St. James Roman Catholic Church

CatholicVote president Brian Burch speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination for to be ambassador to the Holy See on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. / Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

In a party-line vote on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations advanced Brian Burch’s nomination for U.S. ambassador to the Holy See to the full Senate for final confirmation. 

All 12 Republicans on the Senate committee, chaired by Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, voted in favor of Burch, while all 10 of the committee’s Democrat members voted against him. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, now has to bring the nomination to the full Senate floor for a final vote. 

The action comes more than three weeks after Burch’s hearing before the committee, during which he fielded questions on foreign aid, the Vatican-China deal, and the Holy See’s role in securing a lasting peace in the Middle East. 

If confirmed by the full Senate, Burch, who is president of CatholicVote, will step down from his position at the organization, CatholicVote indicated.

During his hearing earlier this month, Burch emphasized his support for the Trump administration’s foreign spending cuts, which have had a widespread impact on Catholic aid organizations, saying: “I think the partnership with the Holy See can be a very good one, but I think those partners have to understand that our foreign aid is not endless, that we can’t fund every last program.”

On China, Burch said he intended to encourage the Vatican to apply pressure on the communist regime concerning its human rights abuses and reported violation of its deal with the Vatican regarding the appointment of bishops. 

“I would encourage the Holy See as the United States ambassador, if I’m confirmed, to resist the idea that a foreign government has any role whatsoever in choosing the leadership of a private religious institution,” he said.

Burch stated his intentions to support Vatican diplomacy to end the Israel-Hamas war, telling the committee he believed the Holy See “can play a significant role” by being “a partner in that conversation and [delivering] the necessary moral urgency of ending this conflict and hopefully securing a durable peace.”

President Donald Trump last December nominated Burch to serve as ambassador to the Vatican, writing in a Truth Social post that “he represented me well during the last election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any presidential candidate in history!” and adding: “Brian loves his Church and the United States — he will make us all proud.”

CatholicVote is a political advocacy group that endorsed Trump in January 2024 and ran advertisements in support of Trump during his campaign. The organization says it spent over $10 million on the 2024 elections.

Burch, who lives in the Chicago suburbs, is a graduate of the University of Dallas, a private Catholic school. In 2020, he wrote a book titled “A New Catholic Moment: Donald Trump and the Politics of the Common Good.” 

According to his biography on CatholicVote, Burch has received the Cardinal O’Connor Defender of the Faith Award from Legatus International and the St. Thomas More Award for Catholic Citizenship by Catholic Citizens of Illinois.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández delivers the homily during the sixth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on May 1, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, May 1, 2025 / 17:53 pm (CNA).

Editor’s Note: On May 1, 2025, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Francis, delivered the following homily during the sixth day of Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis. The text below is a CNA working translation of the Italian original published by the Vatican.

On this Easter Christ tells us: “All that the Father gives me will come to me... His will is that I lose nothing of what he has given me.” What immense sweetness these words have.

Pope Francis is Christ’s, he belongs to him, and now that he has left this earth he is fully Christ’s. The Lord has taken Jorge Bergoglio with him since his baptism and throughout his entire existence. He is Christ’s, who has promised for him the fullness of life.

You know how tenderly Pope Francis spoke of Christ, how he enjoyed the sweet name of Jesus, as a good Jesuit. He knew well that he was his, and surely Christ did not leave him, did not lose him. This is our hope that we celebrate with Easter joy under the precious light of this Gospel of today.

We cannot ignore the fact that we are also celebrating Workers’ Day, which was so close to Pope Francis’ heart.

I remember a video he sent some time ago for a meeting of Argentine businessmen. To them he said: “I will not tire of referring to the dignity of labor. Someone made me say that I propose a life without toil, or that I despise the culture of work.” In fact, some dishonest people said Pope Francis was defending the lazy, the drones, the delinquent, the idle.

But he insisted: “Imagine if you can say that about me, a descendant of Piedmontese people, who came to this country not with a desire to be supported but with a great desire to roll up their sleeves and build a future for their families.” You can tell they had annoyed him.

Because for Pope Francis, work expresses and nurtures the dignity of the human being, allows him to develop his abilities, helps him to grow relationships, allows him to feel like a collaborator with God to care for and improve this world, makes him feel useful to society and in solidarity with his loved ones. That is why work, beyond the hardships and difficulties, is a path of human maturation. And that is why he stated that work “is the best help for a poor person.” What’s more, that “there is no poverty worse than that which deprives work and the dignity of work.”

It is worth recalling his words on the trip to Genova. There he argued that “the entire social pact is built around work” and that when there are problems with work “it is democracy that goes into crisis.” Then he took up with admiration what the Italian Constitution says in Article 1: “Italy is a democratic republic, founded on work.”

Behind this love of work is a strong conviction of Pope Francis: the infinite value of every human being, an immense dignity that should never be lost, that under no circumstances can be ignored or forgotten.

But every person is so very worthy, and must be taken so seriously, that it’s not just a matter of giving them things but promoting them. That is, that they can develop all the good in them, that they can earn their bread with the gifts God has given them, that they can develop their abilities. Thus each person is promoted in all his dignity. And this is where work becomes so important.

Now watch out, Francis said. Another thing is some false talk about “meritocracy.” Because it is one thing to evaluate a person’s merits and reward his efforts. Another thing is the false “meritocracy,” which leads us to think that only those who have been successful in life have merits.

Let’s take a look at a person who was born into a good family and was able to increase his wealth, lead a good life with a nice house, car, vacation abroad. Everything is good. He was lucky enough to grow up in the right conditions and performed meritorious deeds. Thus, with skills and time he has built a very comfortable life for himself and his children.

At the same time, one who works with his own arms, with equal or greater merits due to the efforts and time he has invested, has nothing. He has not had the good fortune to be born in the same environment, and no matter how much he sweats, he can barely survive.

Let me tell you about a case I cannot forget: a young man I saw several times near my home in Buenos Aires. I would find him on the street, doing his job, which was to collect cartons and bottles to feed his family. When I went to the university in the morning, when I came back, yet at night I would find him working. I once asked him: “But how many hours do you work?” He replied: “Between 12 and 15 hours a day. Because I have several children to support and I want them to have a better future than mine.”

So I asked him: “But when are you with them?” And he replied: “I have to choose, either I stay with them or I bring them food.” Nevertheless, a well-dressed person passing by said to him: “Go to work, lazy!” Those words seemed to me to be of horrendous cruelty and vanity. But those words can also be found hidden behind other, more elegant speeches.

Pope Francis has issued a prophetic cry against this false idea. And in several conversations he would point out to me: Look, they lead us to think that most poor people are poor because they have no “merit.” It seems that the one who has inherited a lot of possessions is more worthy than the one who has done hard labor all his life without being able to save anything or even buy a small house.

For that stated in Evangelli Gaudium that in this model “it does not seem to make sense to invest so that those who are left behind, the weak or the less gifted can make their way in life” (EG, 209).

The question that comes back is always the same: Are the less gifted not human persons? Do the weak not have the same dignity as we do? Should those who are born with fewer possibilities just be limited to survive? Is there not a chance for them to have a job that will allow them to grow, develop, create something better for their children?

The value of our society depends on the answer we give to these questions.

But let me also introduce Pope Francis as a worker. He not only talked about the value of work, but his whole life was one who lived his mission with great effort, passion, and compromise. It was always a mystery to me to understand how he could endure, even being a large man with several illnesses, such a demanding work rhythm. He not only worked in the morning with various meetings, audiences, celebrations, and gatherings, but also all afternoon. And it seemed to me really heroic that with the very little strength he had in his last days he made himself strong enough to visit a prison.

It’s not that we can take him as an example, because he never used to take a few days off. In Buenos Aires, in the summer, if you couldn’t find a priest you certainly found him. When he was in Argentina he never went out for dinner, to the theater, for a walk, or to see a movie; he never took a day off completely. Instead we, being normal, could not resist. But his life is an incentive to carry out our work generously.

What I want to show, however, is to what extent he understood that his work was his mission, his everyday work was his response to God’s love, it was an expression of his concern for the good of others. And for these reasons work itself was his joy, his nourishment, his rest. He experienced what the first reading we heard says: “None of us lives for himself.”

We ask for all workers, who sometimes have to work in unpleasant conditions, that they may find ways to live their work with dignity and hope, and that they may receive compensation that allows them to look forward with hope.

But in this Mass, with the presence of the Vatican Curia, let us keep in mind that we in the Curia also work. Indeed, we are workers who keep a schedule, who carry out the tasks assigned to us, who must be responsible and strive and sacrifice in our commitments.

The responsibility of work is also for us in the Curia a path of maturation and fulfillment as Christians.

Finally, let me remind you of Pope Francis’ love for St. Joseph, that strong and humble worker, that carpenter from a small forgotten town, who by his work took care of Mary and Jesus.

And we also remember that when Pope Francis had a big problem, he would put a piece of paper with a supplication under the image of St. Joseph. So let us ask St. Joseph in heaven to give a strong hug to our dear Pope Francis.

Cardinals celebrate the sixth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on May 1, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, May 1, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández elevates the chalice during the sixth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on May 1, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, May 1, 2025 / 17:23 pm (CNA).

Not only did Pope Francis value and promote the dignity of labor, he was someone who personally worked extremely hard, finding joy and rest in work itself, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández said at the sixth Novendiales Mass.

“What I want to show, however, is to what extent [Pope Francis] understood that his work was his mission, his everyday work was his response to God’s love, it was an expression of his concern for the good of others,” Fernández said in St. Peter’s Basilica on May 1.

“For these reasons,” the cardinal continued, “work itself was his joy, his nourishment, his rest. He experienced what the first reading we heard says: ‘None of us lives for himself.’”

The Argentinian cardinal, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a close personal friend of the late Francis, celebrated Mass with the College of Cardinals as part of the Church’s nine days of mourning.

The 62-year-old Fernández spoke about Pope Francis “as a worker” on the May 1 feast of St. Joseph the Worker, one of the late pope’s favorite saints. May 1 is also Labor Day (also called Workers’ Day) in many countries, including Italy.

Pope Francis “not only talked about the value of work, but his whole life was one who lived his mission with great effort, passion, and compromise,” Fernández, also known by the nickname “Tucho,” said.

“It was always a mystery to me to understand how he could endure, even being a large man with several illnesses, such a demanding work rhythm. He not only worked in the morning with various meetings, audiences, celebrations, and gatherings but also all afternoon. And it seemed to me really heroic that with the very little strength he had in his last days he made himself strong enough to visit a prison.”

The cardinal emphasized that the fact that Francis never took a day off, as pope and as an archbishop and priest in Buenos Aires, should not be taken as an example, “but his life is an incentive to carry out our work generously.”

In his homily, Fernández also reflected on the privileged situation some people find themselves in and gave examples of how two men may work equally hard but one will be more successful, while the other struggles to feed his family.

According to the cardinal, Pope Francis warned against a “false meritocracy” that believes only those who are successful in life have merit while the poor do not.

“Behind this love of work is a strong conviction of Pope Francis: the infinite value of every human being, an immense dignity that should never be lost, that under no circumstances can be ignored or forgotten,” he said.

Bishop Robert Barron speaks alongside President Donald Trump (right) during a National Day of Prayer event on May 1, 2025, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C. / Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2025 / 16:53 pm (CNA).

Two members of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States — Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron — have been tapped to serve on a new presidential commission on religious liberty created by President Donald Trump on Thursday, May 1.

Trump signed an executive order creating the Religious Liberty Commission in the White House Rose Garden surrounded by faith leaders from various traditions. The announcement coincided with the country’s National Day of Prayer.

“As we bow our heads this beautiful day in the Rose Garden on the National Day of Prayer, we once again entrust our lives, our liberties, our happiness to the Creator who gave them to us and who loves us,” said Trump, a self-described “nondenominational Christian,” before signing the order. 

The new Religious Liberty Commission is tasked with creating a report on current threats to freedom of religion and strategies to enhance legal protections for those rights. The report will also outline the foundations of religious liberty in the United States and provide guidance on how to increase the awareness of peaceful religious pluralism in the country.

Some of the commission’s key areas of focus will include parental rights in religious education, school choice, conscience protections, free speech for religious entities, institutional autonomy, and attacks on houses of worship. It was created due to concerns that federal and state policies have infringed upon those rights. 

Members of the newly formed commission include the two Catholic prelates and Protestant leaders, such as Pastor Paula White, along with rabbis and imams. The Catholic president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Ryan Anderson, was also appointed to serve on the commission, as was psychologist and television personality Dr. Phil McGraw and renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson.

The commission will be chaired by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an evangelical Christian who Trump said gave him the idea to create the commission.

“No one should get between God and a believer,” Patrick said at the event. “No one should get between God and those seeking him.”

Bishop Barron: ‘We are indeed a nation under God’

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, was in attendance and delivered a prayer for the country and the president. Dolan, the archbishop of New York and a cardinal elector in the upcoming papal conclave, is in Rome.

“We know that the rights we enjoy to life, to liberty, to the pursuit of happiness are given not by government or popular consensus but by [God],” Barron said in his prayer, adding that “we are indeed a nation under God.”

Barron said religious liberty “has been reverenced from the very beginning of our republic as our first freedom” and prayed that God “might give us the grace to preserve it and strengthen it.”

He prayed that God will “bless our president” and that Trump will “strive always to please you in what he says and does, and may he govern under the direction of your providence.” He prayed that the president’s decisions will “always be particularly mindful of those who suffer and those who are most in need.”

Barron also prayed for the American people to always be “architects of justice and makers of peace” and asked God for a country that is “prosperous and strong, but above all righteous and docile to your will.”

In a post on X, Barron expressed gratitude toward Trump for appointing him to serve on the commission and said that religious liberty is a central concern of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“I see my task as bringing the perspective of Catholic social teaching to bear as the commission endeavors to shape public policy in this matter,” he wrote. 

Barron added that he will try to model his service after Father Theodore Hesburgh, who was the president of the University of Notre Dame from 1952–1987 and served on 16 different presidential commissions in Republican and Democratic administrations.

Trump: ‘We have to trust our God’

At the event, Trump remarked that the National Day of Prayer is “a tradition older than our independence itself” and emphasized the importance of Americans putting their trust in God.

“We have to trust our God because our God knows exactly where we’re going, what we’re doing, knows every inch of our lives,” the president said. “And may he continue to hear our prayers to guide our steps and build up our beloved nation to even greater heights. We’re in the process of doing some great things.”

Trump, who earlier this year created the White House Faith Office and the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, said that activity in the Faith Office has been robust with “a lot of people going back and forth.” 

“That’s what we want: to defend and represent people of all faiths and their religious freedoms at home and abroad,” the president said. 

He suggested that because he created the commission on religious liberty with several faith leaders, “we’re probably going to be sued tomorrow” and said in a mocking voice: “Separation of church and state — can’t do that, right?” He asserted that Attorney General Pam Bondi “will win that suit.”

“The separation, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Trump said. “I’m not sure. But whether there’s separation or not, you guys are in the White House where you should be and you’re representing our country. And we’re bringing religion back to our country.”

During his speech, Trump also spoke about his efforts to combat antisemitism and the ongoing work to get the hostages held by Hamas returned home. He also discussed budget negotiations and the desire to prevent tax hikes, the reduced rate of illegal immigration, and potential trade deals with countries he has subjected to higher tariffs for trade with the U.S.

Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas lived to 116. / Credit: Nathália Queiroz/ACI Digital

Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 1, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, the oldest person in the world, died Wednesday in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at the age of 116.

Born on May 27, 1908, the Teresian nun was the oldest person in the world, according to LongeviQuest, a group of researchers that studies centenarians.

She lived in Porto Alegre, in the Santo Enrique de Ossó Shelter, located next to the provincial house of the Teresian Sisters of Brazil, a community she joined in 1927 at age 19.

In a March 2024 interview with ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner, she mentioned that one of the secrets to her longevity was praying every day for all the people of the world.

Originally from São Francisco de Assis in Rio Grande do Sul state, Inah was the great-niece of Gen. David Canabarro, one of the main leaders of the Farroupilha Revolution (1835–1845) that took place in the same state. She studied at a convent school and at age 19 entered the novitiate with the Teresian Sisters in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Over the course of more than a century, she experienced numerous changes in the world and in the Church. The nun lived through two world wars and 10 popes. The year she was born, St. Pius X was pope.

As a teaching sister, Inah taught Portuguese, mathematics, science, history, art, and religion in Teresian schools in Rio de Janeiro, Itaqui, and Santana do Livramento, a city where she is much loved because it was where she spent most of her life.

A notable achievement in her life was the creation of the Santa Teresa School marching band in Santana do Livramento. The band featured 115 musical instruments and performed in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. She also collaborated in the creation of the renowned Pomoli High School marching band in Rivera, Uruguay, sister city of Santana do Livramento.

Sister Inah was an enthusiastic fan of Sport Clube Internacional soccer team, founded in 1909 when she was just 1 year old.

With her death, the world’s oldest person, according to LongeviQuest, becomes Englishwoman Ethel Caterham, who is 115 years old, born on Aug. 21, 1909.

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

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on May 1, 2020, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis, who died last month, was well known for his devotion to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. 

The late pope announced a Year of St. Joseph in December 2020 in honor of the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph’s proclamation as patron of the universal Church. In making the announcement, Francis issued an apostolic letter, Patris Corde (“With a father’s heart”), dedicated to the foster father of Jesus. 

On today’s feast of St. Joseph the Worker (May 1), here are some of the most beautiful and powerful quotes from Francis’ document of personal reflections on St. Joseph.

Praise for the ordinary ‘hidden’ but vital people

“Each of us can discover in Joseph — the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet, and hidden presence — an intercessor, a support, and a guide in times of trouble. St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due to them all.”

“Our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. They understood that no one is saved alone.”

An invitation to courage

“Even through Joseph’s fears, God’s will, his history, and his plan were at work. Joseph, then, teaches us that faith in God includes believing that he can work even through our fears, our frailties, and our weaknesses. He also teaches us that amid the tempests of life, we must never be afraid to let the Lord steer our course. At times, we want to be in complete control, yet God always sees the bigger picture.”

“Just as God told Joseph: ‘Son of David, do not be afraid!’ (Mt 1:20), so he seems to tell us: ‘Do not be afraid!’ We need to set aside all anger and disappointment, and to embrace the way things are, even when they do not turn out as we wish. Not with mere resignation but with hope and courage. In this way, we become open to a deeper meaning. Our lives can be miraculously reborn if we find the courage to live them in accordance with the Gospel.”

God is greater than our hearts

“God can make flowers spring up from stony ground. Even if our heart condemns us, ‘God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything’ (1 Jn 3:20).”

God works in our weakness

“All too often, we think that God works only through our better parts, yet most of his plans are realized in and despite our frailty.”

The gift of one’s self

“Joseph found happiness not in mere self-sacrifice but in self-gift. In him, we never see frustration but only trust. His patient silence was the prelude to concrete expressions of trust.”

Earthly fatherhood points higher

“In every exercise of our fatherhood, we should always keep in mind that it has nothing to do with possession but is rather a ‘sign’ pointing to a greater fatherhood. In a way, we are all like Joseph: a shadow of the heavenly Father who ‘makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ (Mt 5:45).”

Introducing children ‘to reality’

“Being a father entails introducing children to life and reality. Not holding them back, being overprotective or possessive, but rather making them capable of deciding for themselves, enjoying freedom and exploring new possibilities.”

“When fathers refuse to live the lives of their children for them, new and unexpected vistas open up. Every child is the bearer of a unique mystery that can only be brought to light with the help of a father who respects that child’s freedom.”

A prayer to St. Joseph

“Glorious Patriarch St. Joseph, whose power makes the impossible possible, come to my aid in these times of anguish and difficulty. Take under your protection the serious and troubling situations that I commend to you, that they may have a happy outcome. My beloved father, all my trust is in you. Let it not be said that I invoked you in vain, and since you can do everything with Jesus and Mary, show me that your goodness is as great as your power. Amen.”

null / Credit: Postmodern Studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Sen. Hawley urges FDA to reinstate abortion drug safety regulations

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley issued a letter on Monday urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reinstate safety regulations for chemical abortion drugs. 

Citing a newly published study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Hawley urged the FDA to act, saying the “health and safety of American women depend on it.” 

The study, released this week, found that more than 1 in 10 women who use mifepristone experience adverse side effects including sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or an emergency room visit. 

Published on April 28, the study is the “largest known study of mifepristone to date,” according to Hawley. The study found that the rate of negative side effects is “at least 22 times greater” than the adverse effects rate on the drug label, which is approved by the FDA. 

In the letter, Hawley noted that Democratic administrations “have stripped away basic safeguards” surrounding the drug. The Obama administration reduced required in-person visits, removed the physicians prescription requirement, and ended mandatory reporting of adverse effects. 

The Biden administration, meanwhile, ended requirements for in-person visits and dispensing, meaning that mifepristone can be sent via mail without any medical supervision. 

Hawley urged the FDA to “reinstate safety regulations on the chemical abortion drug immediately.”

Catholic leaders fight assisted suicide as bill progresses in New York state

Catholic leaders in New York are speaking out as an assisted suicide bill, the “Medical Aid in Dying Act,” progresses through the state Legislature this week. 

The assisted suicide bill passed the state Assembly on Tuesday. It was the first time such a bill has made it to the floor of either chamber since 2016. 

The bill allows anyone 18 or older to request drugs for assisted suicide if they have been diagnosed with a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less and if they retain “decision-making capacity.”

Proponents maintain that there are safeguards against coercion and that the deadly drugs are self-administered.

Robert Bellafiore, a spokesperson for the New York State Catholic Conference, called the bill “state-sanctioned suicide” in a statement this week. 

Bellafiore described the measure a “Pandora’s box” that “cannot be controlled,” saying that it works against the governor’s suicide prevention efforts. He also criticized the bill for putting people with mental health issues at risk, arguing that the safeguards are “made of straw.” 

“It tells young people, who everyone knows are in the midst of an unprecedented mental health crisis, that life is disposable and that it’s OK to end your life if you see no hope,” Bellafiore said.

Bellafiore called on the state to instead “strengthen palliative care, improve health care services and counseling for people in crisis, and show America what real compassion looks like.”

Local Catholic and pro-life organizations are banding together to oppose the measure. 

The bishops of New York wrote a letter last week urging the Legislature to reconsider the policy. The prelates cited concern for the vulnerable, who could be pressured into assisted suicide, as well as concerns about the quick expansion of assisted suicide in Canada.

On May 6, Feminists Choosing Life of New York and the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide will lobby against the legislation. The Diocese of Rochester partnered with the pro-life feminist group as well as the Finger Lakes Guild of the Catholic Medical Association to host a webinar on Thursday on physician-assisted suicide. 

Parental notification laws challenged in Missouri, Nevada

A pro-abortion group is suing Missouri over its law requiring parental consent for minors to have abortions. 

The Missouri state law requires a minor to receive parental consent from at least one parent to obtain an abortion. Minors may seek an exception in court. 

A pro-abortion nonprofit, Right By You, filed the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleging the notification laws “bully pregnant young people without parental support into giving birth.”

The lawsuit follows the passage of Missouri’s abortion rights amendment last fall. 

The advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said on Thursday that the lawsuit could “enable abusers and traffickers to exploit minors.”

“They’re suing so girls who aren’t old enough to get their ears pierced on their own can have an abortion without their parents,” said group spokeswoman Kelsey Pritchard.

A judge in Nevada, meanwhile, has blocked the state’s rule requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortion, a policy that was set to take effect this week. 

The 1985 law requiring one parent to be notified if a minor sought an abortion has never been enforced after it was found unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. 

After Roe was overturned, the law was scheduled to be enforced this month. But Planned Parenthood of Nevada challenged the law, calling it “unconstitutionally vague.”

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Traum granted Planned Parenthood’s request to pause the law’s implementation while it files a motion for stay.  

About 70% of U.S. states have some form of parental notification or permission laws for minors seeking abortion. 

Pilgrims at the Wednesday general audience Aug. 9, 2023, hold up an image of the Virgin Mary. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, May 1, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church dedicates the entire month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God and spiritual mother of all.

In the plan of salvation, the Blessed Virgin Mary holds a special place. By virtue of her role to be the mother of the Son of God by divine election, she was conceived immaculately — i.e., without the stain of original sin — and by fidelity to her son has been crowned queen of heaven and earth. 

Everything Mary said and did leads to Christ. Who knows a child better than a mother? And what good and loving child does not know his or her mother and love her with all of his or her heart?

Mary knew and loved Jesus like no one else on earth — and she loves each of her children, human beings, with similar affection and tenderness.

The Church, in its wisdom, asks its children to be especially devoted to Mother Mary during the month of May and to be particularly grateful for all of her care.

A model for every Christian

Mary, the most humble of all women, is a model for everyone, today, in the here and now. She is a model in a particular way for every woman, as expressed by Pope Francis:

“There is only one model for you, Mary: the woman of fidelity, the one who did not understand what was happening to her but obeyed. The one who, as soon as she knew what her cousin needed took off [to help her], the Virgin of Promptness. The one who escaped as a refugee in a foreign country to save the life of her son,” Pope Francis said during an April 2014 message to 20,000 young people gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a regional youth day.

The first disciple

Years later, during an Aug. 24, 2021, catechesis, Pope Francis called Mary “the first disciple of Jesus” and reminded us that “Mary is there, praying for us, praying for those who do not pray. Why? Because she is our mother.”

The Virgin, through Jesus, has brought heaven closer to us and her life is the best proof that it is possible to reach it. Pope Francis said it best: “She shows us that heaven is within reach, if we too do not give in to sin, we praise God with humility, and we serve others with generosity” (Pope Francis, Angelus address on the solemnity of the Assumption, Aug. 15, 2022). 

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

National Shrine and Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan, also known as Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians, in Shanghai, China. / Credit: lobia, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, May 1, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

As the Catholic Church continues through a period of interregnum between the reign of popes, Chinese authorities have made moves to assert the Church in China’s autonomy from Rome by unilaterally “electing” two bishops — including in a diocese already led by a Vatican-appointed bishop.

On April 28, Father Wu Jianlin, vicar general of Shanghai, was chosen to be the city’s new auxiliary bishop by an assembly of local priests. The following day, Father Li Jianlin was “elected” bishop of the Diocese of Xinxiang.

As of Thursday afternoon there have been no reports that either priest has been installed as a bishop. 

Both appointments come during a sede vacante — the period when the Apotolic See is vacant following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 — a time during which the Holy See is unable to ratify episcopal nominations. A conclave to elect the next pope is scheduled to begin May 7.

These appointments in China will present the new pope with an early diplomatic challenge.

The appointment in Xinxiang is particularly contentious. The Vatican already recognizes Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu as the legitimate bishop of the diocese. Appointed clandestinely by Pope John Paul II in 1991, Zhang has spent decades ministering without state approval and has been arrested multiple times.

He was detained most recently in 2021 while recovering from cancer surgery and remains in custody without trial, according to a 2024 report by the Hudson Institute.

Father Li Jianlin, the diocese’s bishop-elect in the eyes of Beijing, has a history of alignment with the Communist Party. In 2018 he cosigned a directive enforcing a ban on minors attending Mass in Henan province. His appointment is viewed by observers as an overt challenge to Vatican authority, particularly given the presence of a sitting bishop already appointed by Rome.

The move underscores the fragile and often opaque relationship between the Vatican and Beijing. A 2018 provisional agreement between the two sides, renewed most recently in October 2024, is intended to regulate the appointment of bishops in China through a joint process.  

While the terms of the agreement have never been publicly disclosed, Asia News reported that even under the Vatican-China agreement, Beijing usually presented a single candidate to the Vatican chosen by assemblies of the clergy affiliated by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which the pope could then approve or not.  

In recent years, Vatican officials have acknowledged that Beijing has violated the agreement on multiple occasions. 

Bishop Shen Bin, installed by Chinese authorities in Shanghai in 2023 without Vatican approval, was later recognized by Pope Francis “for the good of the diocese” — a concession that sparked controversy. Wu’s appointment this week as Shen’s auxiliary appears to consolidate Shen’s power in Shanghai. 

The Vatican came under criticism during Francis’ pontificate for what some see as a muted response to China’s human rights abuses, including the internment of Uyghur Muslims and the imprisonment of Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong.  

Human rights groups have also documented ongoing persecution of underground Catholic clergy, with seven bishops currently detained without trial. 

On May 1, new restrictions from China’s United Front came into force banning foreign clergy from presiding over religious activities for Chinese people without the invitation of the Chinese government, severely limiting foreign missionary activity in the country. 

Meanwhile, state-sanctioned Catholic institutions in China offered little acknowledgement of Pope Francis’ death.  

The Patriotic Catholic Association mentioned it in passing on its website, while greater prominence was given to the 76th anniversary of the communist victory in Nanjing. On April 23, Catholics in Nanjing gathered to honor fallen People’s Liberation Army soldiers, with no mention of the late pontiff at the event, according to the blog Bitter Winter. 

As the conclave approaches, how the new pope navigates the challenging relationship with Beijing — and responds to episcopal appointments made without Rome — will likely define the next phase of Vatican diplomacy with China.