The Catholic Church in East St. James Parish

A Planned Parenthood facility in Minneapolis. / Credit: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 14, 2025 / 17:29 pm (CNA).

In a recently released report, Charlotte Lozier Institute found that life-affirming women’s health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 15 to 1.

As pro-lifers look to federally defund Planned Parenthood, the policy and research institute developed a comprehensive report of life-affirming community health centers across the country. 

The institute, which is the research arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America, launched “Real Choices,” which documents the number of federal qualified health centers in each state.

Designed to highlight the work of life-affirming clinics, the webpage reflects the reality that these clinics outnumber Planned Parenthood locations.

The report found more than 8,800 community health centers that offer women’s health services in comparison with the 579 Planned Parenthood locations in the U.S. 

Of the community health centers, 5,500 are federally qualified and receive funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration for primary care for underserved populations. 

Planned Parenthood, meanwhile, received nearly $700 million in taxpayer funding in 2022 with a record-high number of abortions approaching 400,000, the report noted. 

Even in some of the most pro-choice states in the nation, life-affirming health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities. For instance, in the state of Colorado, there were 135 community women’s health centers and 14 Planned Parenthood locations. In New York, there were 327 health centers and 52 Planned Parenthood locations. 

The main author of the research, Senior Research Associate Tessa Cox, said that “women deserve comprehensive care from providers who offer real health care, not abortion.”

Nearly 70% of women who have had abortions “described them as unwanted or inconsistent with their preferences and values,” Cox said in a statement shared with CNA.

The report found that nearly 97% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy resolution services were abortions, and for every one adoption referral, Planned Parenthood provided 187 abortions. 

“Their business is abortion,” Karen Czarnecki, executive director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, said of Planned Parenthood. 

“Planned Parenthood isn’t meeting the needs of these women, especially considering recent reports of botched services,” Czarnecki said in a statement shared with CNA.

Czarnecki cited a recent story from The New York Times that details “failed abortions, misplaced IUDs, and inadequately trained staff” allegedly at Planned Parenthood locations around the country. 

“This report makes one thing abundantly clear: Women aren’t receiving comprehensive medical care at Planned Parenthood, despite what the abortion lobby claims, because their business is abortion,” Czarnecki said.

The report found that there are more than 3,000 women’s health clinics in rural areas, meaning there are more than five times as many rural clinics as Planned Parenthood clinics in total. Rural health clinics receive funding from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure care is available in rural areas with health care shortages, according to the report.  

For instance, in Vermont, which has the highest rural population in the country, there are eight Planned Parenthood clinics, but there are 35 community women’s health centers. 

According to the report, 60% of rural Americans are served by rural health care locations, and federally qualified health centers serve 1 in 10 Americans. 

“Women, especially ones in underserved areas, deserve access to quality health care,” Czarnecki said. 

“We know that many women are looking for better options,” Cox added. “Community health centers give those options, providing care in underserved communities and filling critical health care gaps.”

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage passes southwest of Omaha, Nebraska, on June 21, 2024. / Credit: Kate Quiñones/CNA

CNA Staff, May 14, 2025 / 15:56 pm (CNA).

Young men and women preparing to take part in the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage spoke at a Tuesday press conference about their preparation and excitement for the 3,300-mile pilgrimage, set to kick off in Indianapolis this Sunday.

The 36-day pilgrimage, which will likely attract thousands of participants to walk with and adore Christ in the Eucharist, is a response to the cultural and spiritual needs of today, said Leslie Reyes-Hernandez, a pilgrim and a high school algebra teacher from Phoenix. 

“If anything, I think this [pilgrimage] is an invitation for something that the world is hungry for, and the Eucharist is our anchor, and the pilgrimage is a public expression of hope,” she said. 

Reyes-Hernandez is one of eight young pilgrims who will seek to publicly witness to the truth that Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament by accompanying the Eucharist the entire route from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, crossing through 10 states and taking part in numerous special events. 

The pilgrims will be accompanied by a rotating group of priest chaplains, and any person wishing to join for small portions of the route will be able to sign up to do so for free.

Preparation for the once-in-a-lifetime walking pilgrimage experience has involved both spiritual and practical aspects, and the pilgrims said they hope the experience will have a lasting impact on their own lives and enable them to continue sharing their faith with others. The team has convened for weekly formation meetings to prepare spiritually and build team cohesion.

Rachel Levy, who works for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis serving Catholic young adults, described preparing “spiritually, just trying to keep a consistent prayer life,” attending daily Mass, and spending time in adoration. Practically, she’s been “trying to get out and walk a little bit more than normal,” getting prepped for the upcoming extended periods of time outside and getting some “good walking shoes.”

Asked what the Eucharist has done for her in her life, Levy recounted a moment in adoration in front of the tabernacle where, feeling “unworthy” and “unequipped” for ministry due to past brokenness, she experienced a profound sense that the Lord “loved me just as much in the worst of the worst of my sin as he did in that moment that I was sitting in front of the tabernacle, and that he loves us each each moment of every day the same no matter what we’re doing. His love is constant.” 

Johnathan “Johnny” Silvino Hernandez-Jose, who resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and helps run his family’s construction company, said he anticipates challenges during the pilgrimage experience: “walking every day, talking every day, lack of sleep.” He described a previous walking pilgrimage experience at World Youth Day 2023 in Portugal that touched him deeply. 

“Emotionally, maybe we’ll get a little drained,” he noted, anticipating the intensity of constant interaction during the pilgrimage and the need to manage social energy. He also mentioned overcoming personal shyness and not taking any perceived shortfalls too hard on himself. Ultimately, though, he said he sees the pilgrimage as a “walk with Christ, the trust that we put with him and the love that we have for him.”

“The root of this is spiritual,” Hernandez-Jose continued. “I think when anything comes our way, these challenges, I think all we could do is really trust God and just pray with each other. And honestly, for me, what I like to do is just offer it up, you know?”

Stephen Fuhrmann, a prospective Texas A&M University graduate, said he is excited to start the pilgrimage and, with his fellow pilgrims, “just be thrown into a van and just have to live life together with Jesus, and what a beautiful thing that will be.”

Fuhrmann said he was inspired by the witness of 2024 pilgrim Charlie McCullough, who is returning as team leader for 2025. He looks forward to getting to know “each other’s stories and each other’s lives and how each of us have encountered Jesus in a very special way.”

“Then, also, to take that to the people we encounter and the people who we want to show who Jesus Christ is in the Eucharist, it’s just extremely exciting,” Fuhrmann said.

Arthur “Ace” Acuña, who works in campus ministry at Princeton University, was drawn to the pilgrimage by the pivotal role the Eucharist played in his own reversion to the faith and his desire to “see Jesus do what he does best, which is draw all things to himself.” 

He said he looks forward to “seeing people fall in love with him ... fall in love with the Eucharist and the love that he’s offering them, because he’s passing by. And just like in the Gospels, he encountered so many people.”

Acuña also emphasized the importance, especially during the Church’s ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope, of carrying Jesus not only into cities and rural areas but also into prisons and other places that experience suffering or isolation, seeing it as a “testament to the fact that Jesus wants to encounter everyone” and bringing healing and “light into the dark places.”

Frances Webber, originally from Virginia but currently living in Minnesota, is a senior in college studying theology and business. She said she hopes, through the pilgrimage experience, to reach those questioning their faith and remind them that “Jesus doesn’t want to disappoint you; he’s not going to disappoint you.”

How to take part

The 2025 pilgrimage begins Sunday, May 18, with an opening Mass at St. John’s Parish in Indianapolis. This year’s pilgrimage is a continuation of last year’s unprecedented four simultaneous Eucharistic pilgrimages, which started at the edges of the country and eventually converged in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress in July 2024.

The 2025 Drexel Route, named for St. Katharine Drexel (1858–1955), will take the procession through 10 states — including the country’s two most populous, California and Texas — as well as through 20 Catholic dioceses and four Eastern Catholic eparchies.

Masses at stops along the way, which include numerous shrines and cathedrals, will be offered in various languages and liturgical styles, including the Traditional Latin Mass, Gospel choir, praise and worship, Vietnamese, and Spanish, representing five different rites of the Church.

In keeping with the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope in the worldwide Catholic Church, the focus of the Drexel Route is on “hope and healing,” with visits planned not only to churches but also to prisons and nursing homes.

Service projects and encounters with the poor and those in need are planned, including opportunities to serve the homeless, visit hospice facilities, and participate in a service project with Catholic Charities.

Special Masses and prayers will be offered for the Wichita, Kansas, plane crash victims; at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial; at the southern border; and in areas impacted by wildfires in Los Angeles. Numerous holy men and women have ties to planned stops, such as the tomb of Venerable Fulton Sheen in Illinois and the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City.

The schedule of public events for each diocese along the Drexel Route is now officially available on the National Eucharistic Congress website. Prayer intentions for the Perpetual Pilgrims to carry with them on their journey can be submitted here.

Pope Leo XIV speaks to the College of Cardinals in Rome on Saturday, May 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, May 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Catholics around the world continue to celebrate the election last week of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States. In addition to being a natural-born American citizen, Leo is also a naturalized citizen of Peru, having ministered there for decades. 

His election as pope raises several interesting questions from a nationality law perspective. Chiefly: can a U.S. citizen become king of a foreign country and still remain an American citizen? 

The pope is, after all, an absolute monarch; he possesses, as the Vatican’s Fundamental Law explains, “the fullness of the power of government, which includes the legislative, executive, and judicial powers” of the Vatican City State — a sovereign country that maintains relations with over 175 other nations — and the Holy See, which is the central governing authority of the Church. 

Paul Hunker, an American immigration attorney and a Catholic, told CNA that U.S. federal law — specifically 8 U.S. Code § 1481 — spells out some very specific conditions under which a U.S. citizen can lose his or her citizenship.

These can include committing an act of treason, obtaining naturalization in a foreign state, and, crucially, accepting a position as a foreign head of state. The key, though, is that in order to be “expatriating,” these things must be done by a person voluntarily and with the intention of relinquishing their U.S. nationality.

The U.S. State Department says it generally presumes that U.S. citizens, even if they accept a foreign government post, want to keep their citizenship unless “clearly and credibly” established otherwise. 

Hunker said in the pope’s case, Leo would likely need to affirm an intention to renounce his citizenship directly to a consular officer at the U.S. embassy in Rome — something Leo has not signaled any intention to do.

“I think unless he comes forward and says, ‘I have the intention of relinquishing my U.S. nationality,’ then he is not considered to have lost his U.S. citizenship,” Hunker said. 

“At a deep level, I think it says something great about our country: When you’re born here, the government can’t kick you out — unless you affirmatively say that you’re renouncing your citizenship.” 

However, the State Department does go on to say that it may “actively review cases in which a U.S. national is elected or otherwise appointed to serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister,” as such cases “raise complex questions of international law, including issues related to the level of immunity from U.S. jurisdiction that the person so serving may be afforded.”

Whatever ultimately transpires regarding Leo’s U.S. citizenship, Pope Leo will potentially have to continue filing a tax return with the IRS as an American citizen living abroad — another potentially complex oddity that is uncharted territory since Poland, Germany, and Argentina, the homelands of the last three popes, don’t tax their citizens abroad. It might require a private letter from the IRS or a specific law from Congress addressing Leo’s situation, the Washington Post reported.

But what about Leo’s Peruvian citizenship? Under the Peruvian Constitution, Peruvian nationality — even if obtained through naturalization — is not lost except by express renunciation before a Peruvian authority. Thus, the status of Leo’s Peruvian citizenship is similar to that of his U.S. citizenship: He’ll likely keep it unless he specifically chooses to renounce it. 

So now that he’s the pope, does Leo also have Vatican citizenship? Yes and no. 

Andrea Gagliarducci, a Vatican analyst for CNA, said Leo would already have had a Vatican passport, as every cardinal and curial official is given one as part of their office; possessing the passport gives them what is known as “functional citizenship.” 

However, Gagliarducci noted that under canon law, it’s not really accurate to say that the pope is a “citizen” of the Holy See, because the Holy See and the pope are one and the same. 

“The pope is not [a] citizen, he is the whole Holy See,” Gagliarducci explained. “The pope does not need a passport nor a citizenship, because he is the source of every citizenship.”

Given Leo’s broad new temporal powers as pope, there would appear to be no reason he couldn’t maintain his other citizenships if he wanted to — there’s even precedent for this, as in 2014 Pope Francis renewed his Argentinian passport, though Francis never returned there during his 12-year pontificate. 

For his part, Gagliarducci said Francis’ maintenance of his Argentinian citizenship was simply “not necessary.” 

“I mean, there is no harm in keeping the passports, but they are no longer needed and useful. The Vatican gives you a passport and lets you retain all of your citizenship along with that passport,” he said. 

“[But] you cannot consider the pope a Peruvian, a U.S. citizen, or whatever. He is the Holy See. This is different; it is another world.”

Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2025 / 16:49 pm (CNA).

Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and other Catholics on Monday spoke at the Minnesota Capitol, where they urged lawmakers to continue allowing unauthorized immigrants access to MinnesotaCare, a state-funded program that provides health care to low-income families.

Kenney told CNA that unauthorized immigrants “are brothers and sisters, and we need to care for all people. Basic health care is an important feature of who we are as Christians, as Catholics ... We’re not advocating for free health care for undocumented but simply access to it.”

The Minnesota Catholic Conference lobbied for the establishment of MinnesotaCare, which in 1992 began providing coverage for low-income working families who earn above the Medicaid threshold (known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota).

In 2023, the social safety net was expanded to include unauthorized immigrants. Some Republicans are advocating for their removal from the program, however, to reduce costs and deter migration to the state now that enrollment has exceeded projections.

Minnesota Republican Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen posted a statement on the state’s Senate Republican Caucus website on Monday calling for “a commonsense amendment” that allocates taxpayer dollars toward nursing homes rather than health coverage for migrants who are in the country illegally. 

“The cost to taxpayers so far is $134 million, and it’s rising fast,” Gruenhagen said. “At this rate, we’ll soon be spending over $600 million on this program, with zero federal match. Every dollar is coming directly from you, the taxpayers of Minnesota.”

As of April 24, data from the state Department of Human Services shows 20,187 illegal immigrants enrolled in the program, which operates on a fee-for-service model, according to a local Minnesota Reformer report. “DHS says it has received 4,306 claims for service, costing Minnesota $3.9 million,” the report states, noting the figure is almost $1 million over the state’s projected cost for the program by that date. 

Kenney acknowledged Republican lawmakers’ concerns but said “[we can] work this out so that it’s not an additional expense on the state of Minnesota as they’re trying to cut their budget, as a way of caring for people ... who can’t afford health care.” 

The Minnesota House of Representatives is evenly split 67-67. The state’s lawmakers are working to pass the budget before June 30 to avoid a July 1 government shutdown. 

In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives will debate a bill in committee this week that, among other changes, would penalize states that provide health care to unauthorized immigrants.

Kenney noted that bill but stressed that “we can’t make decisions out of fear of repercussions, we need to make them out of love for our fellow men and women, our fellow brothers and sisters … I’m hoping that the Holy Spirit touches some hearts.” 

Former United States Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney speaks to “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Catherine Hadro on Monday, May 12, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2025 / 14:48 pm (CNA).

Former United States Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney said this week that he believes Pope Leo XIV’s relationship with America will “be very powerful.” 

Speaking to “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Catherine Hadro on Monday, Rooney — also a former U.S. representative — said that Leo will be a “fantastic pope” because he “can communicate with people in a very clear but nonthreatening way.”

“People will hear his message, and he will inspire people,” Rooney said. 

Rooney and the pope became friends when “Father Bob,” as Rooney used to know him, began to join meetings at an Augustinian school of which Rooney was on the board.

“He was always very insightful in his comments,” Rooney said of the pope, born Robert Prevost. 

“He’s not complicated,” Rooney said about Leo, “but he’s super smart.”

Rooney previously lived in Rome while serving as the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. He held the position from 2005 to 2008, which overlapped with Pope Leo XIV’s time as head of the Augustinian order. 

Rooney said they saw “an awful lot” of each other. 

“He did a great job running the order,” Rooney said. “The Augustinian order hasn’t had many of the problems that some other orders have had … I attribute it to good management, like Father Bob.”

As a former U.S. representative for Florida’s 19th congressional district, Rooney also has a diplomatic view of what an American pope may mean for the Church.

“Human rights and human dignity” are the issues that “need to be at the top of the agenda” if Pope Leo XIV and the United States collaborate, he said.

Pope Leo XIV’s American roots will allow him to “be a bridge builder between Europe, Asia, Latin America, as well as the United States,” Rooney said.  

He “can inspire young people” and “inspire our Hispanic community,” he said, arguing that such efforts can “generate more Catholics.”

An American pope “will stimulate people to be more active in the Church, and maybe some to come back, and maybe some to join up,” Rooney said. 

Pope Leo XIV’s time in Peru and ability to speak Spanish and Portuguese will “enthuse some of our Latin Catholic community, a lot of whom have become Protestants,” Rooney said. “Maybe we’ll get them back.”

“I think that Pope Leo will continue to enthuse young people to consider participation in the Church,” he added.

A Planned Parenthood facility in Indianapolis. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 13, 2025 / 14:18 pm (CNA).

Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report shows a rising number of abortions and increasing federal funding for the abortion giant while other programs such as cancer screening and prevention services decrease.

Released on Mother’s Day, Planned Parenthood’s 2023-2024 annual report, titled “A Force for Hope,” revealed that the organization provided 402,230 abortions over the year, an increase of nearly 10,000 abortions from the previous year’s report and a record high in the abortion giant’s history.

As abortions increased, taxpayer funding increased as well. Public funding for Planned Parenthood was up by about $100 million from the previous year’s report. At $792.2 million, taxpayer dollars made up nearly 40% of Planned Parenthood’s revenue.

Amid the rise in abortions, Planned Parenthood also provided fewer health care services, with 45% fewer UTI treatments, 13.7% fewer primary care visits, and 8.1% fewer cancer screenings year over year.

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, said this decrease was “consistent with broader long-term trends.” 

“During the past 10 years, Planned Parenthood has done 54.4% fewer cancer screenings and 62.8% fewer prenatal services,” New told CNA. “Meanwhile the number of abortions that they have performed has increased by over 22%.”

Taxpayers “are paying more money for more abortions and less health care,” New said. 

Citing data from the report, the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that almost 97% of women “seeking help related to their pregnancy at Planned Parenthood” were “sold an abortion” rather than health care.

Meanwhile, prenatal services, miscarriage care, and adoption referrals accounted for about 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services, according to the institute.

With various states strengthening their life-affirming laws, some women have sought abortion in other states. Planned Parenthood reported that it provided affiliates with $3.4 million in travel assistance for more than 12,000 patients seeking abortions. 

Planned Parenthood also highlighted its legal team’s efforts to block laws that protect unborn children, highlighting pro-abortion victories in Iowa and Arizona. The report also hailed Kamala Harris as the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion facility.

Pro-life voices call for defunding of Planned Parenthood

The report “heightens the urgency to defund Big Abortion,” stated Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a pro-life network dedicated to ending abortion. 

“As community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 15 to 1 nationwide and offer far more comprehensive care, including for Medicaid patients, Americans have real choices and much better options,” the statement read. 

Planned Parenthood reported more than $2 billion in income and $2.5 billion in net assets in the annual report.  

New said the report “clearly shows that Planned Parenthood continues to prioritize abortion over health care.”

“From a Catholic perspective it is frustrating that the taxpayer dollars from countless faithful Catholics go to an organization that funds abortion, contraception, transgender treatments, and other activities that weaken families and undermine a culture of life,” New told CNA. 

“It is my hope that Congress will take the lead of many states and defund Planned Parenthood during this budget cycle,” New continued. 

Abby Johnson, a former director of Planned Parenthood turned pro-life activist, called the report “sickening.”

Continued government funding for Planned Parenthood “is beyond reason,” Johnson said in a statement shared with CNA.

“The blatant disregard for human dignity in all its forms that Planned Parenthood ardently supports — from the unborn baby to the mom to their own employees — is revolting,” Johnson said.

Jeanne Vath Ory receives her Regina Matrum Award after a special vigil Mass was celebrated by New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond at her home parish, St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace, Louisiana, on May 12, 2025, the day after Mother’s Day. / Credit: Kim Roberts

CNA Staff, May 13, 2025 / 12:12 pm (CNA).

A Catholic mother of 10 and grandmother of 30 was honored by New Orleans’ Archbishop Gregory Aymond during a special vigil Mass on May 12.

Jeanne Vath Ory was selected as the 2025 recipient for the “Regina Matrum” or “Queen of Mothers” award, a decades-long tradition in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. 

Established in 1947, the Regina Matrum Award is designed to honor a Catholic mother each year and to highlight the ideals of Catholic motherhood and family life. 

Kim Roberts, the current chairman of Regina Matrum and former president of the Council of Catholic School Co-operative Clubs (CCSCC), said that every year when they give the award, the recipient is surprised. 

“They’re all so humble, and they’re always so surprised,” she recalled.

This year’s recipient didn’t even get out of her pew when her name was called. 

“She really didn’t know. She was looking around the church like, ‘Who are they talking about?’ Everybody knew it was her,” Roberts told CNA. 

When Ory was selected at her parish on Palm Sunday, it brought tears to her eyes. 

Over the years, Ory has served the local church in various committees, ministries, and outreach programs. She also co-founded the Rosary Congress at her parish — a ministry that has continued for more than a decade.

Ory even has a family connection to the award. She is the granddaughter of the sixth Regina Matrum recipient Florence Dunn Vath and niece of Theresa Vath Bourgeois, who received the award in 2000. 

The special vigil Mass celebrated by the archbishop took place at Ory’s home parish, St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace. 

Why an award for mothers?

“Regina Matrim, at its core, is just to highlight a woman from the archdiocese here in New Orleans who is a shining example of Catholic motherhood,” Roberts explained. 

“It doesn’t always have to be the lady that’s out front all the time but the one who could be quietly in the background, supporting their parish, helping their children, going a little extra mile for God,” she said.

Award recipients come from “all walks of life” and socioeconomic backgrounds, Roberts said. 

“A lot of them have 10 kids. Some of them have one child. Some of them have children with special needs,” she said. 

There’s one thing they all have in common — but it’s hard to put into words. 

“They all have this special glow where really Mary is at the center of everything they do,” Roberts said. 

The “delightful ladies” who receive these awards raise their children with the Catholic faith as a “solid foundation” while also helping their local parish, Roberts explained. 

The award helps serve as an inspiration and a reminder. 

“We want to shine the light on these women and to have them as examples for all the rest of us,” Roberts said. 

Their example carries through from the home to the parish to the community. 

“This is just our way of highlighting the faithful women who are boots to the ground, doing the Lord’s work, and keeping Mary at the center of their family,” Roberts said. 

Mikal Mahdi. / Credit: Federal Public Defenders (proof), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).

Lawyers who represent the recently executed Mikal Mahdi are alleging that the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) “botched” their client’s firing squad execution, which caused him to scream out in pain and remain conscious for nearly one minute until he eventually died.

Mahdi, who was convicted of murdering a police officer and a convenience store worker, died on April 11 at age 42 in South Carolina’s second firing squad execution in the state’s history, both of which occurred this year just five weeks apart.

Although firing squad executions in the United States are extremely rare, the state legalized this method of execution, along with executions by the electric chair, in 2021 amid shortages of the drugs needed for lethal injections. Death row inmates can now choose whether to die by firing squad, lethal injection, or the electric chair, according to current state law.

According to a status report filed by Mahdi’s lawyers, the autopsy and eyewitness accounts of his death raise several questions about the execution. They note there are only two entrance wounds, despite three shots reportedly being fired, and allege that the shots “largely missed his heart,” which resulted in an unnecessarily prolonged death.

The status report notes that Mahdi screamed and groaned immediately after he was shot and a second time nearly a minute after the shots were fired. Mahdi’s lawyers said in the filing that his death was “far from painless and far from humane.”

“The autopsy confirms what I saw and heard,” David Weiss, one of Mahdi’s lawyers, said in a statement. “Mikal suffered an excruciating death. We don’t know what went wrong, but nothing about his execution was humane. The implications are horrifying for anyone facing the same choice as Mikal. South Carolina’s refusal to acknowledge their failures with executions cannot continue.”

Mahdi’s autopsy listed his cause of death as “multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.” It states that there are only two entrance wounds but that “it is believed” one of the gunshot wounds “represents two gunshot wound pathways,” which would indicate three bullets entered his body.

However, an analysis of the autopsy by Arden Forensics commissioned by Mahdi’s lawyers expressed doubt that three gunshots would leave only two entrance wounds, stating that the “passage of more than one bullet through a typical entrance wound is virtually unheard of.”

“We currently have no evidence to explain why there were two, rather than three, entrance wounds,” Jonathan Arden, who provided the analysis, said.

Although the autopsy found that the bullets struck Mahdi’s heart, Arden’s analysis states, “the entrance wounds were at the lowest area of the chest, just above the border with the abdomen, which is not an area largely overlying the heart.” It notes that the downward trajectory of the bullets, found in the autopsy, suggests “the heart might not be injured severely (or even at all).” 

“The forensic medical evidence and the reported eyewitness observations of the execution corroborate that Mr. Mahdi was alive and reacting longer than was intended or expected,” he continued. “Mr. Mahdi did experience excruciating conscious pain and suffering for about 30 to 60 seconds after he was shot.”

A spokesperson for SCDC disputed the narrative from Mahdi’s lawyers, telling CNA that “all three weapons fired simultaneously, and all three bullets struck Mahdi,” adding: “Two bullets followed the same trajectory.”

“All three bullets struck Mahdi’s heart, per the autopsy report,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that “multiple fragments were removed from Mahdi’s body,” “the autopsy report shows no exit wounds,” and “no fragments were found in the room.”

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, told CNA the reports suggest the “execution was botched, causing a very painful death.” She said “this is a reminder that every execution — regardless of the method or the procedures that take place — is a violent act that disregards the dignity of life.”

“This year, multiple states have instituted new execution methods including the firing squad — like in the case of Mr. Mahdi — and the newly developed method of nitrogen gas suffocation,” Murphy added.

“It’s hard not to look at these methods and think, ‘How did we get here?’ And how does our society think this inhumanity is somehow acceptable?” she said. “The reality is, those are the questions we should ask ourselves each time there is an execution, because the death penalty is contrary to human dignity and an affront to the sanctity of life.”

“The outrage we feel toward these execution methods is a reminder that over time, the system of capital punishment has become all the more deceptive to make executions appear more palatable, sterile, and ‘humane,’” Murphy continued. “But executions are never any of these things. Whether someone is shot, electrocuted, injected, or gassed each and every execution extinguishes a God-given life with inherent dignity and worth. Each and every execution is a blatant act of state-sanctioned violence.”

U.S. Navy LSTs and other vessels unloading at low tide at Normandy, soon after the June 1944 invasion. USS LST-55 is in the center, behind the closest barrage balloon. USS LST-61 is at right. / Credit: Steck, U.S. Army Signal Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2025 / 17:26 pm (CNA).

Louis Marius Prevost, the father of Pope Leo XIV, served on a D-Day landing ship during World War II and was a junior lieutenant in the United States Navy.

Since Pope Leo XIV became the new pontiff, the world has been eager to learn more about the first U.S.-born pope. The United States Department of Defense (DOD) released a statement about Pope Leo’s late father and his role in the revered “greatest generation” that won World War II.

Prevost was born on July 28, 1920, in Chicago. After he graduated from college, he joined the Navy in November 1943 when he was 23 years old. 

According to the Department of Defense, Prevost became the executive officer of a tank landing ship and “participated in the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, as part of Operation Overlord.” He was in charge of a landing craft that “the Allies used to land infantry soldiers and Marines onto beaches during the war.”

On June 6, 1944, Prevost was involved in the Allied forces landing troops on Normandy beaches that “successfully executed the largest air, land, and sea invasion in history,” according to the DOD.

The Normandy coastline would soon run out of capacity for the amount of materials needed “to keep the Allied momentum going.” The U.S. Navy then sent Prevost and other landing ships to southern France on Aug. 15, 1944, to take part in Operation Dragoon, which “forced the Germans to defend a second front, diluting their effectiveness.”

“By the end of August,” the DOD said, “the Allies had captured the French ports of Marseille and Toulon, immediately using them to land supplies and equipment. In October 1944, more than a third of Allied cargo was shipped through those ports.”

Prevost was overseas on active duty for 15 months. He attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade prior to the war ending on May 8, 1945.

After the war, Prevost returned home and became the head of an elementary school district in Glenwood, Illinois. He later took a job as a principal at Mount Carmel Elementary School in Chicago and also did work teaching “the principles of the Christian religion” as a catechist.

In 1949 Prevost married Mildred Martinez, who was a librarian at the time. 

The couple had three sons: John Joseph Prevost; Louis Martin Prevost, also a U.S. Navy veteran; and Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV.

Prevost passed away in Chicago due to natural causes on Nov. 8, 1997.

Archbishop Julian Porteous. / Credit: Archdiocese of Hobart

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2025 / 17:06 pm (CNA).

A Catholic archbishop in Australia is calling attention to an ecumenical statement on human sexuality released last year as the group behind the project seeks to gain approval for the creed from “biblically orthodox leaders” worldwide.

Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart is among some 6,000 initial signatories of the “Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity,” a statement affirming fundamental Christian ethics on sex and gender that was drafted last October by a team of over 100 Christian faith leaders, including Catholic clergy.

In a Catholic Weekly interview last week, Porteous explained his decision to back the initiative, saying: “I thought it was good ecumenically to show support. And from the Catholic point of view, I felt we had a lot to offer because we have been able to articulate a lot of this material through magisterial teaching, through the catechism and so on, and help them with terminology.”

The creed outlines common Christian moral tenets on the creation of every person as male or female, marriage and sexuality as exclusively between men and women, the belief that every human life is sacred, and the call to chastity and faithfulness both in marriage and singleness. 

“We believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who designed sex as part of his loving plan for humanity and whose will for sexual integrity is clearly revealed in holy Scripture,” the statement reads.

“We believe our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,” the statement adds, “that Christ calls and empowers us to repent from all sin, including sexual sin, that his mercy abounds to forgive and restore, and that by living with sexual integrity we glorify God and humbly embrace his wise and loving plan for human life.”

“Every era has its particular heresies,” the creed website states. “We believe the time has come for a new creed that affirms the timeless teachings of the church regarding sexual integrity and that articulates God’s glorious design for sex and marriage as revealed in holy Scripture.”

“Our hope and prayer,” the website notes, “is that the Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity will gain global approval from biblically orthodox leaders in the Catholic Church, the Anglican/Episcopalian Church, the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Church, evangelical and Pentecostal churches, and many more besides.”