St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church

Residents carrying their belongings, wade through a flooded street in Mandaue City, Cebu province on Nov. 4, 2025, after Typhoon Kalmaegi hit overnight. / Credit: Alan Tangcawan/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 16:13 pm (CNA).

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) revealed emergency relief efforts in the Philippines began before Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall, thanks to a new law the humanitarian workers championed. 

“Together with the Tagbilaran City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and other local leaders, we worked on getting families evacuated and helped organize some community briefings,” said Jonas Tetangco, CRS Philippines country representative. 

“All of the work we were able to do before Typhoon Kalmaegi hit is in part due to recently-passed legislation,” he said. “RA 12287 is the world’s first national legislation that enables work to be done prior to a dangerous natural disaster. We are proud to have contributed to the legislation and thankful for the work it allows us to do, including help communities prepare for these kinds of events and minimize their impact.”

CRS also distributed shelter vouchers worth about $100 to nearly 500 families in Tagbilaran City. “These vouchers allowed families to buy materials to protect and reinforce their homes from the rain and strong winds,” he said.

After the typhoon swept through the Philippines earlier this week, CRS teams “traveled to the hardest-hit areas” and began working in tandem with Caritas Philippines “to evaluate the most urgent needs,” according to Tetangco.

Regarding conditions on the ground, Tetangco told CNA: “We’ve received several reports of roads and bridges that are still damaged and impassable. Local governments are managing evacuation centers, passing out food and water to families, trying to restore roadways, and working on getting power and phone lines back up and running.”

“Families here still need food, clean drinking water, hygiene kits, and emergency shelter materials like tarps and blankets,” he said, adding: “Families across the Philippines need prayers right now. The country has experienced several typhoons and destructive earthquakes.”

U.S. Border czar Tom Homan defended the morality of the Trump administration’s enforcement policies. / Credit: “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 15:13 pm (CNA).

Border czar Tom Homan strongly opposed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) “special message” on immigration, saying the statement would encourage people to make a dangerous trek to the United States.

Homan told EWTN News on Nov. 14 that the “Catholic Church is wrong. I’m sorry. I’m a lifelong Catholic. I’m saying it as not only a border czar. I’ll say it as a Catholic. I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church in my opinion.”

The bishops approved the message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12. “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the message said.

More than 95% of the American bishops voted to support the message. The bishops said in the message they “are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ” and “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.”

The bishops’ message cited Scripture such as Luke 10:30-37, referring to the good Samaritan who “lifts us from the dust,” and Matthew 25, in which “we see the One who is found in the least of these.” Floor debate on the measure included bishops’ discussion of “the One” referring to the face of Jesus Christ as seen in the migrant.

“The Church’s concern for neighbor and our concern here for immigrants is a response to the Lord’s command to love as he has loved us (John 13:34),” the statement said.

Homan said: “So according to [the bishops] the message we should send to the whole world is: ‘If you cross the border illegally, which is a crime, don’t worry about it. If you get … removed by a federal judge, that’s due process, don’t worry about it, because there shouldn’t be mass deportations.’” 

He added: “If that’s the message we send the whole world, people are still going to put themselves in harm’s way to come to the greatest nation on earth.” 

“We saw during the Biden administration, when there was no immigration enforcement, over 4,000 aliens died making that journey” and “40 million Americans died from fentanyl,” Homan said. Homan said he wants the Catholic Church to understand that secure borders save lives. 

U.S. bishops acknowledged the need for secure borders in their special message, writing: “We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.” 

Homan said: “We’re going to enforce the law, and by doing that, we’re saving a lot of lives. One of the reasons no one talks about why we have the most secure border in the history of this nation is because [of] exactly what ICE is doing.” 

“ICE has sent a message to the whole world: ‘Don’t give your life savings to come to [the] country, because you’re not gonna be released. You’re not going to cross [the] border illegally. You’re going to be prosecuted,’” Homan said.

President Donald Trump expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year.

Besides criticizing the bishops’ opposition to indiscriminate mass deportation, Trump administration officials also have condemned an “activist judge” who issued a temporary restraining order mandating cleanliness and hygiene standards as well as adequate legal representation at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Illinois. Court records, advocacy groups, and detainees’ reports have included claims about the stench of sweat, urine, and feces at U.S. immigration facilities, worm-infested slop, and an insufficient supply of menstrual products.

‘Worst of the worst’

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Nov. 14 statement to CNA: “DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists. 70% of illegal aliens ICE arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the U.S. This statistic doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc. The list goes on.”

McLaughlin said: “We are a nation of laws, and, as America’s largest law enforcement agency, DHS is committed to enforcing those laws, all of which are just. Lawbreakers should unquestionably be living in a ‘climate of fear and anxiety,’ that they will be caught and sent home.”

In San Bernardino, California, Bishop Alberto Rojas granted a dispensation in July from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those within the diocese who fear deportation. The Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, similarly indicated in May that “no Catholic is obligated to attend Mass on Sunday if doing so puts their safety at risk.”

Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 4 said: “Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now.” Leo invited authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of detainees.

He reminded that “Jesus says very clearly … at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked … how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is among the New York prelates who condemn the deportations of migrants who are seeking refugee status in the United States and criticize the government’s actions to strip some asylum seekers of temporary protected status in a Nov. 14, 2025, statement. / Credit: U.S. Department of Justice/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 13:58 pm (CNA).

The Catholic bishops of New York issued a joint statement that condemns the deportations of migrants who are seeking refugee status in the United States.

“We do not support the sweeping revocation of the temporary protected status that was granted to many migrants who arrived in this country to escape the horrors occurring in their own, and who have justifiably relied upon the legal protections our government offered to them,” the statement said.

“Such persons should not be subject to the arbitrary cancellation of their legal status and threatened with a sudden return to the troubled and dangerous nations from which they fled,” the bishops added.

The Nov. 13 statement, titled “For You Too Were Once Aliens,” was published by the New York State Catholic Conference (NYSCC). Every bishop who leads a diocese in New York, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan, signed onto the statement.

It comes one day after the USCCB issued a unified statement to oppose “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” More than 95% of the voting bishops agreed with the special message, with 216 voting to approve it, five voting against it, and three abstaining.

The New York bishops wrote that “many … refugee migrants have come to New York,” some of whom have been granted refugee status, asylum status, or temporary protected status, while others are given no legal status.

“Some have arrived from war-torn countries like Ukraine and Afghanistan; others from Central or South America have fled poverty, authoritarian governments, and drug cartels that made life in their country of origin dangerous for themselves and their families,” they wrote.

“Most of these migrants — the majority, our neighbors — are good people who arrived on our shores seeking a better life,” they added.

Former President Joe Biden expanded the temporary protected status program by adding six countries, including Venezuela, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. President Donald Trump has worked to remove this designation from nine countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan.

Bishops invoke Mother Cabrini

The bishops invoked St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, commonly known as Mother Cabrini, in their statement. She immigrated from Italy to the United States and “established, with God’s grace, numerous charitable institutions and schools to serve those finding their way in a new land,” the bishops noted. 

The statement cited Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, which says the Church “knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”

The bishops also cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches that prosperous nations “are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.” It adds: “Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”

In the statement, the bishops acknowledged that “sadly, as in any group, some have exploited the system and committed serious crimes and other misdeeds” and wrote “those immigrants or refugees who commit crimes should face the appropriate criminal and civil penalties, including deportation.” 

“At the same time, general enforcement of the immigration laws must be carried out in a humane manner that does not target the hardworking and law-abiding; that does not permit the wanton and unnecessary separation of families; and that does not rely on campaigns of fear that cripple whole communities,” they wrote.

The bishops called on the intercession of Mother Cabrini, who is the patron saint of migrants, and asked Catholics to sign onto the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) “The Cabrini Pledge,” which calls for solidarity with migrants.

“We seek her intercession for the concerns we have mentioned,” they wrote. “By joining us in signing the pledge, you commit your prayers and energy for the welcome, protection, promotion, and integration of migrants.”

null / Credit: Srppateros via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 12:04 pm (CNA).

While the Vatican issued new guidance that encourages limits on the use of certain Marian titles out of a concern that they may overstate the Blessed Mother’s role in redemption and mediation, the intra-Catholic debate on the subject has continued.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), issued a doctrinal note with the formal approval of Pope Leo XIV that reaffirms Mary’s “unique cooperation” in God’s plan for salvation but expresses worry about two titles sometimes employed to communicate her role: Mary as Co-Redemptrix/Co-Redeemer and Mary as Mediatrix/Mediator.

According to the doctrinal note, using the title “Co-Redemptrix” to explain Mary’s role “would not be appropriate.” The document’s language for the title “Mediatrix” was less harsh but says “if misunderstood, it could easily obscure or even contradict” Mary’s role in mediation.

The beginning of the document lays out a biblical foundation of Mary’s cooperation in salvation, beginning with her “yes” to the archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation through to her presence at the Passion and standing before Jesus Christ at the foot of the cross.

It explains Mary is not just “a passive instrument in the hands of God” but is “freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience,” citing Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church issued by the Second Vatican Council in 1964. This cooperation extends “throughout the life of the Church.”

Mary’s cooperation, however, should never be misconstrued to mitigate “Christ’s sole mediation … in the work of salvation” or suggest Mary’s role is equal to his, according to the doctrinal note. Due to the need of “explaining Mary’s subordinate role to Christ” when “Co-Redemptrix” is used, the doctrinal note asks Catholics to not use it at all.

“When an expression requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the people of God and becomes unhelpful,” the note adds.

The document further explains Mary’s subordinate mediator role but adds “special prudence is required when applying the term ‘Mediatrix’ to Mary.”

It adds: “We cannot talk of any other mediation in grace apart from that of the incarnate Son of God.” It warned of “a tendency to broaden the scope of Mary’s cooperation through this title” and asked Catholics to “specify the range of its value as well as its limits.”

Tom Nash, a staff apologist for Catholic Answers, told CNA that the document helps to clearly explain Mary’s unique subordinate role by avoiding titles that “blur proper doctrinal distinctions between the Blessed Mother and her Divine Son” in some cases.

“The DDF doctrinal note helps proclaim clearly Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel anew to a new generation, while also reaffirming his Blessed Mother as the Mother of God, our spiritual mother, and thus our great intercessor,” he said.

Nash said he expects to see “a shift away from using these Marian titles” from theologians. He said those inclined to use those titles will likely “make efforts to provide explanatory disclaimers if they do use them on occasion, as a means to preempt any doctrinal confusion.”

Frustration among some scholars

Not every Catholic academic has received the doctrinal note warmly, due to the long-standing historical use of both titles and an effort by some of the faithful for the Church to declare a fifth Marian dogma about Mary’s role in redemption and mediation.

Nash said he believes that effort “has been short-circuited” as a consequence of the doctrinal note.

Mark Miravalle, a theologian at Franciscan University and proponent of a declaration of a fifth Marian dogma, questioned the rationale of abandoning a title because it “has to be explained,” telling CNA that many teachings of the Church need deep explanations, including the Trinity, papal infallibility, transubstantiation, and currently defined Marian dogmas.

“I think that kind of begs the question of the Immaculate Conception and the [title] ‘Mother of God,’ which has to be repeatedly explained,” he said.

Miravalle said the doctrinal note has “understandably caused a lot of confusion” because “so many popes, saints, [and] mystics … have used the titles.” The document does note that St. John Paul II did use the term “Co-Redemptrix” but that Pope Francis was opposed to it, as was Pope Benedict XVI when he was still a cardinal.

Laurie Olsen, the author of the 2024 book “Mary & the Church at Vatican II,” also expressed reservations about the doctrinal note and emphasized that the title “Mediatrix” was included in the Second Vatican Council’s Lumen Gentium.

She told CNA the council fathers had an “in-depth theological discussion about the term” and its inclusion in the document was very intentional, despite a coordinated campaign to have it taken out.

Of the council fathers who expressed a clear opinion on the title “Mediatrix,” she said 87 opinions were submitted by 678 council fathers supporting it and 45 opinions were submitted by 540 council fathers opposing it, showing “a clear majority favors the term.” Additionally, she said 275 requested the language about Mary’s mediation be made stronger, which is “the single most requested change.”

Though “Co-Redemptrix” is not used in the council, Olsen said “mediation is the overall umbrella,” which includes “Mary’s role in the objective redemption.”

Both terms, Olsen said, respect the fact that Mary “is always subordinate to Christ,” which was always the understanding when they were employed. She said: “It is only because Christ is our redeemer that Mary is playing a part in his work.”

She does not think this will prevent theological discussions about the subject but rather said the doctrinal note “gives us an opportunity to continue to explore and clarify what we mean when we talk about Mary’s role in the redemption.”

Miravalle said he thinks the doctrinal note will likely “galvanize the movement” for declaring a fifth Marian dogma. He said the comment about the titles does not shut down any theological discussion about Mary’s unique cooperation in redemption and said the doctrines themselves are more important than the titles.

“I would hope that [this] would not be considered a final word,” he said. “Final words are usually reserved for dogmatic statements, which I think would be wonderful.”

Father Stephen Gutgsell. / Credit: Archdiocese of Omaha

CNA Staff, Nov 14, 2025 / 11:04 am (CNA).

An Iowa man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he pleaded guilty in October to stabbing a Nebraska priest to death in 2023. 

Kierre Williams last month pleaded guilty to the assault that claimed the life of Father Stephen Gutgsell. Williams broke into the rectory of St. John the Baptist Parish in Fort Calhoun on Dec. 10, 2023, and stabbed Gutgsell, who later died of his injuries at a hospital. 

Williams himself was arrested shortly thereafter. He originally argued that he was not guilty of the murder by reason of insanity before changing his plea to guilty last month. 

Washington County Chief Deputy Attorney Erik Petersen said in court this week that the murder “shattered the innocence” of the small town of Fort Calhoun.

“I’m hoping this court’s sentence will bring some peace to the citizens” of the town, he said, according to local media reports.

Gutgsell’s sister Therese Hupf, meanwhile, said in court that his family “cannot, even today, fully grasp his absence.” 

“He was stolen from his family and his parish family, who are hurting beyond words,” she said. 

Gutgsell’s funeral was held at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha followed by his burial at nearby Calvary Cemetery. He was 65 years old at the time of his death. 

The priest grew up in Omaha and attended the College of St. Thomas — now the University of St. Thomas — and St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota. He was ordained in 1984. In addition to his priestly ministries he taught adult education including Bible study, sacramental preparation, and Church history.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presides over the closing Mass of the National Eucharistic Congress in Lucas Oil Stadium on July 21, 2024, in Indianapolis. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, Nov 14, 2025 / 10:34 am (CNA).

In a move to renew a “long-lost tradition,” the U.S. bishops confirmed the next National Eucharistic Congress will take place in the summer of 2029. 

At the plenary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore on Nov. 12, the bishops voted to confirm the date for the country’s second National Eucharistic Congress of the 21st century. 

Last year’s National Eucharistic Congress, the first to take place on American soil since World War II, attracted tens of thousands of people for several massive sessions of Eucharistic adoration in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.

The event also featured numerous talks and workshops related to the Catholic faith and a 60,000-participant Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who chaired the first congress, said it was “a time of great grace for the Church in the United States.”

“I believe that continuing the transformational, unitive events every four years can continue to stoke the fires of revival and support the incredible work that you’re already doing in your diocese in evangelization,” he told the bishops at the plenary assembly on Nov. 12. 

Prior to 2024, the last Eucharistic Congress in the U.S. was held in 1941. Cozzens said holding two events so close is a bid to “resume our long-lost tradition of having a National Eucharistic Congress every four years.” 

“I believe that the Eucharistic Revival was a great gift to our country from the Holy Spirit,” Cozzens said. 

In December the bishops will publish findings on the “lasting fruit” of the three-year Eucharistic Revival that culminated in the Eucharistic Congress, according to Cozzens.

“It was a moment of unity, a moment of celebration, a moment of incredible grace, a moment of mission,” the bishop said. 

Many dioceses are seeing increased Mass attendance and rising OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) participation, Cozzens noted during the assembly. 

The revival was initially inspired by Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium on the proclamation of the Gospel in the world today.

“We were inspired by those two pillars of encounter and mission,” Cozzens said. “Pope Leo carries forth this missionary zeal, as he said on Corpus Christi of this year.”

The Austrian Parliament building is lit red as part of the international “Red Week” in honor of persecuted Christians across the globe. / Credit: Aid to the Church in Need

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

More than half a million people to participate in Aid to the Church in Need ‘Red Week’ 

Over 500,000 people will take part in Aid to the Church in Need International’s Red Week 2025, which will see churches and landmarks around the world illuminated in red to raise awareness of religious persecution internationally.

Set to take place Nov. 15–23, the global initiative is expected to see “over 10,000 direct participants for prayers, public events, school gatherings, concerts, and marches,” and to draw in “more than 500,000 participants through media outreach and online platforms,” according to an ACN International press release.

More than 100 events are scheduled around the world, including in Australia, Austria, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and more.

Catholic bishops in Ghana express closeness with stampede victims

Catholic bishops in Ghana have expressed their closeness with victims of a stampede at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra that left six people dead and several others injured during a Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Nov. 13. 

“We unite our hearts with the bereaved families in grief and lift our prayers to Almighty God for the eternal repose of the departed and the swift recovery of all who are injured,” Ghana’s Catholic bishops said in a statement following the Nov. 12 stampede.

Citing figures released by the acting minister of defense, Cassiel Ato Forson, the bishops noted that 34 casualties were recorded. Of these, six were reportedly confirmed dead, five were in critical condition, 12 were in fairly critical condition, and others were under observation.

Oman opens Catholic pastoral center in Muscat

Oman has inaugurated a new Catholic pastoral center in Muscat — an important sign of the country’s long-standing respect for religious diversity, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.

Built on land donated in 1977 by the late Sultan Qaboos, the center provides formation programs, catechesis, and housing for clergy.

Omani Ambassador Mahmoud al-Hassani said the project reflects the nation’s vision of peaceful coexistence and aligns with the Vatican’s mission of dialogue. The center also strengthens ties between Oman and the Holy See, which formally established diplomatic relations in 2023.

International contemplative congregation of sisters celebrates 200 years 

The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (RGS) officially concluded the yearlong celebration of their 200th anniversary on Nov. 11. The contemplative order was founded in 1825 by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Myanmar.

“I hope it rekindles in all of us a renewed openness to be shaped and made radiant by grace, so that together, as one congregation, and, as one people of God, we allow the fire of God’s love to warm, illumine, and shine through us into the heart of the world,” said Sister Joan Marie Lopez, RGS congregational leader, on her hope for the bicentenary year, according to Vatican News.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, presided over a Mass in Rome for the bicentennial celebration.

Christian families return to al-Ghassaniyah, Syria, after 13 years

After more than a decade of displacement, Christian families have begun returning to the village of al-Ghassaniyah in Idlib, Syria, ACI MENA reported Nov. 13. 

Their return was made possible by a firm government decision to remove foreign extremist groups and by sustained efforts from the Franciscan community. Although many homes are damaged or looted, residents spoke of renewed hope as the Church offered support for the first returning families. The development comes amid wider security shifts in the region and ongoing diplomatic efforts related to extremist fighters.

Typhoons, floods devastate Vietnam; Catholic communities respond 

The Catholic Church is calling for communities to respond after Typhoon Kalmaegi destroyed buildings across the Qui Nhon Diocese, including the house of the bishop and Lang Song Seminary.

“The main house of the Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross in Qui Nhon, the Congregation of the Handmaids of Jesus of Mercy, and many parish churches like Qui Nhon Cathedral and other churches throughout the diocese were severely damaged,” Fides News Agency reported. This comes after severe flooding the week prior, which left 13 dead, 34 injured, and 11 missing.

Maria Vu Thi Hong Anh, head of Da Nang Cathedral Parish Caritas, said in wake of the flooding: “Seeing the images of this historic flood, I feel very sorry for the residents in the rural areas; they are poor and now their life is much more difficult when losing their properties.”

Youth Encounter Triduum in Baghdad encourages holiness

The Catholic Youth Committee in Baghdad held a three-day gathering titled “Think, Discern, Decide,” bringing together young people from several dioceses, according to a Nov. 10 report from ACI MENA.

The event focused on the call to holiness, drawing inspiration from biblical teaching and modern Iraqi witnesses of faith such as Father Ragheed Ganni and other martyrs. Workshops, talks, and prayer times encouraged young participants to live holiness through everyday acts of love and commitment.

Catholic patriarchs and bishops open 58th session in Lebanon

Lebanon’s Catholic leaders gathered in Bkerke, Lebanon, for the opening of the 58th session of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops, ACI MENA reported. 

The meeting focuses on building a synodal Church that listens and acts with spiritual discernment.

Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi highlighted preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit and called for nationwide prayers and the ringing of church bells upon his arrival. Apostolic Nuncio Paolo Borgia noted that the papal visit will include meetings with all segments of Lebanese society.

A person detained is taken to a parking lot on the far north side of the city before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2025. / Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 13, 2025 / 18:26 pm (CNA).

The Catholic advocacy organization CatholicVote has released a report examining the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, concluding Christians must balance charity toward the immigrant with the common good of the receiving state.

The report, titled “Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscience,” comes on the heels of the special message on immigration released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at its fall plenary meeting this past week. 

“A faithful Catholic approach to immigration begins not with politics but with people. Compassion, hospitality, and solidarity with the poor are not optional virtues,” CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt said in a press release accompanying the report.

“They are at the center of the Gospel,” she added. “Yet, mercy and justice travel together. One without the other distorts both.”

The report by author Benjamin Mann labels the Biden administration’s border policies as “reckless” and credits them for resulting in human trafficking, sexual exploitation of immigrants without legal status, and rampant drug cartels. 

“Catholics who advocate strong but humane immigration enforcement are sometimes accused of disobeying their bishops or the pope, and even violating Church teaching,” the report states. “Properly speaking, there is no such thing as an official ‘Catholic position’ on the practical details of immigration policy.”

The report says that “despite what some Church leaders in America have indicated, a faithful Catholic can support strong and humane immigration law enforcement — by means such as physical barriers, detention, and deportation — without violating the teaching of the Church.” 

The report asserts that Catholic teaching on immigration has been distorted by “an ideological immigration lobby” within the Church that “has sought to present amnesty, minimal law enforcement, and more legal immigration as the only acceptable position for Catholics.” 

“This is not an act of disobedience or disrespect toward the Church hierarchy but a legitimate difference of opinion according to magisterial teaching,” the report says. 

“The truth is that faithful Catholics can certainly disagree with the anti-enforcement position — even if some bishops happen to share the policy preferences of these activists. Such disagreement is not a dissent from Church teaching,” the document continues, citing “recent popes” as having said the Catholic Church “has no ‘official position’ on the practical details of issues like immigration policy.” 

“Rather, our faith teaches a set of broad moral principles about immigration, and their application in public life is a matter of practical judgment for laypersons,” the report said.

The CatholicVote document further argues that “it is actually immoral in the eyes of the Church for a country to accept immigrants to the detriment of its own citizens,” citing paragraph 1903 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states: “Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, ‘authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse.’”

Paul Scherz briefs bishops about artificial intelligence at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2025. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 13, 2025 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

The U.S. bishops received a briefing on the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) from Paul Scherz at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

Scherz, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, has studied the ethics of AI. At the Nov. 12 meeting, Scherz highlighted some of his findings and shared how the bishops should approach the technology within their dioceses.

AI technologies “have great potential to contribute to human flourishing and the common good,” Scherz said. “But note that it would be a mistake to describe these programs as intelligent in the same way that humans are.”

“They lack consciousness and any kind of subjective relationship to the world. So as Pope Leo says, ‘The person is not a system of algorithms. He or she is a creature, relationship, mystery.’ Thus, despite their power and utility, they shouldn’t be called persons or truly intelligent,” he said.

“We’re made for a relationship as created in the image of the triune God. We don’t find our good alone,” Scherz said. “Instead, our individual flourishing is enmeshed with the flourishing of those around us. Together, we see the common good in our common life.”

AI in Catholic ministries

In his discussion, Scherz highlighted three Catholic ministries that can implement AI while also detailing the potential threats. 

The “largest Catholic ministry” AI can be implemented in is health care. Since “17% of U.S. patients receive care at a Catholic institution, it’s almost certainly the ministry in which the most non-Catholics interact with the Church,” Scherz said. 

“Through these health care institutions, the Church realizes Jesus’ call to heal the sick,” Scherz said. “Health care is also a sector of the economy that has seen a rapid adoption of AI technologies.”

“For the past decade, health care technology companies have sought to put the vast scores of data embedded in their electronic medical records to use and train AI,” Scherz said. “Insurance companies are using AI to help fix and complete claims that lack incorrect information.”

The issue is the “bias from lack of diversity in training data, such as early genomics studies largely containing research subjects who were middle-class and European descent,” he said.

While AI is used to improve diagnostics and enact greater efficiency, we must be wary of the “significant dangers,” Scherz said. “Anything that restricts basic access in a biased manner would be an offense against the equal human dignity emerging from our shared participation in the image of God.”

Also, “the algorithm cannot substitute a gesture of closeness or a word of consolation,” Scherz said. “Much of what practitioners do is not a pure analytic process. They negotiate with patients to accept care, maintain the spirits of people suffering from a chronic disease, and tinker with therapy so that they better fit the complicated lives of patients.”

“A second ministry heavily affected by AI are Catholic schools,” Scherz said. Education and technology entrepreneurs “are promising a future in which AI enables personalized education for every student.”

“In this vision, AI would be a personal tutor for each child, or at least develop learning plans tailored to the individual,” but AI cannot replace teachers, because they “do more than convey knowledge,” Scherz said.

Teachers “model essential human qualities and inspire the joy of discovery. This relationship of encounter is at the heart of true education. The teacher fosters virtues and serves as an exemplar,” he said.

He also highlighted the clear threat that students will abuse AI and use it to complete writing assignments. Scherz said: “This is a crisis for schools, especially those of the liberal arts curriculum like Catholic schools, because writing is not just about producing content. Writing essays forces a student to think, to organize ideas, to argue coherently.” 

Lastly, Scherz addressed AI in the pastoral field. He said: “There is increasing evidence that people are turning to chatbots for religious resources” and AI “is becoming a standard for religious authorities.”

“People are prompting AI, or developing AI applications, that frame their responses and act in the persona of God or a religious figure,” Scherz said. “People are using AI to develop spiritual inventories or to provide spiritual direction.”

“Catholic sites are using AI to provide laypeople with access to Church teaching,” Scherz said. He explained that pastors and parishioners using AI as a research tool to find interpretations of Scripture, catechism information, or doctrine could be beneficial.

For these Catholic AI systems to work, people must actually examine the source material provided. Scherz said: “Unfortunately, people tend to rely on the AI summary, and what starts as a research tool can frequently become more than that.”

AI companions “are incredibly dangerous, especially due to AI’s tendencies toward hallucination and psychosis,” Scherz said. Also “engagement with chatbots can prevent actual encounter with pastors, as people may feel their needs are meant by AI.”

AI “also raises concerns on the side of pastors,” Scherz said. “There are increasing reports of pastors using it for the spiritual aspect of their work, like writing homilies or preparing religious education materials.”

“The problem is that, as with writing in general, homilies are in part formative — shaping the pastor as he engages with Scripture,” Scherz said. “Totally abnegating this role to AI would undermine the authenticity of the pastor’s witness.”

“Technologies provide great opportunities, but also great dangers. They can lead to injustice, alienation, and deformation of character,” Scherz said. “At the same time, AI offers greater efficiency and new capacities for serving the common good.”

Scherz said: “The emergence of AI provides the Church with an evangelical opportunity … People are asking basic questions of what it means to be human for the first time in a long time” and “the Church can provide those answers.” 

Mercy Health Perrysburg Hospital in Perrysburg, Ohio. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2025 / 13:20 pm (CNA).

Catholic hospitals in the United States are explicitly forbidden from carrying out transgender-related surgeries on individuals who believe themselves to be the opposite sex, the U.S. bishops said this week.

The prelates, gathered at the plenary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore, voted on Nov. 12 to direct hospitals to “preserve the integrity of the human body” when treating individuals with gender dysphoria.

Such individuals often seek surgery to make their bodies conform to that of the opposite sex. But in updated guidance, the bishops said that while Catholic health care providers must employ “all appropriate resources” to mitigate the suffering of such patients, they can use “only those means that respect the fundamental order of the human body.”

The new rule makes into explicit USCCB policy what the bishops expressed in a doctrinal note in 2023 when they said Catholic providers must not take part in procedures that “aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex.”

The revised directives were hailed by the Catholic Health Association, which in a Nov. 12 statement said that the rules “reaffirm the Church’s teaching on the dignity of all persons and their right to life from conception to natural death.”

The revisions “clarify and affirm current clinical practices” and “are consistent with Catholic health care practice that does not allow for medical interventions that alter sexual characteristics absent an underlying condition,” the group said. 

The organization said Catholic health care providers would continue to treat those who identify as transgender “with dignity and respect.”

In their guidelines the bishops noted that it can be “morally permissible” to “remove or to suppress the function of one part of the body for the sake of the body as a whole,” though only in very limited circumstances, such as when a body part is diseased. 

In forbidding medical practices that “aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex,” the bishops cited the Vatican’s 2024 document Dignitas Infinita, which in part disallows “all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman.”

The USCCB’s guidance comes several months after the Trump administration moved to prohibit transgender procedures performed on children at U.S. hospitals. 

Multiple U.S. hospitals earlier this year ended their child transgender programs under pressure from the Trump administration. One watchdog group determined that doctors in the U.S. performed around 14,000 “gender transitions” on underage children between 2019 and 2023. 

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to prohibit hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements from performing transgender operations or providing transgender drugs to anyone under the age of 19.

An EWTN News analysis in 2024, meanwhile, showed that nearly 150 Catholic hospitals across the United States provided children with transgender drugs or performed gender-transition surgeries on them between 2019 and 2023.