostolate of Fatima association in Spain and began restoration work.

Holy Year in Pontevedra

To mark this centenary, the Holy See has granted the celebration of a jubilee year with the theme "Mary kept all these things in her heart," taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke.

The Apostolic Penitentiary has granted the apostolic blessing and a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, to pilgrims who visit the Shrine of the Apparitions in Pontevedra until Dec. 10, 2026.

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

Sister Norma Pimentel spoke with the Holy Father at the Oct. 2, 2025 meeting. / Credit: Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has suspended Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley from receiving federal funding, according to the charity group.

The Catholic Charities group is the charitable branch of the Diocese of Brownsville and is part of Catholic Charities USA and Caritas Internationalis.

The charity is located in South Texas and operates the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen. The migrant shelter is run by Sister Norma Pimentel, known popularly as “the immigrants’ nun.” Pimentel and the center offer immigrants awaiting court hearings shelter and food before they travel to meet relatives in other cities and states.

The nonprofit reported in a statement that the organization learned that the government "temporarily suspended” its "eligibility for federal funding pending a further determination." 

“Those on the front lines of our humanitarian outreach know the work we do truly helps to restore human dignity,” Pimentel said in the statement. “I take very seriously every single dollar entrusted to us.”

The organization did not specify exactly what led to the suspension, and reported it is “committed to compliance with federal grant requirements and will work expeditiously with DHS to resolve this matter.”  

“All funding provided by DHS was used to care for individuals who were brought to CCRGV by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP),” the organization said. “These are individuals who were released by CBP with a document that gave them permission to travel to their points of destination with instructions on where to follow up with their immigration proceedings.”

“CCRGV exists for one purpose – to help those in need,” the statement said. “Ours is a humanitarian response aimed at restoring human dignity to the thousands of immigrants who have been offered care, and we are proud of our work feeding the hungry and providing care for those here in our country.”

The suspension applies only to the Catholic charity, but not to Catholic Charities USA or any other branches nationwide. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from CNA.