St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church

Cardinal Christophe Pierre speaks to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado in Rome on Friday, April 25, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 14:26 pm (CNA).

Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre told bishops at the 2025 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly that the Second Vatican Council is “the key to understanding what Church we are called to be today and the reference point for discerning where we are headed.”

The French-born prelate has served as the Vatican’s nuncio, or chief diplomat, to the U.S. since 2016. He spoke Nov. 11 at the bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore highlighting the message of Vatican II and its mission of evangelization, education, and unity. 

In his address Pierre asked the bishops a two-part question: “Where have we been and where are we going?” Pope Leo XIV, in his new apostolic letter on education, asks the same question as he “urges education and communities to ‘raise your eyes’ and ‘know how to ask yourselves where you are going, and why,’” Pierre said. 

“This act of questioning, of examining the direction of our journey, is an essential part of Christian discernment,” Pierre said. “It’s something that every bishop must do when thinking about the Church and trusting in his care, and it’s something that we must do in our shared journey as shepherds of the Catholic Church in the United States.”

Two days after his election, Pope Leo told the cardinals: “I would like us to renew together today our complete commitment to the path that the universal Church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.” 

Pierre detailed multiple aspects that the Second Vatican Council offers to the bishops and the world today. It serves as “the self-description of the Church for our age.” In the words of popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, it was “the great grace bestowed on the Church in the 20th century.”

“The council offered us not a new faith but a new way of describing and living the one faith in the modern world,” Pierre said. “The vision of the council was a vision for the future — a prophetic orientation toward a world that was only beginning to take shape.”

“When the council fathers issued those texts, the churches were still full; the effects of secularization had not yet become deeply visible. Many of the realities that the council intuited had not yet manifested themselves in the life of the world or of the Church.

“For this reason, the council’s documents were not fully understood in their time. They were not a description of where the Church stood but a map drawn for the territory into which she was being sent.”

“Today, that territory is our daily experience,” Pierre said. “We now inhabit the world that the council foresaw — a world marked by profound cultural shifts, technological change, and a secularized mindset that challenges faith at its roots. Now is the time to unfold the council’s map and walk its path — to rediscover in those texts the light and courage needed to navigate this moment with fidelity and creativity.”

Pierre: Vatican II continues its path from Francis to Leo XIV

“When asked about a Third Vatican Council, Pope Francis replied that the time is not ripe, because we are still laboring to fully implement the second. His pontificate was marked not by innovation for its own sake but by a call to live more fully the vision of the council.”

“In his first apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, which Francis had begun, the Holy Father’s reference point continues to be Vatican II, this time as it addresses our mission among the poor. Recalling Pope Paul VI, who said that ‘the ancient parable of the good Samaritan served as the model for the council’s spirituality,’ Leo writes: ‘I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society.’”

“He says that ‘the Second Vatican Council represented a milestone in the Church’s understanding of the poor in God’s saving plan.’”

Catholic education and evangelization 

The nuncio detailed Catholic education and ecclesial renewal. Vatican II’s “teaching on worship, the mystery of the Church, the Word of God, and dialogue with the world converge in one vision: a Church rooted in faith, animated by hope, and engaged with humanity through love.”

Gravissimum Educationis remains “a sure guide,” Pierre said. “It affirmed the right of every person to an education ordered to truth and dignity, the role of parents as first educators, and the inseparable bond between faith and reason in forming the whole person.”

“Pope Leo now develops that heritage, urging educational communities to be builders of bridges, not walls — allowing reconciliation and peacemaking to become ‘the method and content of learning.’”

Leo urges “educational communities not just to impart skills but to heal relationships, form consciences, and choose not what is convenient but what is just,” Pierre said.

Catholic education remains one of the great “success stories” and “enduring strengths” of the Church in the United States, Pierre said. “Vatican II did not create this educational mission, but it gave it a new horizon: calling Catholic education to look outward, to engage a rapidly changing world, and to form disciples ready to bring the Gospel into new cultural and social contexts.”

Catholic education “continues to be a radiant witness of evangelizing hope; where it is neglected or narrowed, the light grows dim,” Pierre said. It “offers a window into the wider story of how the council’s teaching has been received across the Church in this country.”

Mission of the bishops 

“If we embrace this full inheritance of Vatican II — the educational, pastoral, and social dimensions alike — the Church in the United States can continue to be what she has so often been: a leaven within this nation, a sign of hope that transcends division, and a servant of the common good grounded in the dignity of every human being.”

Bishops have “a call to represent the Church of the council,” Pierre said. “In our priesthood and episcopal vocation, we are called to be men of communion — pastors who walk with the people of God rather than standing apart.”

Bishops have a mission in evangelization and ecumenism, and in their engagement with public life, he said. Bishops “are not chaplains to parties or distant commentators but shepherds who bring the breadth of Catholic social teaching into civic discourse in a way that transcends partisanship.”

Pierre once again asked the bishops: “Where have we been, and where are we going?”

“The council is not behind us; it stands before us, the map for our journey,” Pierre said. “We are a Church rooted in the grace of the Second Vatican Council; a Church still receiving and embodying its vision; a Church sent forth in unity, as disciples and shepherds, bringing hope, joy, and mercy to a world in need.”

“The council’s documents continue to form us and guide our discernment of this moment,” Pierre said. “Pope Leo XIV now carries that same vision forward, interpreting it anew for the world of today.”

“If we walk faithfully with him, we will be the Church the council envisioned: a pilgrim people, a sacrament of communion, a beacon of hope, and a servant of the poor — drawing, even now, new maps of hope for the generations to come,” the nuncio concluded.

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CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 13:44 pm (CNA).

Tennessee’s Catholic bishops issued a plea for mercy, calling for an immediate halt to the death penalty and its eventual abolition as the state prepares to execute Harold Wayne Nichols on Dec. 1.

Tennessee’s three bishops, Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Bishop David P. Talley of Memphis, and Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, as well as the Tennessee Catholic Conference issued a joint statement on Nov. 10 calling for an end to the death penalty in the state.

“The Catholic Church upholds the sacredness of every human life, even the life of one who is guilty of serious crimes,” the bishops wrote. “To take a life in punishment denies the image of God in which every person is made. The Gospel calls not for vengeance but for mercy.”

The bishops acknowledged that the Church has historically recognized the state’s right and duty to protect its citizens by sometimes employing the death penalty. However, the bishops wrote, “even in allowing for that possibility, Church teaching reflected the understanding that execution is permissible only when it is the sole practicable means to prevent further harm.”

“That understanding includes the recognition that even the most serious criminals retain an inherent dignity that must be respected, prompting the Church to limit the use of the death penalty as much as possible,” the statement says.

Nichols was convicted in 1990 of raping and murdering 21-year-old Karen Pulley, a student at Chattanooga State University, in 1988. During his trial, he expressed remorse and admitted to her rape and murder, and he said he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested, according to the Associated Press.

In the joint statement, the Tennessee bishops invoked Pope Leo XIV’s recent rebuke: “Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion’ but says ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life.”

“The death penalty extinguishes the chance for repentance and redemption,” they continued. “It closes the door that mercy would open. True justice protects life, even as it punishes wrongdoing. A culture of life cannot coexist with the machinery of death.”

“We pray for Karen and her family and friends,” they wrote in the statement.

Tennessee has scheduled four more executions for 2026. 

The statement comes amid growing scrutiny of Tennessee’s execution protocol. According to the AP, an independent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection process found that improper testing of the drugs led to prolonged suffering during executions.

“To oppose the death penalty is to affirm hope — that no one, even a person who has committed a grave crime, is beyond the reach of grace,” the statement concluded. “God’s judgment, not our retribution, has the final word.”

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley preaches during a Mass in the Oklahoma City cathedral in 2021. / Credit: Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City was elected to serve as the next president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a secret ballot on Nov. 11.

Bishops chose Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, to serve as vice president. Flores, who serves in the southernmost diocese in Texas, finished second in balloting for president. Coakley subsequently won a runoff.

Coakley, who was previously secretary of the USCCB, will serve a three-year term as president, succeeding the former president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio. The bishops held the election at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

He has a history of promoting a culture of life, opposing gender ideology, and supporting migrants.

The archbishop, who turned 70 years old in May, became a bishop in 2004. He has served in the Oklahoma City Archdiocese since 2011. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology.

Coakley’s defense of a culture of life is a continuation of Broglio’s leadership on the subject. Under Broglio, the bishops maintained that abortion is the “preeminent priority” in elections.

In 2022, Coakley praised Oklahoma lawmakers “for supporting pro-life measures” following a law that banned nearly all abortions. He said, to build a culture of life, one must recognize “the inherent dignity of every person [and it] requires the protections afforded by pro-life legislation and a profound change of heart.”

Coakley has criticized the Oklahoma government for its support of the death penalty. In 2022, he said: “The use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence.”

In 2023, he expressed concern about the rise of gender dysphoria and the promotion of gender ideology in American society. He provided advice to parents but criticized drugs and surgeries used to facilitate a gender transition.

Coakley has also criticized the mass deportation efforts taken by President Donald Trump’s administration. In February of this year, he said deportations are “creating fear and even distress for our immigrant, migrant, and refugee neighbors who have arrived in search of the same dreams that awaited many of our ancestors at a different moment in time.”

He also said in the statement that “illegal immigration is wrong, and renewed efforts should be considered to protect our nation’s borders.” He mentioned concerns about human and drug trafficking but said the majority of people who entered the country illegally “are upstanding members of our communities and churches, not violent criminals.”

Flores to serve as vice president

Flores is former president of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and was the only southern-border bishop in contention for the role of president.

Flores will serve a three-year term as vice president, succeeding the former vice president, Archbishop William Lori.

Flores, who is 64 years old, holds a doctorate in sacred theology and is a former theology professor. He has been a bishop since 2006. He was one of 12 bishops to serve on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Synodality and is a promoter of synodality in the Church. 

In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic. He has expressed concern about polarization in the Church and urged “civil conversation … to seek what is good and make the priority how to achieve it and how to avoid what is evil.”

null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).

An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.

From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.

Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.

Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”

The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”

U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”

“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”

“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said. 

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, speaks with EWTN News on Oct. 9, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).

Legislation that would provide protections for people lacking legal immigration status won endorsement from Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who has served as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration.

The bill (HR 4393), which would not lay out a direct path to citizenship, would give people who lack legal status the chance to earn it through labor and financial penalties if they lack a criminal record. It would apply to people who entered the United States before 2021.

The measure would authorize funding for border security and create centers for asylum seekers during consideration of their case. It would require asylum cases to be completed within 60 days.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, sponsored the measure, which she named the Dignity Act and first introduced in 2022. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, cosponsored the measure, along with 22 other members of Congress. No hearings or other legislative action has been scheduled.

Seitz, who is expected to address fellow bishops Nov. 11 about immigration, said in a joint statement with Salazar in August that he is “deeply grateful to Congresswoman Salazar, Congresswoman Escobar, and their colleagues for this sustained commitment to working across the aisle.”

Seitz said: “Pope Leo XIV has emphasized the responsibility of all political leaders to promote and protect the good of the community, the common good, particularly by defending the vulnerable and the marginalized. Under our current system, families across our nation are living in fear. Bipartisan proposals such as the Dignity Act are a step toward fulfilling the call made by our Holy Father to offer a better way forward — one that begins and ends with respect for the God-given dignity of every person.”

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, comprising over 42,000 affiliated churches, has endorsed the measure. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Immigration Forum, Business Roundtable, and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities also are backing the bill.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform has voiced opposition to the measure, saying it would forgive illegal entry and allow authorities to waive offenses such as certain controlled substance crimes and prostitution.

The group criticized the bill’s proposal to create the Dignity Program to provide a renewable seven-year grant of deferred action, saying it is likely that future legislation would attempt to provide a direct path to citizenship if “Dignity status” was granted.

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops’ spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. / Credit: USCCB

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 11, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Archbishop Timothy Broglio’s leadership of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) comes to an end Nov. 11 after a three-year term.

Broglio, the archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was elected to the office of president in November 2022. In his time, the USCCB has defended religious freedom and the right to life, opposed gender ideology, defended migrants, and promoted international peace.

The USCCB voting guide continued to highlight abortion as its “preeminent priority” through the Broglio presidency. Because the conference represents the Church in Washington, D.C., this led to tension with the presidency of Joe Biden, which overlapped with Broglio’s tenure.

When Biden told an EWTN reporter that “not all” of the Catholic bishops oppose tax funds for abortion, Broglio responded in 2023: “The Catholic bishops of the United States are united in our commitment to life and will continue to work as one body in Christ to make abortion unthinkable.”

The USCCB declined to deny Biden Communion over his abortion support. It sued the administration when it passed regulations to force employers, including religious groups, to accommodate women who are procuring an abortion. Enforcement was blocked by a judge.

During his time, the bishops also fought against an anti-discrimination rule. As president of the USCCB, Broglio frequently criticized gender ideology, saying efforts to change one’s gender are incompatible with Church teaching.

The USCCB issued annual religious freedom reports. Under Biden, the conference focused on issues related to abortion and gender. Under President Donald Trump, the bishops expressed more concerns over immigration policy jeopardizing religious freedom.

In this year’s report, the USCCB referenced Annunciation House, an El Paso, Texas-based nonprofit that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tried to shut down for “alien harboring” — an allegation they are contesting in the state Supreme Court.

The USCCB also sued the Trump administration over the decision to strip funding for refugee resettlements. The USCCB ultimately phased out its migration programs, which had been receiving more than $100 million annually under Biden.

Broglio said in June that “enforcement alone” is not the solution to immigration issues. He said: “The mass arrest and removal of our neighbors, friends, and family members on the basis of immigration status alone, particularly in ways that are arbitrary or without due process, represent a profound social crisis before which no person of goodwill can remain silent.”

The USCCB issued immigration reform guidelines in January, which said “a country’s rights to regulate its borders and enforce its immigration laws must be balanced with its responsibilities to uphold the sanctity of human life, respect the God-given dignity of all persons, and enact policies that further the common good.”

Broglio repeatedly encouraged the U.S. government to promote peace internationally, such as in conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The archbishop has also criticized the U.S. Army’s decision to cancel certain religious contracts, which he said is straining the archdiocese’s ability to minister to Catholics in the armed forces.

As Broglio’s term comes to an end, the bishops are set to decide the next conference president from a slate of 10 candidates on Nov. 11. The election takes place at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

Credit: Flamingo Images/shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Although school vouchers were not on any statewide ballot in recent elections, the legislative push for and implementation of voucher programs is growing throughout the country, particularly in Republican-led states.

While the programs continue to receive pushback from Democrats and teachers unions, traditionally conservative groups like home-schoolers and rural residents have been increasingly voicing their disapproval.

David Tamisiea, executive director for the North Dakota Catholic Conference, said in a recent presentation at the Society for Catholic Social Scientists conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville that he was surprised when he first encountered Catholic parents who opposed educational choice in the form of school vouchers.

He defined educational choice as “the idea that parents should have the freedom to choose the educational setting best suited to their child” and said that “to be truly free, these choices should be supported with public funding.”

Tamisiea said this freedom for parents to choose their children’s education was affirmed in a document issued during the Second Vatican Council known as Gravissimum Educationis, the “Declaration on Christian Education.”

“That’s where you find the most well known of its teachings, the idea that parents are the primary educators of their children,” Tamisiea told CNA. As primary educators, parents have the “fundamental and inalienable right to see to the education of their children, a right so fundamental it cannot be taken away by the state.”

“But it doesn’t mean the state has no role,” he said. 

Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a $1 billion voucher program that will begin in early 2026.

Residents in the 10-county district in rural west Texas represented by state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, opposed the program, however.

“In rural Texas, there’s not a whole lot of private school options, and we want our schools to get every dollar they can. This doesn’t add $1, and it’s not good for rural Texas,” Darby said last year of the voucher program.

The home-schooling community is divided on the idea of vouchers. Home-schooling families can spend thousands of dollars a year on books, sports, music lessons, and other classes, and some families would welcome seeing some of their tax dollars returned to them in the form of vouchers. 

Others, however, are opposed to accepting public funds. In Texas, home schooling is currently unregulated by the state and local governments. Home-schooling families worry that accepting taxpayer money in the form of vouchers will lead to government mandates and overregulation.

“We do have zero oversight, zero accountability, and we want to keep it that way,” Faith Bussey, president of Texans for Homeschool Freedom, told the Texas Tribune in 2023. The organization opposed the voucher program, calling it “a real threat to parental freedom.”

These fears are not unfounded. As the Heritage Foundation documented in 2024, Arizona’s voucher program launched in 2011 with $7,000 per student and zero curriculum mandates for home-schoolers. By year three of the program, the state required standardized testing and later added vendor preapproval and bans on “divisive concepts.”

Tamisiea acknowledged that there are legitimate concerns about state overreach but said those concerns should not mean that Christians should not support publicly funded educational choice programs like school vouchers.

“It’s a matter of both/and,” he told CNA. “Parents should fight for both rights. Fight for your right to receive funding from the state to support your choices as a parent, to teach your children the way you think is best, whether that is in private, charter, or home school, and fight for your right to be the primary educator of your children and not have that be interfered with by the state.”

Tamisiea, an attorney, said the “right of religious liberty is involved here as well. We have a right to exercise our faith and act according to our consciences in matters of education.”  

Regarding the concerns of rural parents, Tamisiea, who said he lives in a rural state, said it is a “harder question.”

“People in the rural areas feel left out because many don’t have the option of sending their kids to a private school because there aren’t any,” he said.

This is why he favors educational savings accounts (ESAs) over school vouchers. In states with ESAs, parents are given funds from the state that they can use for private school but also for tutoring, online classes, summer educational camps, and computer technology. 

Those who live in rural areas could therefore benefit from ESAs, Tamisiea said.

Kim Davis (at right) is pictured here in 2015, when she served as Clerk of the Courts in Rowan County, Kentucky. Citing a sincere religious objection, Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. / Credit: Ty Wright/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2025 / 18:12 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a request to overturn its 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage. 

Kim Davis, a Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk from 2015 through 2019, petitioned the Supreme Court in July to reconsider the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which legalized same-sex civil marriages nationally.

Davis requested the court also hear her case 10 years later after she made headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She served multiple days in jail for contempt of court for violating a judicial order to issue the marriage licenses.

Davis was ordered to pay more than $360,000 in damages and legal fees for violating a same-sex couples’ right to marry. After lower courts rejected her claim that the the Constitution’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion protected her in the case, she appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration did not weigh in on the case as the Supreme Court considered whether to take up the matter. The Supreme Court made the decision to reject the request on Nov. 10 and has made no comment on the matter. 

The issue with claiming violation to religious freedom is that Davis “was not acting as a private citizen, exercising her right to … religion, she was acting as a public official,” said Thomas Jipping, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. 

“The First Amendment applies differently with regard to the actions of public officials than private individuals,” said Jipping in a Nov. 10 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” Davis “was acting in her official capacity as a county clerk, and that’s a very different legal question.” 

Jipping said Davis’ situation was not the “right case” to reach the Supreme Court and reverse Obergefell v. Hodges because it was not a case in which someone challenged a state legislature’s law in conflict with the precedent.

Mary Rice Hasson, Kate O’Beirne senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA she agreed the case was not the right vehicle to reconsider the Obergefell decision.

“As Catholics, our energies will be better spent explaining and promoting the truth about marriage and sexuality to our children and fellow Catholics rather than hoping for a reversal of Obergefell,” Hasson said.

Many American Catholics support the legalization of same-sex civil marriages at about the same rate as the broader population. According to a 2024 Pew poll, about 70% of self-identified Catholics said they support same-sex marriage, which was slightly higher than the population as a whole.

Hasson said: “It’s a scandal that 70% of self-described Catholics support so-called same-sex ‘marriage.’”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator.”

The U.S. bishops gather in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2024, for their plenary assembly. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2025 / 17:52 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will select its president and vice president Nov. 11 during the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

Bishops will choose both positions from a slate of 10 candidates nominated by their fellow bishops. The incumbent president and vice president — Archbishop Timothy Broglio and Archbishop William Lori — will step down from their roles as their three-year terms expire.

To be elected, the bishop must receive a majority of the voting bishops. After the president is selected from the 10-person slate, the vice president will be chosen from the nine remaining candidates. Candidates for president include:

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Archbishop Paul Coakley already holds a leadership role in the USCCB, serving as the secretary.

Although the USCCB vice president is usually the front-runner, the 74-year-old Lori is ineligible for the role because he reaches retirement age next year. This was also the case for the vice president in the previous election in 2022, when the bishops chose then-Secretary Broglio. 

Coakley is 70 years old and has served in his archdiocese for nearly 15 years. He has been a bishop since 2004. He has a licentiate in sacred theology. 

The archbishop has defended a culture of life, speaking out against both abortion and the death penalty. In 2023, he wrote a pastoral letter in which he expressed concerns with the rise in gender dysphoria and the promotion of gender ideology. In February of this year, he criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts and also said countries have a right to protect their borders.

Bishop Robert E. Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota

Bishop Robert Barron may be the most well-known contender, particularly due to his media presence and Word on Fire ministry.

Barron chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth. He also serves on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. He has a master’s degree in philosophy and a licentiate in sacred theology.

Much of Barron’s career has focused on evangelizing the public and helping catechize Catholics, including youth. He has condemned the growing secularism and relativism in modern society and has called for Christianity to be more present in the public square. He has criticized gender ideology and abortion.

Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville, Texas

Bishop Daniel Flores, former president of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, is the only southern-border bishop in contention for the role of president, serving the southernmost diocese in Texas.

Flores, who is 64 years old, holds a doctorate in sacred theology and is a former theology professor. He has been a bishop since 2006. He was one of 12 bishops to serve on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Synodality and is a strong promoter of synodality in the Church. 

In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic. He has expressed concern about polarization in the Church and urged “civil conversation … to seek what is good and make the priority how to achieve it and how to avoid what is evil.”

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana

Bishop Kevin Rhoades is the chair of the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty and serves on an advisory board for Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. He has been outspoken on religious freedom issues and opposition to abortion.

Rhoades, who is 67 years old, became a bishop in 2004. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology and a licentiate in canon law. 

Rhoades has been critical of government policies that impose mandates related to abortion and contraception on religious organizations and businesses. In 2024, he said: “No employer should be forced to participate in an employee’s decision to end the life of their child.”

This year, his committee laid out concerns about bills that promote gender ideology which could threaten religious liberty in its annual report. It also expressed concerns about immigration policies when religious organizations, such as Annunciation House, are put in the crosshairs.

Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon

Archbishop Alexander Sample, who has defended pro-life values and the Traditional Latin Mass, has served as a bishop since 2013. 

The archbishop, who is 65 years old, has a licentiate in canon law. 

Sample has been a staunch opponent of abortion and last year criticized Oregon’s governor for creating an “appreciation day” for abortionists. He criticized “the idea that those who make a living ending innocent, unborn life should be publicly honored. He has strongly criticized gender ideology as well. 

The archbishop has celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass and has sought to follow the Vatican guidelines on those celebrations without causing major disruptions to Latin Mass communities. He has praised efforts to revive reverence and focus on the Eucharist. 

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Archbishop Nelson Pérez, who chairs the board of Catholic Relief Services, has sought to bring back lapsed Catholics, which includes outreach efforts to the youth and Latinos. 

Pérez is 64 years old and became a bishop in 2012. 

The archbishop this year announced a 10-year plan to bring lapsed Catholics back to Mass, which includes the creation of “missionary hubs” throughout the archdiocese. The hubs are meant to “address the distinct needs and priorities of the people living within the neighborhoods of that parish and beyond,” he said. 

Pérez has also called for solidarity with immigrants and expressed concerns about Trump’s mass deportation efforts. He strongly promotes pro-life values and criticizes abortion.

Bishop David J. Malloy, Diocese of Rockford

Bishop David Malloy, former chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, has promoted peace in international affairs and has been critical of abortion and euthanasia.

Malloy, who is 69 years old, became a bishop in 2012 and holds a licentiate in canon law and a doctorate in theology. 

The bishop has condemned the creation of and continued threat of nuclear weapons and urged the U.S. government to promote dialogue and peace amid conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. He has also expressed concerns about climate change and pollution. 

Malloy has consistently opposed abortion and praised the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. He has vocally criticized legislative efforts to legalize euthanasia in Illinois.

Archbishop Richard G. Henning, Archdiocese of Boston

Archbishop Richard Henning, who serves on the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs in the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, has promoted Eucharistic revival, criticized abortion, and called for Catholics to show solidarity with migrants.

Henning, who is 61 years old, became a bishop in 2018. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology and a doctorate in theology.

The archbishop celebrated a Mass at the National Eucharistic Congress last year and said the sense of unity with the Lord and with each other has been most powerful.

He has expressed concern about the increase in immigration enforcement and reiterated the USCCB’s call to show solidarity with migrants. In 2023, he urged Catholics to pray for the defense of unborn lives amid legislative efforts to support taxpayer funded abortion.

Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Archdiocese of Detroit

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, who has been a bishop since 2012, is vocal in support for migrants, has expressed concerns about climate change, and has restricted celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Weisenburger, who is 64 years old, holds a licentiate in canon law. 

The archbishop took part in a pro-migrant march this year that concluded at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. He authored an op-ed in America Magazine in which he criticized Trump’s plan for mass deportations and called for “a new approach to immigration policy must begin by recognizing the humanity of the immigrant.”

Weisenburger strongly promoted Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star: “We must not resign ourselves to just surviving a climate-disrupted world. We can and must stabilize the climate. But doing so will require the commitment of individuals as well as entire populations.

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis

Archbishop Charles Thompson, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, has spoken out against same-sex civil marriage, gender ideology and abortion, and supports the Eucharistic revival.

Thompson, who is 64 years old, was made a bishop in 2011. He holds a licentiate in canon law. 

The archbishop in 2019 stripped a Jesuit Catholic school of the label “Catholic” after it defied his order to not renew a contract for a teacher who was in a same-sex civil marriage. He praised the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and urged governments to pass laws to protect unborn life.

Thompson has emphasized the importance of reverence and adoration for the Eucharist, saying “it’s so important for us to understand that the Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.”

The fresco of St. Leo the Great, doctor of the Church, in the cupola of the Church of St. Maximus of Turin, Italy. / Credit: Renata Sedmakova/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2025 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

Throughout the last two millennia, the Catholic Church has only granted the title “doctor of the Church” to 38 saints, one of whom we celebrate today on Nov. 10: St. Leo the Great, the 45th bishop of Rome. 

Pope Leo I, who was the first pope to be remembered posthumously as “the great,” began his papacy in 440 and served until his death in 461. During his pontificate, he worked to clarify doctrines related to Christ’s human and divine natures.

The pontiff was a “pope-theologian, but he’s also known as a remarkable bishop,” Thomas Clemmons, a professor of Church history at The Catholic University of America, told CNA, adding that “theologian popes are rare.”

St. Leo’s papacy began nine years after the Council of Ephesus, which condemned Nestorius and the heresy of Nestorianism, leading many of Nestorius’ followers to schism. The heresy rejected the close union of Christ’s human and divine natures and rejected the Marian title of “Theotokos,” or God-bearer, claiming that Mary only gave birth to Christ’s human nature.

Rising out of the Nestorian schism were more Christological conflicts over the relationship between Christ’s humanity and divinity. Eutyches, an opponent of Nestorius, went too far in the opposite direction, claiming that Christ’s human and divine natures were fused into one single nature. His human nature, Eutyches claimed, was “dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea.”

This heretical understanding, according to Clemmons, turned Christ into a “third thing” or a “kind of monster” rather than the Catholic understanding of Christ as “one Person” with “complete and true humanity and complete and true divinity.”

To combat Eutyches’ error, Pope Leo wrote a letter to Flavian I, the archbishop of Constantinople, which clarified the hypostatic union of Christ’s distinct human nature and distinct divine nature. The letter, which became known as “Leo’s Tome,” is the pontiff’s most famous work and set the stage for defining Christological doctrines at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. 

“Both natures retain their own proper character without loss: and as the form of God did not do away with the form of a slave, so the form of a slave did not impair the form of God,” Pope Leo wrote in the letter. 

“From the mother of the Lord was received nature, not faultiness: nor in the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin’s womb, does the wonderfulness of his birth make his nature unlike ours,” the letter continued. “For he who is true God is also true man: and in this union there is no lie, since the humility of manhood and the loftiness of the Godhead both meet there.”

In emphasizing the fullness of Christ’s human nature in the letter, Leo cites the genealogy of Christ listed in the Scripture, along with his human experiences, particularly suffering and death on the cross: “Let [Eutyches] not disbelieve [Christ is a] man with a body like ours, since he acknowledges [Christ] to have been able to suffer: seeing that the denial of his true flesh is also the denial of his bodily suffering.”

Leo emphasized the words of the Creed when emphasizing the fullness of Christ’s divine nature, stating: “Not only is God believed to be both Almighty and the Father, but the Son is shown to be co-eternal with him, differing in nothing from the Father because he is God from God, Almighty from Almighty, and being born from the Eternal One is co-eternal with him.” 

The pontiff bolstered his argument with citations from Scripture that point to the fullness of Christ’s divine nature and the fullness of his human nature. 

“To be hungry and thirsty, to be weary, and to sleep, is clearly human,” Leo said. “But to satisfy 5,000 men with five loaves, and to bestow on the woman of Samaria living water, droughts of which can secure the drinker from thirsting any more, to walk upon the surface of the sea with feet that do not sink, and to quell the risings of the waves by rebuking the winds, is, without any doubt, divine.”

Clemmons praised “Leo’s Tome” as a “simple and clear text” that is “very readable and very instructional now,” even more than 1,500 years later. 

At the time, however, the letter was met with hostility from supporters of Eutyches’ position in Constantinople: “[It was] sent there, read aloud, and they rejected it,” Clemmons said. Emperor Theodosius II convened the faux Second Council of Ephesus in 449, which rejected St. Leo’s letter and defended Eutyches. The supporters of Eutyches brutally assaulted Archbishop Flavian I for defending St. Leo’s position, deposed him, and sent him into exile. He died from his injuries.

St. Leo referred to the council as the “Latrocinium,” the “robber council,” and in 451 the Church convoked the Council of Chalcedon, which defined clearly the hypostatic union of Christ’s human and divine natures and rejected the Second Council of Ephesus.

Chalcedon Council documents cite Leo’s letter and affirm his teachings on the two natures of Christ, stating that Christ “must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united] … without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union.”

When speaking to a general audience in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI referred to St. Leo the Great as one of the greatest popes in the history of the Church.

“As the nickname soon attributed to him by tradition suggests, he was truly one of the greatest pontiffs to have honored the Roman See and made a very important contribution to strengthening its authority and prestige,” Benedict said.

This story was first published on Nov. 10, 2023, and has been updated.