ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, SLATERSVILLE RI

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 12:12 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to issue a ruling in a contentious case involving what was proposed to be the nation’s first religious charter school, leaving untouched a lower court ruling that forbids the Catholic institution from accessing state funds.

In its Thursday ruling, the high court said its judges had split evenly on whether or not to allow St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to launch in the state of Oklahoma. The ruling leaves in place an Oklahoma Supreme Court order that said the school’s use of public money would violate state and federal law.

“The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court,” the unsigned order said. 

The per curiam decision noted that Justice Amy Coney Barrett “took no part in the consideration or decision” of the case. Barrett had recused herself from the case for unknown reasons, though it was likely due to her ties to the University of Notre Dame. The school’s religious liberty clinic helped the Catholic charter school in its bid before the Supreme Court.

Conservative-leaning justices at the high court had last month seemed sympathetic to the establishment of the school, while the court’s liberal justices were more skeptical of the proposal. 

At issue was whether the Catholic charter school would violate laws regarding the separation of church and state and the establishment of state-supported religion. Charter schools are privately-run institutions that are funded by the government similar to public schools.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond had argued against the incorporation of the school, claiming it violated Oklahoma and federal laws. The prosecutor referred to the institution as a “state-established religious school” and described it as “repugnant to Oklahoma and federal law.” He alleged that Oklahoma might be forced to subsidize “radical Islamic” schools if it allowed the Catholic institution access to public money.

The school was backed by religious liberty advocates, meanwhile, as well as the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, both of which were involved with the school’s creation. 

Archbishop Paul Coakley and Bishop David Konderla last month said they “pray[ed] and hope[d] for a decision that stands with religious liberty and the rights of Oklahoma families to make their own decisions in selecting the best educational options for their children.” 

On Thursday the prelates said in a statement that they were “disappointed that the Oklahoma state Supreme Court’s decision was upheld in a 4-4 decision without explanation.”

“We remain firm in our commitment to offering an outstanding education to families and students across the state of Oklahoma,” they said. “And we stand committed to parental choice in education, providing equal opportunity to all who seek options when deciding what is best for their children.”

Meanwhile, Drummond’s office told CNA on Thursday said the ruling “represents a resounding victory for religious liberty and for the foundational principles that have guided our nation since its founding.” 

“This ruling ensures that Oklahoma taxpayers will not be forced to fund radical Islamic schools while protecting the religious rights of families to choose any school they wish for their children,” he said. 

The charter school had received the backing of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which told the Supreme Court last month that charter schools “have long performed the function of educating students” in the United States and that St. Isidore’s participation in the state charter program would “not make it a state actor.”

Two dozen amicus briefs were filed at the Supreme Court in support of the Catholic charter school, including from the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

Also backing the school were a dozen states including Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas, who argued in a brief that they had “a compelling interest in expanding educational opportunities for their citizens.”

This story was updated Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 1:20 p.m. ET with the statement from Archbishop Paul Coakley and Bishop David Konderla.

St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. / Credit: travelview/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 11:52 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of New Orleans this week agreed to pay a massive $180 million to victims of clergy abuse there, bringing an end to years of bankruptcy proceedings in federal court and pointing to what Archbishop Gregory Aymond called “a path to healing for survivors and for our local Church.”

The law firm Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, which represented abuse victims in the proceedings, said in a press release that the sum represented “more than 20 times the archdiocese’s initial settlement estimate” when the archdiocese first filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

The settlement, if it is accepted by the abuse survivors, brings an end to almost exactly five years of bitter disputes over how the archdiocese handled sex abuse cases in the past and how it planned to compensate victims of clergy abuse now. 

The process was protracted enough that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill made the unusual move last month to order the archdiocese to defend the ongoing proceedings, demanding that Church officials explain why the bankruptcy case should not be dismissed by the court. 

The law firm representing the victims said this week that in addition to the multimillion-dollar settlement amount, the archdiocese will also be required to publish “perpetrator files and other abuse-related documents.” 

As well, the settlement will establish “a public archive that will serve as a repository of the history of abuse” within the archdiocese. That archive will be administered by a secular college or university. 

As well, the former Hope Haven orphanage just outside of New Orleans will receive a memorial to those who suffered sex abuse there. Multiple priests on the archdiocese’s list of credibly accused clergy allegedly committed abuse at that facility in the 1950s and 1960s. 

In a statement on Thursday, Aymond said the settlement gave him “great hope.”

The agreement “protects our parishes and begins to bring the proceedings to a close,” the prelate said, adding: “I am grateful to God for all who have worked to reach this agreement and that we may look to the future towards a path to healing for survivors and for our local Church.”

The archbishop in the statement praised abuse victims for speaking out about what they endured. 

“Please know that because of your courage in coming forward and your steadfast commitment to preventing the horrors of child sexual abuse, we are a better and stronger Church,” he said. 

The settlement represents one of the larger sums in the U.S. paid out to victims of clergy sexual abuse. 

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, last month said it will pay out $150 million as part of a settlement with victims of clergy sexual abuse there. 

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, meanwhile, in December 2024 said a court agreed to its record abuse settlement proposal of $323 million.

The Rockville Centre sum represents the highest abuse settlement paid out by a single U.S. diocese, though the Archdiocese of Los Angeles last year said it would pay out nearly $900 million in abuse settlements, which remains the most that any part of the U.S. Church has paid in such proceedings.

San Diego Bishop-elect Michael Pham. / Credit: Father Michael Pham

Vatican City, May 22, 2025 / 11:22 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday appointed Bishop Michael Pham as bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. He will rise from the position of auxiliary bishop there and succeed Cardinal Robert McElroy as head of the diocese.

Having received his episcopal consecration in September 2023, the 58-year-old Vietnam-born bishop has also served as titular bishop of Cercina. He was appointed the San Diego Diocese’s temporary administrator after McElroy was installed as bishop of Washington in March.

Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1999, Pham has ministered to Catholic faithful in parishes throughout the San Diego Diocese.

From 1991 to 2001, he served as assistant priest for St. Mary, Star of the Sea, in Oceanside. Between 2004 and 2023 he was appointed parish priest for the San Diego parishes of Holy Family and St. Therese. 

Other offices the new bishop-elect has held in the San Diego Diocese include vocations director from 2001 to 2004, vicar for ethnic and intercultural communities since 2017, and vicar general of San Diego. 

He has also been a member of the diocese’s executive board, presbyteral council, finance council, college of consultors, and boards for priests and seminarians. 

Pham began his seminary studies in the 1990s at St. Francis Seminary at the University of San Diego and completed his training at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, where he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in systematic theology and a master’s degree in divinity.

In 2020, he completed a licentiate degree in sacred theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.

The bishop-elect also obtained a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from San Diego State University and completed a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Phoenix in 2009.

Photograph of Pope Leo XIV released by the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, May 22, 2025 / 10:33 am (CNA).

Follow our live coverage as Pope Leo XIV, first U.S.-born pope in history, begins his pontificate: Experience history in the making with former Cardinal Robert Prevost.

The childhood home of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, in Dolton, Illinois. / Credit: Michael Howie, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 09:21 am (CNA).

The village of Dolton, a suburb just south of Chicago and the hometown of Pope Leo XIV, is seeking to acquire his childhood home for use as a historical site.

Steve Budzik, the home’s listing broker, told CNA he and the home’s current owner, Pawel Radzik, are eager to work with the village and come to an agreement. 

“The seller wants to sell and the village wants to buy,” Budzik told CNA. “The question is: How do we determine what is fair market value for something so unique, so rare? There are no comps, there is nothing else like this.”

According to Budzik, they received a letter from the village last week indicating its interest in purchasing the home. The letter said the Archdiocese of Chicago is also working with the city to acquire the home. The archdiocese did not respond to a request for comment. 

According to village attorney Burt Odelson, Dolton would like to purchase the home, which was listed for sale in January, in order to turn it into a publicly accessible historic site. If an agreement on price cannot be reached, however, Odelson told Fox2Now the village will attempt to acquire the home by eminent domain. 

“We have a legal right to take the property for public use. That’s the key word — public use. A historic site is public use,” he said.

Recently-elected Dolton Mayor Jason House told ABC7 Chicago that the village will only use that option if current negotiations fail. 

Last year, Radzik paid $66,000 for the three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 1,050-square-foot home at 212 E. 141st Place. After extensive remodels, it was listed for sale for $219,000 in January. The price dropped to $199,900 in April.

Upon learning on May 8 that the home had belonged to the newly elected pope’s parents, who bought the house from the builder in 1949 and lived in it for decades, the owner removed it from the market “to regroup” and reassess the situation, according to Budzik.  

About a week later, after enlisting the help of Paramount Realty USA in order to sell the house at a closed bid auction, Radzik put the house back on the market. Bids are currently active and are open until June 18.

However, House told ABC7 Chicago that if anyone else purchases the house through the auction, they should know that their purchase would only be “temporary” because the city will still attempt to acquire it through eminent domain. 

The listing states the home is “a piece of papal history,” calling it “a one-of-a-kind opportunity” with “a story of transformation, legacy, and limitless potential,” and where a buyer can “own a place where history was made.”

“Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago and raised right here in Dolton, Pope Leo XIV’s journey from this humble neighborhood to the Vatican is a testament to faith, perseverance, and purpose. Now, you have the rare chance to own a tangible piece of his inspiring legacy,” the listing says. 

This past Monday, Dolton officials moved to rename a portion of 141st Place after the first U.S.-born pope, Budzik told CNA.

Ward Miller of the group Preservation Chicago, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to preserving historic sites of Chicago and encouraging landmark designations in the city, told CNA that while the home will not be a candidate for historic landmark designation through the city of Chicago because it falls outside its service area, he hopes it will receive a local Dolton landmark designation at the very least.

He said that “would not stop the house from eventually being” listed as a National Register of Historic places site “or even a National Historic Landmark.”  

Miller is advocating for Pope Leo’s childhood parish, St. Mary of the Assumption, which is within the city’s jurisdiction, to receive a Chicago landmark designation. A petition has been set up for the purpose. 

The parish has been vacant since 2011. “A Chicago landmark designation is the only thing that will keep the building from being demolished,” Miller told CNA. It was purchased recently by Joel Hall, who told ABC7 Chicago he is open to pursuing the Chicago landmark designation. 

Miller told CNA that Preservation Chicago went before a committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks last Friday recommending the creation of a landmark district that would include many of the sites — including St. Mary of the Assumption — associated with Pope Leo XIV. 

He said he hopes the decision to create the landmark district will be expedited considering the “phenomenal, remarkable thing that happened” with Prevost’s election to the papacy.

This is “a chance for Chicago to rise to the top,” Miller, a Catholic, told CNA. “It’s amazing, the first American pope, and he’s from Chicago!”

Those who want to participate can visit the eCatholic website to “take a moment to offer a message of prayer, encouragement, or support” and submit a video. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 22, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Tech company eCatholic is collecting video messages of prayer, encouragement, and support from Catholics across the globe this month to create a montage of “blessings” for Pope Leo XIV.

Jason Jaynes, CEO of eCatholic, said the initiative was born during a meeting earlier this month when a team member asked: “Wouldn’t it be a really great and cool initiative [if] we could let Catholics all over the world share their blessings with the new pope?”

The effort, launched shortly after Pope Leo XIV’s election, has already received submissions from “every continent across the globe,” Jaynes told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Catherine Hadro.

Planning for the initiative started during the first day of the conclave, when eCatholic employees “had no idea that just 24 hours later, there’d be white smoke and we’d already have a new pope,” Jaynes said. 

“We wanted to do something meaningful — and a little creative — to mark the moment and celebrate with the universal Church,” eCatholic marketing director Michael Josephs told EWTN’s ChurchPop.

Some of the submissions eCatholic has received so far feature children singing in Latin, people offering prayers to the first U.S.-born pope, and group messages from parishes congratulating Pope Leo XIV on his election. 

The videos have come from people around the world speaking multiple languages, which Jaynes said “reinforces the universal nature of our Church.”

Those who want to participate can visit the eCatholic website to “take a moment to offer a message of prayer, encouragement, or support” and submit a video. 

“We’re going to keep the submissions open through the end of this month,” Jaynes said. “Then we’ll be reaching out with the montage, probably first over social media since Pope Leo has a presence there, and also trying to reach out to work with the Vatican media and others to get these messages in front of him.”

Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín and Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. / Credit: Courtesy of Bishop Luis Marín

Vatican City, May 22, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The undersecretary of the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, is among those who have collaborated most closely with Pope Leo XIV.

In 2008, Marín moved to Rome because the then-prior general of the Augustinians asked him to take charge of the order’s archives. The past 17 years of association equips him to make a clear prognosis of what Pope Leo’s pontificate will be like.

“He’s not a person who governs from his office; he goes out to meet people,” the bishop told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. He also noted that Pope Leo XIV is a son of the Second Vatican Council: “He embraces its theological development, above all, the ecclesiology of the constitution Lumen Gentium, which is a point of reference for synodality, although the term does not appear in it.”

The then-Cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — actively participated in all phases of the Synod on Synodality, a signature project of Pope Francis launched three years ago that aimed to make the Church more coherent and participatory, and less clerical. This is an approach that the pope “holds very dear,” since “Augustinian spirituality is very synodal,” as are “our style and structures,” Marín emphasized.

“The Augustinian charism very much fosters communion, fraternal life. It’s our most distinctive feature. We Augustinians are also a mendicant order that doesn’t have a pyramidal structure like the monastic structures do, but rather a much more horizontal one. We are governed by the prior, a ‘primus inter pares’ [first among equals]. And our chapter is very participatory: Decisions are made among all the friars,” he explained.

The key to synodality, Marín emphasized, is not ideological or political but theological and ecclesial: “Pope Leo XIV is synodal because the Church is synodal. To realize this, it’s enough to know sacred Scripture, patristics, Church history, canon law … It’s the life of the Church, which becomes experience and witness.”

In 1985, Prevost, then a priest, was sent to Peru to work in the Chulucanas mission. After a brief return to Chicago in 1987, he returned to Peru in 1988, specifically to Trujillo, where he served as a teacher and formator. While there, he was elected prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago in 1998 and, in 2001, prior general of the Augustinian order, a position he held until 2013.

“The Church has required him to make big changes in his life, but he has always trusted in what God asked of him at each moment, with total availability to the Lord and great love for the Church,” Marín commented.

In October 2013, Prevost returned to Chicago to serve again as master of the professed and vicar provincial, a role he held until Nov. 3, 2014, when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, making him a bishop and assigning him the titular diocese of Sufar, until he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo the following year.

Pope Leo XIV loves to drive

Marín visited him in Chiclayo, and together they toured the coastal city by car: “Prevost loves to drive, and I was able to see the affection the people had for Padre Roberto, my bishop, as they called him.”

The prelate described him above all as “a simple, genuine, authentic person, somewhat reserved, but one who greatly values ​​fraternity” and highlighted his great “sensitivity to social justice, to the poorest, the most needy, and the oppressed.”

“He has great inner balance. He is a profound, serene, precise, thoughtful, and prayerful man. He’s not given to improvisation,” the undersecretary summarized, also highlighting his ability to work as part of a team.

“He will exercise global leadership, and his voice will be greatly taken into account,” he added. 

The 12 years he served as prior general of the Augustinians, from 2001 to 2013 — the order is present in 47 countries — gave him a vision of the universal Church that also demonstrated his abilities.

“During those years, he visited all the communities in the order, some several times, and embraced cultural diversity. He has a panoramic view of the universal Church; he knows it well,” the prelate explained.

Continuity with Francis

In January 2023, Pope Francis appointed him to head the Dicastery for Bishops, one of the most important departments of the Roman Curia, from which the future leadership of the Church is drawn.

“He had his full confidence. They had known each other since Prevost was prior general and [then-Jorge] Bergoglio was archbishop of Buenos Aires,” he recounted, recalling a pivotal episode in their relationship.

“Pope Francis had just been elected, and Prevost, who was ending his term as prior general, asked him, without much hope, to preside over the opening Mass of the general chapter of the Augustinians in St. Augustine Basilica in Rome. And he accepted. It was historic. Never before had a pope presided over the opening Eucharist of the general chapter of the Order of St. Augustine,” he noted.

In any case, Marín made it clear that Pope Leo XIV will not be a “Francis clone,” although “there will be continuity in many aspects.” 

The new pope is, above all, a man of profound interior life. He possesses a solid spirituality, forged through prayer, which is also reflected in his apostolate and his understanding of ecclesial leadership.

“Communion with Christ,” the prelate said, “leads us not only as priests but also all Christians to feel responsible for the Church. Each with a different vocation, but all co-responsible and interconnected to proclaim the risen Christ and bear witness to him in today’s world.”

For Marín, the election of this Augustinian as the successor of Peter has immense value: “It’s a blessing from God. An extraordinary gift not only for the order but for the universal Church. As you get to know Pope Leo XIV, you will see what a gift the Lord has given us, you will get to know his qualities. He is the right person for the right time.”

According to the undersecretary, the spirituality of the order to which the man who now sits on the chair of Peter belongs is based on four pillars: community life, interior life, integration into the world, and availability to the needs of the Church.

“The Church is like a family, the family of God, which, in love, integrates unity and diversity. I believe it is crucial to strengthen communion,” he emphasized after warning against empty activism.

“Furthermore, if we don’t cultivate the interior life, we’re not offering anything. We have to bear witness to Christ, to communicate him to the world. And we can only bear witness to Christ if we know him from experience. Because the risen Christ is a living person.” 

Marín concluded by recalling that Pope Leo XIV’s first words in his greeting to the people of God were those of the risen Christ: “Peace be with you all.”

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

null / Credit: BUTENKOV ALEKSEI/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Canadian government’s abolishment of a government ministry for disabled citizens underscores the government’s “demeaning attitude” toward disabled people, advocates say, particularly after the country opted to expand the national euthanasia program to include those with disabilities. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party leader who assumed office in March, unveiled his new cabinet last week vowing a government that will promote “new ideas, a clear focus, and decisive action.” 

Notably missing from the cabinet, however, was any minister charged directly with administering to the needs of disabled Canadians. 

The position was held most recently by Kamal Khera, who served as the country’s minister of diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities until March before she became the Canadian minister of health. 

Direct support for disabled Canadians has been ministered via a variety of government positions over the years. The position most recently vacated by Khera was first created in 2019. Following Khera’s departure it was consolidated under the minister of jobs and families. 

‘Demeaning attitude towards disabled Canadians’

Advocates have criticized the abolishment of the cabinet position that directly provided support for disabled Canadian citizens. Data show that slightly more than 25% of Canadians report having a disability of some kind.

Disability advocates say the removal of the ministry is particularly troubling in light of the government’s permitting disabled Canadians to seek euthanasia under the country’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law. The government in 2021 expanded the law to allow euthanasia for people who are not actively dying — an option known as “Track 2” — including those with disabilities. 

The Carney government’s “glaring omission of a minister for disabled Canadians” reflects “the demeaning attitude of the Liberal Party towards disabled Canadians,” said David Cooke, the campaigns manager for Campaign Life Coalition, a Canadian pro-life group. 

Cooke argued that the Carney government is “prioritizing euthanasia over improving medical and social supports for this vulnerable and marginalized group.”

The 2021 expansion of the euthanasia law, Cooke said, “defined disabled Canadians as ‘killable,’ allowing them to qualify for consensual death by lethal injection on the basis of their disability.”

Cooke pointed out that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities last month called for Canada to repeal the Track 2 provision of the euthanasia law. The U.N. committee said in its report that the expansion of the law was made “on the basis of negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities.”

Amanda Achtman, a pro-life activist who launched the anti-euthanasia group Dying to Meet You in 2023, said the abandonment of a disability cabinet position suggests disabled Canadians “have become less of a priority for the federal government.”

“The fact that the Canadian government now has a minister of artificial intelligence but not a minister for persons with disabilities is symptomatic of a broader cultural shift,” she said. 

Achtman pointed out, however, that the presence of a disabilities minister did not stop the expansion of the country’s euthanasia law to cover disabled Canadians. Earlier disability ministers voted for both the original 2016 law and the 2021 expansion. 

“There is a kind of social euthanasia that happens whenever a person is discarded, dismissed, or discounted,” she said of the law. 

Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Canadian Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, agreed. The disability ministry “was an important appointment,” he said, “except for the fact that the ministers who had the role did not share the point of view of the disability community concerning MAID.”

“The government needs to focus on providing the needs for people with disabilities but this should be done from the point of view of people with disabilities,” he said. 

Government data indicate a high percentage of individuals seeking euthanasia under Track 2 are disabled. The most recent Canadian government report on euthanasia found that, of those who reported a disability prior to being euthanized, more than 58% were under Track 2, meaning their deaths were not “reasonably foreseeable.”

The government in its report claims that “several enhanced safeguards are in place for individuals under Track 2 to provide additional protections.” Yet there are “some concerns regarding the quality and reliability” of data regarding disabilities, the government admitted. 

There are further possible expansions of Canada’s euthanasia law on the horizon: The federal government in 2027 will consider expanding MAID provisions to those suffering from mental illness.

The government has also considered allowing so-called “mature minors” to request to be killed by doctors, and the government is also debating whether to allow citizens to prearrange to be euthanized at a time when they are unable to consent to the procedure. 

Achtman acknowledged the “disappointment at the removal of this portfolio from cabinet,” though she said it presented “an opportunity to citizens to offer a corrective to the shortcomings of government when it comes to disability advocacy.” 

She quoted Pope Francis, who in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti wrote: “Only a gaze transformed by charity can enable the dignity of others to be recognized.”

“That gaze is at the heart of the authentic spirit of politics,” the late Holy Father wrote. “It sees paths open up that are different from those of a soulless pragmatism.”

Achtman argued that both Canadians and Americans should work to “find creative ways to ‘give voice’ to those with disabilities as Pope Francis said.”

This “depends on encounter, solidarity, and presence, experiences of which we are all capable,” she said.

Police patrol in Mexico City. / Credit: David Ramos/ACI Prensa

Puebla, Mexico, May 21, 2025 / 19:22 pm (CNA).

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference expressed its “profound consternation” following the assassination of two senior officials of the Mexico City government, which occurred Tuesday in the Mexican capital.

The victims of the shooting are Ximena Guzmán, private secretary to Clara Brugada, Mexico City’s mayor, and José Muñoz, adviser to the city government. 

“We join in the grief of their families, friends, and colleagues. To them, we express our closeness, prayers, and solidarity, asking God to grant them comfort, hope, and strength in the face of this painful loss,” the Mexican bishops expressed in a message following the assassinations.

The Mexico City government reported in a statement that the “direct attack” occurred in the Moderna neighborhood of the Benito Juárez borough, approximately four miles south of Mexico City’s historic Zócalo (main square).

“Personnel from the Mexico City Secretariat of Citizen Security and the attorney general’s office, both with support from the Mexican [federal] government, are already conducting the corresponding investigations to determine the motive for the attack. Additionally, video surveillance cameras in the area are being analyzed to identify the probable perpetrators, who are known to have been traveling on a motorcycle,” the Mexico City government stated. 

“There will be no impunity; those responsible will be arrested and must face justice,” the statement assured.

The Mexico City attorney general’s office stated that “according to initial reports, the incident occurred while the victims were in the course of their daily routines, when the vehicle they were traveling in was intercepted by individuals who reportedly opened fire from a motorcycle.”

“Departmental, forensic, and investigative police personnel are carrying out the corresponding investigations to determine the facts of the case,” he said, indicating that they are analyzing recordings “from video surveillance cameras in the area” and gathering information from witnesses “that will allow us to identify and locate the probable perpetrators.”

May Christ ‘sustain us in this dark moment’

In their statement, the Mexican bishops lamented that this recent crime “joins a painful chain of violent events that, as we noted in our statement of May 19, following the massacre of seven young people in Guanajuato, ‘is an alarming sign of the weakening of the social fabric, impunity, and the absence of peace in vast regions of our nation.’”

“As shepherds of the people of God, we do not resign ourselves to living with fear nor with violent death. We trust that, with the power of the Gospel and the collaboration of all, it is still possible to build a Mexico where life, justice, and peace flourish,” the bishops said.

“May Christ, our peace, sustain us in this dark moment. May Our Lady of Guadalupe, queen of peace, intercede for our nation,” they concluded.

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

Gold dome of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. / Credit: Rob Hainer/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 21, 2025 / 17:33 pm (CNA).

In response to national outcry over the case of Adriana Smith, a brain-dead pregnant woman on life support, the Georgia attorney general’s office released a statement clarifying that the state’s heartbeat law, which prohibits abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat, does not require Smith be kept alive.

“There is nothing in the LIFE act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” said the statement, issued by Attorney General Chris Carr’s office last week.  

Quoting the law itself, the statement continued: “Removing life support is not an action ‘with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.’”

Doctors at Emory University Hospital declared Smith, who was nine weeks pregnant at the time, brain dead in February after she was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in her brain. 

According to Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, doctors told her that Georgia’s law protecting unborn children with a heartbeat required that they keep Smith on life support until her child could be safely delivered.

Echoing the attorney general’s statement, a spokesperson for the Georgia state House told the Washington Post this week that the LIFE Act is “completely irrelevant” regarding Smith’s situation, saying “any implication otherwise is just another gross mischaracterization of the intent of this legislation by liberal media outlets and left-wing activists.”

Although he supports the hospital’s decision to keep the unborn child alive until viability, state Sen. Ed Stetzer, the original sponsor of the LIFE Act, told CNA last week that “the removal of the life support of the mother is a separate act” from an abortion.

David Gibbs III, a lawyer at the National Center for Life and Liberty who was a lead attorney in the Terri Schiavo case, said he thinks there may be a misunderstanding about which law the hospital is invoking in Smith’s case. Georgia’s Advance Directive for Health Care Act may be the law at play here, Gibbs told CNA.

Section 31-32-9 of that law states that if a woman is pregnant and “in a terminal condition or state of permanent unconsciousness” and the unborn child is viable, certain life-sustaining procedures may not be withdrawn.

“The majority of states have advance directive laws with a pregnancy exclusion,” Gibbs explained. 

“When in doubt, the law should err on the side of life,” he said.

A pregnancy exclusion means that if a patient is pregnant, the law prioritizes the survival of her unborn child over her stated wishes in an advance directive if there is a conflict between her wishes and the child’s well-being.

Several Democratic Georgia legislators have continued to demand the attorney general provide clarification of the heartbeat law, and some are calling for its repeal.

In a letter sent to the attorney general’s office last Friday, state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes characterized the hospital’s decision to keep Smith on life support to sustain the life of her unborn child as “inhumane” and called it “a grotesque distortion of medical ethics and human decency.” She asked the attorney general to “speak clearly and candidly” about the applicability of the law. 

In a statement released Monday, state Reps. Kim Schofield, Viola Davis, and Sandra Scott called Smith’s case “barbaric” and cited the “emotional torture” her family is enduring. They are calling for the repeal of Georgia’s heartbeat law, even though Carr made it clear on Friday that the LIFE Act does not require Smith be kept alive.

Joe Zalot, an ethicist and director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA Wednesday: “I don’t know what’s barbaric or inhumane about seeking to sustain the life of the unborn child, who is a fellow human being.”

For its part, Emory Healthcare released a statement saying that while it cannot comment on particular patients, it “uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”

“Our top priorities continue to be the safety and well-being of the patients we serve,” the statement continued.

Newkirk told 11Alive last week that Smith was transferred to Emory Midtown recently because she was told that the hospital is better at providing obstetric care.

On a GoFundMe page Newkirk has set up since the story broke last week, she said she was saddened to have “no say so regarding [Smith’s] lifeless body and unborn child,” who, she claimed, “will suffer disease which will lead to major disabilities.” 

Newkirk could not be reached for comment by time of publication.