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EWTN’s ‘Crushed by the Woman’ tackles Protestant questions about Our Lady
Posted on 08/14/2025 22:27 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Newsroom, Aug 14, 2025 / 18:27 pm (CNA).
EWTN’s “Crushed by the Woman” — set to air on the Aug. 15 solemnity of the Assumption at 5:30 p.m. ET — aims to answer common questions Protestants ask regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The 30-minute program features a lineup of notable Church figures who explore the beliefs Catholics hold regarding the Blessed Mother and the many misconceptions non-Catholics have about her.
The program addresses questions such as: Does devotion to Mary take away from Jesus or offend Our Lord? What does the angel Gabriel’s “Hail, full of grace” greeting mean? Is the assumption of the Blessed Virgin contrary to the Bible? Why do Catholics pray to Mary? Why do Catholics say Mary did not have other children? How is Mary our perfect mother?
Father Dwight Longenecker, who was raised a fundamentalist and ordained an Anglican priest before converting to Catholicism, and Mark Miravalle, a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and president of the International Marian Association, are joined by several other Church leaders to provide answers to these questions.
“Quite often, our Protestant brothers and sisters will say: You believe in something called the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that she was taken up into heaven and that she was crowned as the queen of heaven,” Longenecker says in the program. “That’s nowhere in the Bible. Why do you believe these things?”
“Catholics are not Bible-only Christians. You are,” Longenecker continues. “We believe in the inspiration of the Bible, but we also believe that the Holy Spirit speaks through the Church…speaks through the lives of the saints… speaks through the teaching of the Church. Therefore, we’re not Bible-only Christians. We’re not obliged to prove our religion according to your terms.”
Miravalle points out that nowhere in Scripture does it say that Scripture is the only source of revelation. “[T]o hold that is an unscriptural position,” he says.
Ann-Marie Altomare, director at Our Lady of Guadalupe Family Life Center in Ave Maria, Florida, provides further examples: “[W]e also know there are a lot of things about the apostles, how they were beheaded or how they died as martyrs, that are not written in Scripture.”
Addressing the question of why Catholics pray for Mary’s intercession, Longnecker says: “We need a mother to intercede, to protect us from external dangers. We need a mother to remind us of our personal dignity, that we’re all made in the image and likeness of God. One mother united Jesus and her other children, you and me, together.”
“[W]ithin the Catholic understanding, she stands for motherhood,” he adds. “She stands for fertility. She stands for children. She stands for family, and this is exactly where, in our society today, Catholics are being attacked, because we still stand up for virginity, for chastity, for family, for marriage, for children. We stand up against abortion, we stand up against the sexual immorality in society, and so, we will be attacked for that.”
“Crushed by the Woman” can also be watched online here.
Longtime anti-euthanasia activists awarded USCCB’s ‘People of Life’ award posthumously
Posted on 08/14/2025 21:47 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 17:47 pm (CNA).
Longtime anti-euthanasia activists Rita and Mike Marker were honored Aug. 11 at the 2025 “People of Life” awards by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities during the Diocesan Pro-Life Leadership Conference in Arlington, Virginia.
The awards recognize Catholics who have answered St. John Paul II’s call in Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”) by dedicating themselves to promoting the dignity of the human person and taking part in pro-life activities.
The Markers established the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force — later renamed the Patients Rights Council — in the early 1980s. Rita served as the executive director of the organization and in her role wrote the 1995 book “Deadly Compassion: The Death of Ann Humphry and the Truth About Euthanasia” about the high-profile suicide of an euthanasia advocate whom Rita came to embrace as a friend.
Mike largely took charge of the organization’s operations. Rita traveled internationally and domestically to speak out against euthanasia and assisted suicide and frequently appeared on radio and news programs. Realizing the importance of legal expertise in advocating against assisted suicide, she also obtained a law degree while raising a family and used it to analyze legislation and develop strategies to oppose assisted-suicide laws.
The Catholic couple were married for six decades and were appointed to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council on the Family by St. John Paul II. Mike died in 2021 and Rita died in 2023.
About 100 diocesan Catholic figures and guests attended this year’s awards dinner, including Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia. Two other pro-life advocates were also honored at the event: Valerie Washington and Judy Haag.
Washington has led the National Black Catholic Congress organization as its executive director for the past 25 years. During her time with the organization, she has shaped its programs, has nurtured partnerships that have strengthened the Church’s commitment to justice and evangelization, and has taken a prominent role in fostering a culture of life within the Black Catholic community.
For the past 30 years, Haag has been a long-term care nurse and pro-life advocate — serving as co-chair to her local 40 Days for Life campaign, leading her parish in commemorating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and facilitating participation in the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life March for Life. She also served as chairperson of the New Ulm Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (NUDCCW) Reverence for Life Committee for several years. Here she assisted in public education and advocacy on abortion and was named the NUDCCW “Woman of the Year” in 2017.
This year’s recipients join 43 other pro-life advocates who have received this award since it was established in 2007 by the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities.
Virginia governor investigates reports of public schools arranging abortions for minors
Posted on 08/14/2025 20:57 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 16:57 pm (CNA).
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is investigating reports that a local public school facilitated and funded abortion procedures for minors without informing the parents.
Staff at Centreville High School, part of the Fairfax County Public Schools district, arranged abortions for two pregnant high school girls in 2021, according to a report by Walter Curt Dispatch Investigations from earlier this month.
Youngkin said in a press release on Wednesday that he is “deeply concerned with the allegations” and is opening “a full criminal investigation into this matter immediately.”
According to the investigative report, one of the girls, who was 17 years old at the time, had an abortion after a school official brought her to the abortion facility.
The other girl, who was five months pregnant, ran from the clinic after a social worker brought her there and allegedly told her she “had no other choice.”
Virginia has a parental-notification law for abortion procedures. Virginia code requires a physician to certify that at least one parent has been notified before performing an abortion on a minor. While there are exceptions if a minor obtains a judicial bypass, investigator Walter Curt said that “no bypasses appear in either case file” that was provided to him.
The girls also alleged that the principal knew about the abortions and used school funds to pay for them.
“Reports allege school officials may have arranged and paid for abortions for multiple minors without parental notification,” read the Aug. 13 press release. “Reports also indicate that the school administration may have known this was happening, and that school funding may have been used, which could include local, state, and federal funds.”
Fairfax County Public Schools said in a statement earlier this month that it is “launching an immediate and comprehensive investigation” into the reports.
A handwritten note from an 11th-grade ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) student, translated by the investigators, said the abortion took place in November 2021, when she was 17.
“Last year I went to see social worker Carolina Diaz. She helped me with the termination of my pregnancy — that is, an abortion,” the girl wrote in a note dated Nov. 19, 2022.
The social worker, the girl said, “scheduled the appointment for me at the abortion clinic in Fairfax, paid the costs of that medical procedure, and kept everything quiet without informing my family.”
The school addressed the claims in a statement, saying they recently learned of the allegations, though Walter Curt Dispatch Investigations said in a follow-up report that school officials “have been aware for months.”
Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose commented on the investigation in a post on social media, calling the situation “horrific.”
“Every person involved must be held accountable,” she said in a Thursday post on X.
Alabama vicar general on leave after allegations of relationship with minor
Posted on 08/14/2025 16:42 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 12:42 pm (CNA).
A high-ranking priest in the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama is on leave amid allegations that years ago, he began a relationship with a young woman who was a minor at the time.
Vicar General Father Robert Sullivan, 61, went on a personal leave of absence on Aug. 4, according to an Aug. 13 letter from Bishop Steven Raica obtained by CNA.
In his letter, Raica said that per internal policy, the diocese did not initially provide a public reason for Sullivan’s leave. But the bishop said an Aug. 13 report in the Guardian made it “necessary and appropriate” to clarify why the priest had left his post.
The Guardian report alleged that Sullivan reportedly “traded financial support for ‘private companionship’” with a woman, Heather Jones, now 33, “including sex, beginning when she was 17.”
Raica confirmed that the diocese had received the allegation, describing it as a report of “a relationship that began when the woman reporting the allegation may have been under the age of 18.”
The diocese reported the allegation to the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the bishop said, though that agency found that it did not merit a state-led investigation. The age of consent for sexual activity is 16 in Alabama.
The diocese, however, opened its own investigation. Since the early 2000s, in response to the global clerical abuse scandal, the Church has classified individuals under 18 as minors and deemed any sexual contact with them as abusive.
The allegations have been provided to the diocesan review board, Raica said. A report is also being developed for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Vatican protocol.
Sullivan is currently “removed from all priestly service” while the investigation continues, the bishop said.
“We do not know the time frame for completion of the work of the dicastery in Rome nor of that which will be further required within our diocese,” he said.
Raica said it was “not [his] intention” to disclose the information of the allegation prior to the results of the investigation.
“[T]he initial work of any investigation does not lend itself to a definitive determination,” he said, “and anyone accused in the Church possesses a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise, equivalent to the right granted in civil law.”
The bishop asked for “continued prayers for all involved” and called for strict adherence to diocesan youth safety guidelines.
In its Aug. 13 report, the Guardian said Jones came forward with the claims because Sullivan, as pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Homewood, Alabama, “had continued working closely with families and their children,” leaving her “fearful that ‘others may be vulnerable to the same type of manipulation and exploitation.’”
The paper said Jones alleged that Sullivan met her when she was 17 years old while working at an “adult establishment” he allegedly visited regularly and that the priest took her “shopping, dining, drinking,” and to hotels for sex.
Jones alleged that Sullivan and his attorney “eventually had her sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for $273,000,” the paper said.
She also allegedly received around $120,000 from “a Venmo account under Sullivan’s name,” according to the Guardian.
New Jersey church says bookkeeper stole $1.5 million, spent it on cigars, sports, vehicles
Posted on 08/14/2025 14:53 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2025 / 10:53 am (CNA).
A New Jersey church is alleging in a lawsuit that its bookkeeper stole more than a million dollars over several years and spent it on personal items including wedding expenses and cigars.
The Church of Saint Leo the Great in Lincroft, New Jersey said in the Aug. 8 filing that its former finance director, Joseph Manzi, “systematically, secretly, and dishonestly utilized parish funds for his own personal benefit.”
The total amount that Manzi allegedly stole “appears to exceed $1,500,000,” the parish said. He has “not reimbursed St. Leo’s” for any of the alleged stolen funds, according to the lawsuit.
Manzi was hired at the parish in 2014 and was fired from that position on June 26, 2025, the suit says. The filing does not disclose why he was fired, but it said an auditor discovered financial irregularities in the parish accounts on July 31, several weeks after Manzi was dismissed.
A subsequent investigation allegedly uncovered more than six years of financial malfeasance by Manzi, including using parish funds “to pay for tickets to sporting events; personal vehicles, construction projects on his personal home; landscaping, gift cards; expenses related to his daughter’s wedding; his own personal taxes; meals and cigars,” and other things.
His alleged use of parish funds constituted “widespread fraud and theft,” the parish said, alleging that the bookkeeper diverted funds to fraudulent accounts and utilized automatic payments from the church to cover personal expenses.
The lawsuit is seeking financial damages from Manzi, including the return of his compensation during his employment at the parish. It is also seeking a “constructive trust” over Manzi’s home in Atlantic Highlands, with the parish alleging that the home’s mortgage and repairs were financed with funds stolen from the parish.
On its website, the parish said it had reported the alleged crimes to local and state law enforcement while pursuing the civil lawsuit.
On Aug. 13, meanwhile, the Diocese of Trenton said in a statement that it is cooperating with law enforcement and that its own investigation had “confirmed a basis” for the allegations.
Study: 9 in 10 cradle Catholics leaving the Church; experts urge stronger faith community
Posted on 08/14/2025 10:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A recent study has found an increase in the number of Americans Catholics leaving the Church. To combat the issue, the study’s authors suggest creating stronger community ties among Catholics, especially among children.
Michael Rota, philosophy professor at the University of St. Thomas, and Stephen Bullivant, theology and sociology professor at St. Mary’s University, conducted the study examining the decline in religious practice among Catholic-born Americans using data from the General Social Survey (GSS).
The GSS has asked a large representative sample of Americans a number of questions about religion for the past 50 years, which Rota and Bullivant analyzed to write “Religious Transmission: A Solution to the Church’s Biggest Problem,” published by Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal.
The data revealed that in 1973, 84% of the participants raised Catholic still identified as Catholic when surveyed as adults, but in 2002 it was 74%. By 2022, it had dropped to 62%.
In 1973, about 34% of participants raised Catholic were attending Mass weekly (or more often) when they were adults. By 2002, the number had fallen to 20%, and in 2022 it had fallen to 11%.
The study reported the Church is losing 9 out of 10 cradle Catholics, and most are becoming religiously unaffiliated.
Overall, there has been a decline in the number of Americans who prioritize faith. In 2013, 72% of Americans considered religion to be the most important thing in their lives, or among many important things, but in 2023, only 53% said the same.
These declines are due to “weaker social connections among Catholics, the ‘values gap’ between Catholic morality and mainstream American morality, and the internet and smartphones,” Rota told “EWTN News Nightly” in an Aug. 13 interview.
“Before the 1950s, the average Catholic youth would have looked around in their social circle and seen a lot of consensus about faith [and] about the importance of worshipping God in some religion or denomination,” Rota said. “Today, it’s not like that.”
Young Catholics are “much more likely to have many non-Catholic friends, probably non-Catholic family members. In the culture at large, there’s many anti-Catholic and anti-religious voices. So that puts pressure on youth as they grow up.”
Rota explained “the values gap” is a problem because “in the 1930s Catholic morality and mainstream American morality were very close. Now, on issues relating to sexuality, marriage, life issues, they’re quite opposed.”
The last issue the researchers looked at is the changes the internet has caused. Rota said: “When the internet hit the scene, in the late ’90s, we [saw] a huge spike in the percentage of youth who don’t identify with any religion.”
“Human beings are socialized by their families, their close social network, but also by the culture that they’re in. And what the internet and smartphones have done is change the balance of what’s doing more work.”
Americans, especially children, need more Catholic community. It has become harder to find community since “today ... our neighbors are more heterogeneous in terms of religion,” but “parents need to intentionally seek out close relationships with other Catholics and put their children in situations where they make friendships with other Catholics.”
There also needs to be “more religious activity,” Rota said. “Just going to Sunday Mass and leaving … doesn’t work anymore for handing on the faith to our children, because the wider culture will no longer guide them back to faith. Rather, it’s more likely to take them away.”
To help “cradle Catholic youth retain their Catholic identity as they grow into adulthood,” Rota suggested that both parents share the same religion and that parents and children are religiously active. He said it is important for children to see that faith makes a difference in everyday life and that kids have both faith-supportive peers and adult mentors who are not their parents.
Parents should find “a vibrant parish or a Catholic lane movement, where they can walk the life of discipleship in fellowship,” he said.
Federal court rules against Little Sisters of the Poor in latest contraception lawsuit
Posted on 08/13/2025 20:25 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Staff, Aug 13, 2025 / 16:25 pm (CNA).
A federal court has ruled against the Little Sisters of the Poor in their long-running legal dispute over government contraception mandates, dealing a blow to the religious order of sisters even after multiple court victories, including at the Supreme Court.
The legal advocacy group Becket said on Aug. 13 that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in favor of both New Jersey and Pennsylvania in finding that the federal government had not followed protocol when issuing exemptions to contraceptive requirements, including for the Little Sisters.
The district court said that a set of religious exemptions granted by the federal government during the first Trump administration were “arbitrary [and] capricious” and failed to adhere to the requirements of the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
The court has vacated those exemptions “in their entirety,” the Aug. 13 ruling said.
Diana Thomson, a senior attorney with Becket, told CNA that the case is the same one that saw the Little Sisters win a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020 when a majority of the court’s justices said the exemptions to the contraceptive mandate were legal.
She described the procedural questions in the Aug. 13 ruling as “cutting-floor arguments” that the states had largely ignored several years ago.
“Instead of dropping the case, Pennsylvania and New Jersey revitalized their cutting-floor arguments that they chose not to pursue at the Supreme Court last time and brought them in the district court,” she said.
The district court accepted those arguments “even though the Supreme Court already blessed the rules,” Thomson said.
The court is “trying to find a loophole” to the 2020 Supreme Court ruling, she said.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania had brought the lawsuit against multiple federal agencies and officials, though the Little Sisters of the Poor were attached to the lawsuit as “defendant-intervenors.”
The sisters will appeal the ruling, Thomson said.
“I assume the Trump administration will appeal also,” she said. “But the Little Sisters’ appeal is already on file.”
“We will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” she said.
In a separate statement, Mark Rienzi, the president of Becket and the lead attorney for the Little Sisters, said it was “bad enough that the district court issued a nationwide ruling invalidating federal religious conscience rules.”
“But even worse is that the district court simply ducked the glaring constitutional issues in this case after waiting five years and not even holding a hearing,” he argued.
“It is absurd to think the Little Sisters might need yet another trip to the Supreme Court to end what has now been more than a dozen years of litigation over the same issue,” he said, adding: “We will fight as far as we need to fight to protect the Little Sisters’ right to care for the elderly in peace.”
Report finds over 400 cases of vandalism, other ‘hostile’ acts against churches in 2024
Posted on 08/13/2025 19:49 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 13, 2025 / 15:49 pm (CNA).
A report published by the Family Research Council (FRC) documented more than 400 cases of “acts of hostility” against Catholic and other Christian churches in the U.S. in 2024.
The report, published on Aug. 11, found 415 incidents, which included 284 acts of vandalism, 55 cases of arson, 28 gun-related incidents, 14 bomb threats, and 47 other hostile acts.
In every month, there were at least 20 hostile acts against churches, with the highest numbers occurring in June with 49 incidents and February with 45 incidents. The average was 35 incidents per month.
This is a slight downtick from FRC’s 2023 numbers, when the evangelical nonprofit found 485 incidents. Yet, the number is still significantly higher than in previous years: 198 in 2022, 98 in 2021, 55 in 2020, 83 in 2019, and 50 in 2018, the year FRC began tracking hostile incidents.
Neither the perpetrator nor the motive is clear for most incidents, according to FRC. The report notes that some acts appeared to have been motivated by hatred toward Christianity, some by financial gain, and others seemed like they were perpetrated by teenagers “engaging in a destructive pastime.”
There was only one instance in which a pro-abortion motive was found, which is much lower than in 2022, when at least 59 hostile acts were motivated by the perpetrator’s support for abortion. The spike that year is likely related to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
The pro-abortion vandalism occurred at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, where the vandal defaced a church building with the phrase: “[expletive] you, my body my choice.”
Arielle Del Turco, the director of FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty, said in a statement that “no instance of vandalism or other crimes against churches is acceptable, and political leaders should be quick to condemn such actions and affirm the importance of religious freedom.”
“Religious freedom does not rely on legal protections alone but also on cultural support,” she added. “We must bolster cultural support for religious freedom and respect for our Christian heritage.”
According to the report, there were also 33 instances in which the perpetrator targeted churches because the church embraced “LGBT” pride, which mostly came in the form of stealing the pride flags.
One of the hostile acts documented against Catholic churches was an incident in South San Francisco, California, in January. A man fired gunshots toward St. Augustine Catholic Church, but no one was injured in the attack.
In another incident, a person desecrated a processional crucifix and a statue of the Blessed Mother in a Georgetown University chapel. St. Leo Church in Hartford, Arkansas, was attacked once in 2023 and twice in 2024, which included a vandal destroying statues. Another vandal decapitated a statue of Jesus Christ at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Fresh Meadows, New York.
At St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a person discarded about 100 Communion wafers in the church parking lot during an Easter Mass. The priest said at the time that he believed they were likely not consecrated.
FRC President Tony Perkins, a former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in a statement the report “clearly shows religious freedom faces substantial threats here at home.”
“Religious freedom is seldom handed to the passive; it is claimed by those who exercise it even when a hostile culture says they may not,” Perkins said.
The report notes that the federal government has grown aware of anti-Christian sentiments within American society, with President Donald Trump signing an executive order to create a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias within federal government policies, regulations, and practices.
“The American woke Left has been intentional in spreading its hostility toward the Christian faith throughout every corner of America,” Perkins said. “We applaud the efforts of the Trump administration, but efforts must be taken at every level of government to protect and promote this fundamental human right.”
“Christians must expect and demand more from their government leaders when it comes to prosecuting and preventing criminal acts targeting religious freedom,” he added.
California, which is the country’s most populous state, recorded 40 hostile acts, which were more than any other state. The second-highest number occurred in Pennsylvania with 29, followed by Florida and New York with 25 each, Texas with 23, and Tennessee and Ohio with 19 each.
22 attorneys general demand safety review of abortion drug mifepristone
Posted on 08/13/2025 18:49 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

CNA Staff, Aug 13, 2025 / 14:49 pm (CNA).
A coalition of 22 attorneys general — all Republican — led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, has called on the Trump administration to reinstate safety protocols for the abortion drug mifepristone, citing severe risks to women’s health.
In a letter addressed to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary, the attorneys general urge Kennedy and Makary to restore safeguards removed by the Obama and Biden administrations or consider withdrawing the drug from the market.
The letter references a study published in April by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. The EPPC study claims mifepristone causes many more serious adverse events, including hemorrhage, sepsis, emergency room visits, and ectopic pregnancy, than stated on the drug’s label, which shows a less than .5% rate of adverse events.
“Recent comprehensive studies of the real-world effects of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone report that serious adverse events occur 22 times more often than stated on the drug’s label, while the drug is less than half as effective as claimed. These facts directly contradict the drug’s primary marketing message of ‘safe’ and ‘effective,’” the letter states.
The study, which examined 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023, is the largest known study of the abortion pill. It found that 11% of women “experience at least one serious adverse event or repeated abortion attempt within 45 days of first attempting a mifepristone abortion.”
The attorneys general argue that the FDA should reinstate safety protocols from the 2011 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, which required in-person prescriptions and provider follow-ups but were later relaxed by the Biden administration.
“The FDA’s removal of these crucial safety protocols in 2016 (and in 2023) that only five years before the FDA considered necessary begs the question of whether the removal was motivated by considerations other than the safety of patients,” the attorneys general wrote. “The current FDA’s dedication to the health and well-being of all Americans is encouraging, as is the much-needed review of mifepristone that Secretary Kennedy has promised.”
The letter continues: “Currently, a woman can obtain a mifepristone abortion by participating in only one telehealth visit with any approved health care provider (not necessarily a physician), ordering the drugs through a mail-order pharmacy, and self-administering them. And the prescriber is only required to report an adverse event if he or she becomes aware that the patient has died.”
This push follows similar urging by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who, echoing the same EPPC findings, introduced the Restoring Safeguards for Dangerous Abortion Drugs Act in May.
The bill would direct the FDA to create safeguards on mifepristone. It would also give women who have suffered complications from mifepristone the right to file lawsuits against telehealth providers and pharmacies. It would also prohibit foreign companies from importing and shipping the drug into the U.S.
Hawley urged immediate action to restore safety measures, and like the attorneys general, warned that without such measures, the FDA should consider removing mifepristone until the agency completes a thorough review.
When Hawley asked Kennedy if he was familiar with the study during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in May, Kennedy said he was. “It’s alarming, and clearly it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy also “pledged to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the drug,” Hawley said.
Also in May, a coalition of more than 100 pro-life groups, including various Catholic organizations, called for HHS to review the drug’s safety and restore previous federal safety regulations in light of the EPPC study.
Makary previously stated he had no plans to alter mifepristone policies unless data indicated a safety issue. The FDA, which first approved mifepristone in 2000 after a “thorough and comprehensive review,” maintains that periodic evaluations have not identified new safety concerns.
Mifepristone, used with misoprostol to terminate early pregnancies, accounted for 63% of U.S. abortions in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The number of actual abortions might be higher due to underreporting, according to the organization, which was affiliated with Planned Parenthood until 2007.
The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to mifepristone’s availability in 2024, declining to rule on the legality of relaxed regulations under the Obama and Biden administrations.
Mary Rice Hasson receives Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Leo XIV
Posted on 08/13/2025 18:14 PM (CNA Daily News - US)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 13, 2025 / 14:14 pm (CNA).
Catholic researcher and speaker Mary Rice Hasson will receive the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Leo XIV, a papal honor recognizing distinguished service to the Catholic Church.
“I’m truly humbled and grateful to receive this honor from Pope Leo XIV, who reminds us that faith lies at the heart of our mission,” Hasson said in a statement. “It’s an honor to serve the Church.”
The Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (“For the Church and the Pontiff”), first established by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, is a decoration of the Holy See conferred for dedication to the Church by laypeople and clergy.
It was originally bestowed on men and women who promoted the jubilee and assisted in making the Vatican Exposition successful.
“I’m blessed to be able to integrate my faith and work in a way that serves the Church, and to work alongside so many others with similar commitments,” Hasson told CNA.
“My personal inspiration, and the touchstone for my service to the Church, comes from Pope St. John Paul II who wrote (in Christifideles Laici) that women have been entrusted with ‘assuring the moral dimension of culture.’”
Hasson is currently a Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and serves as director and co-founder of its Person and Identity Project, an initiative that assists the Church “in promoting the Catholic vision of the human person and responding to the challenges of gender ideology.”
She is also a visiting fellow for the Veritas Center at Franciscan University, an attorney, and a policy expert. Hasson has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women three times and is a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for its Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth and Committee on Religious Liberty.
The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, announced that Bishop Michael Burbidge will formally grant the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice to Hasson and fellow honorees at a private ceremony in September.
The diocese reported it “rejoices that our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV has bestowed papal honors on 50 members of the diocesan faithful, concluding our 50th anniversary golden jubilee.”
Hasson is one of 10 people who will receive the cross, and another 40 will receive the Benemerenti Medal, another papal award that was established by Pope Pius VI.