![Florida diocese set to debut ‘Trinity Village’ offering tiny homes for seniors - #Catholic - The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, is preparing to debut an intimate village of micro-homes priced for seniors at risk of homelessness.The dioceseʼs "Trinity Village," located just a few blocks from Pensacola Bay on the Florida Panhandle, will offer the "tiny homes" at "affordable rents to individuals experiencing housing insecurity."The “target population” for the small parcel of homes is senior citizens, the diocese says, pointing out that the senior demographic is “one of the more vulnerable segments of the population” regarding housing costs.Groundbreaking for the project took place in September 2024. The site of the village was previously a vacant lot; the parcel is located directly behind the diocesan pastoral center.
Pensacola-Tallahassee Bishop William Wack (center) poses with other leaders at the site of Trinity Village in Pensacola, Florida, in September 2024. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee
Construction of the homes took place throughout 2025. The roughly 300-square-foot houses include a sleeping area, kitchen, living room, dining room and a bathroom, as well as on-site laundry.
Houses in Trinity Village in Pensacola stand under construction in July 2025. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee
Deacon Ray Aguado, the executive director of the Trinity House project, told EWTN News that the Pensacola population has increased “significantly” in recent years, while housing stock has not kept pace.“Rents in the area have increased and, in some cases, have more than doubled in the past 12-24 months,” he said. “Many citizens, especially seniors, make sacrifices in order to cover their higher cost of housing.”“These sacrifices include foregoing health care, cutting back on buying healthy foods, or missing meals altogether,” he noted.“Trinity Village will offer these tiny homes at affordable rents to these seniors,” he said. “Trinity Village will also offer case management and mentoring services to support residents in their personal growth and ensure they maintain sound physical and financial health.”Rent is expected to run $500 for the homes, with that price including utilities.At the outset of the project, Pensacola-Tallahassee Bishop William Wack described the project as a “wonderful way for this community to come together” and support a vulnerable population.“This is what we do as a Church. We donʼt just come together to pray, though that is an important part of what we do,” he said. “We come together [also] to build up the kingdom, to serve our brothers and sisters.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/florida-diocese-set-to-debut-trinity-village-offering-tiny-homes-for-seniors-catholic-the-diocese-of-pensacola-tallahassee-florida-is-preparing-to-debut-an-intimate-village-of.jpg)
The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee says the homes will include “affordable rents” to seniors at risk of homelessness.
Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. April 27: Comet Tempel 2 and NGC 6712 Jupiter’s large moon Ganymede begins passing behind the planet in an occultation late on the 27th. It then travels through the gas giant’s long, dark shadow to finally pop back into view early onContinue reading “The Sky Today on Tuesday, April 28: Ganymede passes through Jupiter’s shadow”
The post The Sky Today on Tuesday, April 28: Ganymede passes through Jupiter’s shadow appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.
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Discover Verona, Italy, with local recommendations for the best places to stay, eat, and explore.
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The X-59’s tail and jet engine feature a new marking — a Freedom 250 logo celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.
Read MoreLook down upon me, good and gentle Jesus
while before Your face I humbly kneel and,
with burning soul,
pray and beseech You
to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments
of faith, hope, and charity;
true contrition for my sins,
and a firm purpose of amendment.
While I contemplate,
with great love and tender pity,
Your five most precious wounds,
pondering over them within me
and calling to mind the words which David,
Your prophet, said to You, my Jesus:
“They have …
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Both war-torn countries will receive essential medications, and Ukraine will receive other needed items, including food and clothing.
The five saints chosen for the international youth gathering reflect the event’s spiritual themes of truth, love, and peace.
President Donald Trump has enthusiastically endorsed a clever viral proposal to rename Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “National Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” a move that would force the mainstream media and leftist critics to refer to federal agents as “NICE agents” every day.
The post Trump Endorses Adam Corolla’s Hilarious Viral Suggestion of What to Rename ICE: ‘GREAT IDEA!!! DO IT.’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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“Callers thank me for just being willing to listen and empathize. I really feel good after those calls,” Julie Abbott said.
British journalist, broadcaster, and former politician, Alex Phillips, Talk (formerly TalkTV) shared an emotional response following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, warning viewers to stay away from events if Democrats will be present because ‘You might get killed.” “Because yet again, somebody has attempted to take the life of US President Donald Trump, this time at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” “Now, the armed man, believed to be a teacher from Torrance in California and a Democrat supporter, had been staying in the hotel and had somehow managed to smuggle a cache of weapons in with him when he then took it upon himself to storm the dinner.
The post British Journalist Alex Phillips’ Emotional Response After WHCD Shooting: ‘Time to Address the Scourge of Left-Wing Pestilence’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Saying, “enough is enough,” First Lady Melania Trump called on the ABC television network to “take a stand” on late night host Jimmy Kimmel after he made an assassination joke about her and her husband President Donald Trump, saying she looked like an “expectant widow.” Kimmel, who has waged a years-long nasty personal feud with President Trump, is host of the long-running late night show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” ABC suspended Kimmel for several days last September over comments he made falsely blaming Trump supporters for the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk that month.
The post “Enough Is Enough”: Melania Trump Calls Out ABC Over Jimmy Kimmel’s “Expectant Widow” Assassination Insult appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Posters in Morristown celebrate achievements of noted priests, religious #Catholic – 
Quick — who was the Belgian theoretical physicist and mathematician who proposed the so-called Big Bang Theory and ultimately proved Albert Einstein wrong?
It was Msgr. Georges Lemaitre, a Roman Catholic priest, who theorized that the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago through expansion and cooling. Initially, Einstein and other noted scientists rejected the Big Bang Theory, but it later became the accepted explanation for the universe’s origin.
Msgr. Georges Lemaitre is one example of Catholic priests and religious who have greatly contributed to the world in areas such as science, technology, social justice, and education. Many of their stories, like Msgr. Lemaitre’s, appear on posters created by the Vocations Ministry of Assumption Parish in Morristown, N.J. Called “Did You Know…?” the project promotes vocations by highlighting these achievements.
Every few months, the Vocation Ministry produces two eye-catching posters featuring a priest or religious. One placard, which features a shorter story suitable for children, is displayed at Assumption School. The other, which presents a more detailed story for adults, is placed at the back of Assumption Church.
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“Priests, nuns, and religious have truly impacted science, social justice, human rights, and the founding of hospitals and universities. Catholic Thought, blending faith and reason with Jesus’ teachings, has inspired these advances,” said Kenneth Rose. He and his wife, Rosa, both ministry members, research and write each text together.
On each poster’s debut weekend, a bulletin blurb explains the “Did You Know…?” project and the story of the featured priest or religious. Parish priests also summarize the story from the ambo at Mass.
Msgr. John Hart, Assumption’s pastor and director of clergy personnel of the Paterson Diocese, N.J., enthusiastically supports the Vocations Ministry and the poster project.
“The poster project is meant to encourage people to understand that there is no dichotomy between faith and science, and that in fact, many priests and religious have been scientists and have advanced scientific knowledge,” Msgr. Hart said. “I’m very proud of everybody on our Vocations Ministry. It has been bearing good fruit.”
Another poster set highlighted Sister Mary Kenneth Keller of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was the first woman in the U.S. to earn a doctorate in computer science. She also taught math, physics, and computer languages and helped develop the BASIC computer language.
The most recent poster features Father Robert Grosseteste — a 13th-century English statesman, philosopher, scientist, and the Bishop of Lincoln, England — and Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar and philosopher. “Together, they helped lay foundations for the modern scientific method,” according to the poster. Next month, the ministry will focus on Father Gregor Mendel, an Austrian priest, biologist, and meteorologist, who is considered the father of modern genetics.
Sister of Charity Merris Larkin, principal of Assumption School, said, “People find the stories on the posters interesting.”
The principal said teaching and nursing were the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth’s original callings; their ministries have since expanded. In the diocese, the community founded St. Elizabeth University in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township, N.J., and St. Joseph University Medical Center in Paterson, N.J.
“The stories on the posters could enlighten people about the many different interests they can pursue that they might not have thought about,” Sister Larkin said.
Assumption was among the many parishes in the Paterson Diocese that started a Vocations Ministry under the direction of the diocesan Vocations Office to promote vocations. Along with the poster project, it has launched events such as World Marriage Day and programs such as the Traveling Chalice for Vocations, said Christine Myers, the ministry’s chairperson, whose son, Tom, is studying for the priesthood in Denver, Colo.
“Through the Vocations Ministry, we want to raise awareness about vocations and the significant contributions priests and religious have made to Western Civilization,” Myers said. “We hope to encourage a curiosity and appreciation for vocations.”
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– Quick — who was the Belgian theoretical physicist and mathematician who proposed the so-called Big Bang Theory and ultimately proved Albert Einstein wrong? It was Msgr. Georges Lemaitre, a Roman Catholic priest, who theorized that the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago through expansion and cooling. Initially, Einstein and other noted scientists rejected the Big Bang Theory, but it later became the accepted explanation for the universe’s origin. Msgr. Georges Lemaitre is one example of Catholic priests and religious who have greatly contributed to the world in areas such as science, technology, social justice, and education. Many of their
30 receive Sacrament of Confirmation at Stirling parish #Catholic – 
On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 12, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney confirmed 30 confirmandi at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in the Stirling neighborhood of Long Hill Township, N.J. Father Hernan Cely, St. Vincent’s pastor, and Father Jared Brogan, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, joined the 11 a.m. Mass, during which the confirmation candidates and their families were recognized for their hard work in preparation for this special event.
Jake Walters is the Family Faith Formation director at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.
– On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 12, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney confirmed 30 confirmandi at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in the Stirling neighborhood of Long Hill Township, N.J. Father Hernan Cely, St. Vincent’s pastor, and Father Jared Brogan, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, joined the 11 a.m. Mass, during which the confirmation candidates and their families were recognized for their hard work in preparation for this special event. Jake Walters is the Family Faith Formation director at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a the wake of yet another failed assassination attempt against President Trump, leading Democrats across the nation announced they would observe the long-standing tradition of a five-minute pause in calling Trump "literally Hitler".
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Flower buds of a Camellia × williamsii ‘Jury’s Yellow’. Focus stack of 16 photos.
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Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. April 26: A look at enigmatic Gamma Cas Comet 10P/Tempel, also called Tempel 2, is continuing to brighten in the early-morning sky. Rising around midnight and visible until the sky streaks with dawn, two hours before sunrise on April 27 you’ll findContinue reading “The Sky Today on Monday, April 27: Comet Tempel 2 and NGC 6712”
The post The Sky Today on Monday, April 27: Comet Tempel 2 and NGC 6712 appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.
Read MoreEternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.
Read MoreA reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 11:1-18
The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem
the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.”
Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,
“I was at prayer in the city of Joppa
when in a trance I had a vision,
something resembling a large sheet coming down,
lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me.
Looking intently into it,
I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth,
the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’
But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir,
because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
But a second time a voice from heaven answered,
‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’
This happened three times,
and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.
Just then three men appeared at the house where we were,
who had been sent to me from Caesarea.
The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating.
These six brothers also went with me,
and we entered the man’s house.
He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,
‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,
who will speak words to you
by which you and all your household will be saved.’
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning,
and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said,
‘John baptized with water
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us
when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to be able to hinder God?”
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,
“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
From the Gospel according to John
10:11-18
Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd
and whose sheep are not his own,
sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,
and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.
These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,
and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
Jesus, Good Shepherd and door of the sheep, is a leader whose authority is expressed in service, a leader who, in order to command, gives his life and does not ask others to sacrifice theirs. One can trust in a leader like this, as the sheep who heed their shepherd’s voice because they know that with him one goes to good and abundant pastures. A signal, a call suffices, and they follow; they obey; they begin to walk, guided by the voice of the One whom they feel as a friendly presence, strong and mild at once, who calls, protects, consoles and soothes. This is how Christ is for us. There is a dimension of the Christian experience, that perhaps we leave somewhat in the shadows: the spiritual and affective dimension. Feeling connected to the Lord by a special bond, as sheep to their shepherd. At times we rationalize faith too much and we run the risk of losing the perception of the timbre of that voice, of the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd, which motivates and fascinates. (…) To him we are never strangers, but friends and brothers. Yet it is not always easy to discern the Good Shepherd’s voice. Be careful. There is always the risk of being distracted by the din of so many other voices. Today we are invited not to let ourselves be distracted by the false wisdom of this world, but to follow Jesus, the Risen One, as the one sure guide who gives meaning to our life. (Pope Francis, Regina caeli, 7 May 2017)
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Buellton, California, is home to the longest zip line in the state and a movie-famous motel.
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Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned violence, and Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio said the issue of gun violence must be addressed.
Just hours after an armed gunman opened fire inside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Donald Trump held a no-holds-barred press conference from the White House late Saturday night, during which he explained that he is “honored,” in a way, by the multiple assassination attempts.
The post Trump: ‘I Hate to Say I’m Honored’ by Repeated Assassination Attempts, ‘They Go After the Most Impactful People’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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The deeply red state of Mississippi is planning to redraw its district map based on the SCOTUS case about race-based districts and this move will benefit Republicans, possibly even aiding the GOP in the midterms.
The post Mississippi Governor Says He Will Call Special Session to Redraw District Maps After SCOTUS Ruling on Race-Based Districts appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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The pope ordained 10 men to the priesthood on Good Shepherd Sunday and later warned at the Regina Caeli against the “thieves” that rob people of freedom, dignity, and peace.
The U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Preservation Fund will finance the project, which will repair and waterproof thatched roofs, reconstruct buttresses, and restore exterior walls and façades.
On World Vocations Day, EWTN News pays tribute to a woman called the “caregiver of vocations” in a place where Catholics are a minority.
When your soul yearns for inspiration, there is no better place to turn than the Word of God. Be lifted up by these seven amazing quotes from Scripture:
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Picture of the day Teichbachtal near Gütenbach/Simonswald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany #ImageOfTheDay
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Teichbachtal near Gütenbach/Simonswald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Before the closing of the day,
Creator, we Thee humbly pray,
That, for Thy wonted mercy’s sake,
Thou us under protection take.
May nothing in our minds excite
Vain dreams and phantoms of the night;
Our enemies repress, that so
Our bodies no uncleanness know.
In this, most gracious Father, hear,
With Christ, Thy equal Son, our prayer;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Doth live and reign eternally.
Amen.
Read MoreA reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
"Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
"What are we to do, my brothers?"
Peter said to them,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call."
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
"Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.
A Reading from the First Letter of St. Peter
2:20b-25
Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
From the Gospel according to John
10:1-10
Jesus said:
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
After bringing us back into God’s embrace and into the fold of the Church, Jesus is the door that leads us back into the world. He urges us to go forth to encounter our brothers and sisters. Let us never forget that all of us, without exception, are called to this; we are called to step out of our comfort zones and find the courage to reach out to all those peripheries that need the light of the Gospel (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 20). Brothers and sisters, “going forth” means that we, like Jesus, must become open doors. How sad and painful it is to see closed doors. The closed doors of our selfishness with regard to others; the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference towards the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close towards those who are foreign or unlike us, towards migrants or the poor. Closed doors also within our ecclesial communities: doors closed to other people, closed to the world, closed to those who are “irregular”, closed to those who long for God’s forgiveness. Please, brothers and sisters, let us open those doors! Let us try to be – in our words, deeds and daily activities – like Jesus, an open door: a door that is never shut in anyone’s face, a door that enables everyone to enter and experience the beauty of the Lord’s love and forgiveness. (Pope Francis, Homily, Kossuth Lajos’ Square, Budapest, 30 April 2023)
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This image that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured of the Crab Nebula, paired with its past observations and those of other telescopes, allows astronomers to study how the supernova remnant is expanding and evolving over time.
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“Jesus was waiting for us,” a priest in southern Lebanon said after returning to his damaged church in the town of Tbenine following the ceasefire on April 17.
Born April 25, 1710, to farmers in Scotland, James Ferguson only had three months of formal education. Despite working as a shepherd, he taught himself mechanics and astronomy, using his evenings to map the skies with beads and string. He went on to become a repairer of clocks, and applied those mechanical skills to hisContinue reading “April 25, 1710: The birth of James Ferguson”
The post April 25, 1710: The birth of James Ferguson appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.
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Israel and Poland’s foreign ministers argue on X, a mosaic of Jesus by a survivor of Nazism will be saved, South Korea’s Catholic population grows, and more in this week’s world news roundup.
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![7 powerful moments from Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Africa – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV recently completed an 11-day trip visiting the faithful in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. With stops in 11 cities across those countries, the Holy Father met with the youth, political leaders, prisoners, families, and many more to share the Gospel message.Here are seven powerful moments from Pope Leo’s trip to Africa:1. Moving visit to the land of St. AugustinePope Leo XIV traveled from Algiers to Annaba — ancient Hippo — in what for the Augustinian pontiff amounted to a return to the roots of his faith and vocation.After a flight of about an hour, the pope arrived in the city most closely associated with St. Augustine, who served as bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430.Despite pouring rain, the pope walked through the ruins and, at the end of the route, laid a wreath of flowers and stopped for a moment of prayer, visibly moved.Tweet2. Visit to the Great Mosque of AlgiersWhile in Algeria, the pope visited the Great Mosque of Algiers (Djamaa el Djazaïr), often referred to as the “Mosque of Algeria.” Featuring the world’s tallest minaret — rising approximately 265 meters (about 870 feet) — and ranking as the third-largest mosque after those in Mecca and Medina, the monumental complex can accommodate up to 120,000 worshippers.TweetThe tradition of popes visiting mosques began with Pope John Paul II, who in 2001 became the first pope in history known to have entered a mosque when he visited the Great Mosque of Damascus in the capital of Syria.Pope Leo addressed criticism directed toward him on April 15 on board the papal plane after leaving Algiers bound for Cameroon.“I think the visit to the mosque was significant [and showed] that although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshipping, we have different ways of living, we can [still] live together in peace,” the Holy Father said.“I think that to promote that kind of image is something which the world needs to hear today,” he said, arguing that such visits show that “together we can continue to offer in our witness as we continue on this apostolic voyage.”3. Joy-filled children welcome Pope Leo in CameroonPope Leo XIV was welcomed by the songs and dances of children at the Ngul Zamba Orphanage in Yaoundé, Cameroon.“Dear children, I know that many of you have endured difficult trials. Some of you have known the pain of loss through the death of parents or loved ones. Others have experienced fear, rejection, abandonment, deprivation, and uncertainty. Yet, you are called to a future that is greater than your wounds. You are bearers of a promise," the pope said.Run for 40 years by the religious congregation the Daughters of Mary, the Ngul Zamba Orphanage — whose name means “Strength of God” — provides food, lodging, and education to poor or abandoned children.In another heartfelt moment, at the end of the afternoon Mass in Bamenda, Cameroon, as the pope was preparing to leave the airport and get into his car, a little girl ran up to hug him. This spontaneous gesture, amid the joy and emotion of the 20,000 present, captured the hearts of millions around the world.Facebook post4. Rosary gathering at the Mama Muxima ShrineWhile in Angola, Pope Leo took part in a rosary gathering at the Marian shrine of Mama Muxima.The shrine, whose name means “Mother of the Heart” in Kimbundu, is one of Angola’s best-known Marian sanctuaries. Built by the Portuguese in the 17th century on a hill overlooking the Kwanza River, it has long been a place of pilgrimage and prayer for Angolan Catholics.The crowd in attendance erupted into applause when the Holy Father spoke in Kimbundu, a Bantu language spoken in Angola.He said: “Mama Muxima, tueza kokué, Mama Muxima, tutambululé,” which means: “Mother of the heart, we come to you; Mother of the heart, receive us.”Tweet5. Pope Leo visits psychiatric hospitalThe Holy Father visited the Jean-Pierre Olié Psychiatric Hospital in Equatorial Guinea. With its six pavilions, it represents a major development in the treatment of mental illness in Equatorial Guinea, where psychiatric disorders were historically neglected. Founded in 2014, it is the country’s first modern center of its kind and has become a symbol of the national commitment to integrating patients into society.The event included songs, dancing, and testimonies from both the hospital’s director and a patient, Pedro Celestino Nzerem Koose. A moving poem by a former patient was also recited.“Whenever I visit a hospital, I have mixed feelings: on the one hand, I feel sorrow for the patients and their families. On the other, I admire and am comforted by all that is done there each day to serve human life,” the pope said in an address delivered in Spanish. “I feel the same way here, but today, I find — and I hope the same is true for you — that joy prevails. It is the joy of meeting in the name of the Lord and of caring for those who are in frail health.”Tweet6. Pope Leo visits a prisonThe pope paid a visit to the Bata penitentiary in Equatorial Guinea and told inmates that “no one is excluded from God’s love” and urged them to see that even behind bars, there remains the possibility of change, reconciliation, and hope.This local prison is one of the country’s harshest and long known for difficult detention conditions.One of the more than 600 inmates thanked the pope for his visit and support.“We wish to thank you for your visit and your support,” the prisoner said. “Your presence reminds us of the importance of faith and redemption. We ask for your blessing to keep moving forward and to come out of this as better people. We are grateful for your compassion and for your message of hope.”Tweet7. The final Mass in AfricaPope Leo XIV celebrated the final Mass of his Africa trip at Malabo’s stadium, urging the Church in Equatorial Guinea to continue proclaiming the Gospel “with passion” and to bear witness through lives shaped by faith, service, and solidarity.The Mass in the stadium, where about 30,000 faithful were expected, marked the pope’s last major public event in Equatorial Guinea, the fourth and final African nation on his 11-day journey.After riding through the crowd in the popemobile, Leo began Mass amid flags, songs, and colorful hats, with music and dance accompanying the liturgy.The Holy Father also prayed before an image of Our Lady of Bisila, mother and patroness of Equatorial Guinea.Clothed in white and blue, carrying the child Jesus on her back in the traditional African way, the Virgin of Bisila shows a mother who walks with her people in every struggle and hope. According to local tradition, she appeared to a humble Bubi woman on Bioko Island in the early 20th century (exact year is not clearly attested), and love of her grew until she became the beloved icon of the nation’s Marian devotion.Tweet](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/7-powerful-moments-from-pope-leo-xivs-trip-to-africa-catholic-pope-leo-xiv-recently-completed-an-11-day-trip-visiting-the-faithful-in-algeria-cameroon-angola-and-equatorial-guinea-wi-scaled.jpg "7 powerful moments from Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Africa – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV recently completed an 11-day trip visiting the faithful in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. With stops in 11 cities across those countries, the Holy Father met with the youth, political leaders, prisoners, families, and many more to share the Gospel message.Here are seven powerful moments from Pope Leo’s trip to Africa:1. Moving visit to the land of St. AugustinePope Leo XIV traveled from Algiers to Annaba — ancient Hippo — in what for the Augustinian pontiff amounted to a return to the roots of his faith and vocation.After a flight of about an hour, the pope arrived in the city most closely associated with St. Augustine, who served as bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430.Despite pouring rain, the pope walked through the ruins and, at the end of the route, laid a wreath of flowers and stopped for a moment of prayer, visibly moved.Tweet2. Visit to the Great Mosque of AlgiersWhile in Algeria, the pope visited the Great Mosque of Algiers (Djamaa el Djazaïr), often referred to as the “Mosque of Algeria.” Featuring the world’s tallest minaret — rising approximately 265 meters (about 870 feet) — and ranking as the third-largest mosque after those in Mecca and Medina, the monumental complex can accommodate up to 120,000 worshippers.TweetThe tradition of popes visiting mosques began with Pope John Paul II, who in 2001 became the first pope in history known to have entered a mosque when he visited the Great Mosque of Damascus in the capital of Syria.Pope Leo addressed criticism directed toward him on April 15 on board the papal plane after leaving Algiers bound for Cameroon.“I think the visit to the mosque was significant [and showed] that although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshipping, we have different ways of living, we can [still] live together in peace,” the Holy Father said.“I think that to promote that kind of image is something which the world needs to hear today,” he said, arguing that such visits show that “together we can continue to offer in our witness as we continue on this apostolic voyage.”3. Joy-filled children welcome Pope Leo in CameroonPope Leo XIV was welcomed by the songs and dances of children at the Ngul Zamba Orphanage in Yaoundé, Cameroon.“Dear children, I know that many of you have endured difficult trials. Some of you have known the pain of loss through the death of parents or loved ones. Others have experienced fear, rejection, abandonment, deprivation, and uncertainty. Yet, you are called to a future that is greater than your wounds. You are bearers of a promise,\" the pope said.Run for 40 years by the religious congregation the Daughters of Mary, the Ngul Zamba Orphanage — whose name means “Strength of God” — provides food, lodging, and education to poor or abandoned children.In another heartfelt moment, at the end of the afternoon Mass in Bamenda, Cameroon, as the pope was preparing to leave the airport and get into his car, a little girl ran up to hug him. This spontaneous gesture, amid the joy and emotion of the 20,000 present, captured the hearts of millions around the world.Facebook post4. Rosary gathering at the Mama Muxima ShrineWhile in Angola, Pope Leo took part in a rosary gathering at the Marian shrine of Mama Muxima.The shrine, whose name means “Mother of the Heart” in Kimbundu, is one of Angola’s best-known Marian sanctuaries. Built by the Portuguese in the 17th century on a hill overlooking the Kwanza River, it has long been a place of pilgrimage and prayer for Angolan Catholics.The crowd in attendance erupted into applause when the Holy Father spoke in Kimbundu, a Bantu language spoken in Angola.He said: “Mama Muxima, tueza kokué, Mama Muxima, tutambululé,” which means: “Mother of the heart, we come to you; Mother of the heart, receive us.”Tweet5. Pope Leo visits psychiatric hospitalThe Holy Father visited the Jean-Pierre Olié Psychiatric Hospital in Equatorial Guinea. With its six pavilions, it represents a major development in the treatment of mental illness in Equatorial Guinea, where psychiatric disorders were historically neglected. Founded in 2014, it is the country’s first modern center of its kind and has become a symbol of the national commitment to integrating patients into society.The event included songs, dancing, and testimonies from both the hospital’s director and a patient, Pedro Celestino Nzerem Koose. A moving poem by a former patient was also recited.“Whenever I visit a hospital, I have mixed feelings: on the one hand, I feel sorrow for the patients and their families. On the other, I admire and am comforted by all that is done there each day to serve human life,” the pope said in an address delivered in Spanish. “I feel the same way here, but today, I find — and I hope the same is true for you — that joy prevails. It is the joy of meeting in the name of the Lord and of caring for those who are in frail health.”Tweet6. Pope Leo visits a prisonThe pope paid a visit to the Bata penitentiary in Equatorial Guinea and told inmates that “no one is excluded from God’s love” and urged them to see that even behind bars, there remains the possibility of change, reconciliation, and hope.This local prison is one of the country’s harshest and long known for difficult detention conditions.One of the more than 600 inmates thanked the pope for his visit and support.“We wish to thank you for your visit and your support,” the prisoner said. “Your presence reminds us of the importance of faith and redemption. We ask for your blessing to keep moving forward and to come out of this as better people. We are grateful for your compassion and for your message of hope.”Tweet7. The final Mass in AfricaPope Leo XIV celebrated the final Mass of his Africa trip at Malabo’s stadium, urging the Church in Equatorial Guinea to continue proclaiming the Gospel “with passion” and to bear witness through lives shaped by faith, service, and solidarity.The Mass in the stadium, where about 30,000 faithful were expected, marked the pope’s last major public event in Equatorial Guinea, the fourth and final African nation on his 11-day journey.After riding through the crowd in the popemobile, Leo began Mass amid flags, songs, and colorful hats, with music and dance accompanying the liturgy.The Holy Father also prayed before an image of Our Lady of Bisila, mother and patroness of Equatorial Guinea.Clothed in white and blue, carrying the child Jesus on her back in the traditional African way, the Virgin of Bisila shows a mother who walks with her people in every struggle and hope. According to local tradition, she appeared to a humble Bubi woman on Bioko Island in the early 20th century (exact year is not clearly attested), and love of her grew until she became the beloved icon of the nation’s Marian devotion.Tweet")
Pope Leo XIV spent 11 days in Africa from April 13–23 and visited Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.
![‘A profound experience’: Voices from Africa reflect on Pope Leo’s papal visit – #Catholic – The final moments of Pope Leo XIV’s 11-day apostolic journey to Africa were more than the Eucharistic celebration at Equatorial Guinea’s Malabo Stadium; they were a convergence of lived testimonies captured in one phrase: “a profound experience of faith.”At the packed event at the stadium on April 23, the Holy Father formally concluded his visit with Mass, closing a four-nation pastoral visit that took him to 11 cities in northern, central, and southern Africa.“The time has come for me to say farewell to Equatorial Guinea and also to Africa,” Pope Leo XIV said at the end of the Mass, situating his departure within what he termed a grace-filled journey “that God has allowed me to make.”He reflected on the significance of his April 13–23 encounters in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea, stating: “I carry from Africa an invaluable treasure of faith, hope, and charity.”Those who spoke to ACI Africa at the concluding Mass expressed a comparable assessment, also characterizing Pope Leo XIV’s presence on the continent as a treasure.‘A profound experience of faith’For Father Jose Fernando Liso, 44, the defining takeaway lay less in the logistical success than in its spiritual benefits.“I believe it has been a profound experience of faith,” he told ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa.Situating the events of the papal visit within the collective effort of the clergy, women and men religious, and the lay faithful, the parish priest of St. Anthony Abad Parish of the Archdiocese of Malabo said the experience “has involved fatigue, hard work, ups and downs.”Yet for Liso its real significance will be measured in its aftermath, he said, emphasizing the virtue of responsibility.“The responsibility, the growth of our nation as a Church and of our nation as a whole, depends on the responsible decisions that each of us … make,” he said, referencing a key theme he attributed to the Holy Father’s broader reflections during his maiden trip to Africa as pope.Also at Malabo Stadium for the closing Mass was Maria Lourdes Ndong Esono, 57, who framed her experience through a recollection that links two papacies across decades.“We were thrilled with the pope’s visit; it couldn’t have come at a better time,” she said.Esono recalled “walking from Malabo to the airport to see Pope John Paul II” alongside her pregnant mother in February 1982 and expressing gratitude, adding: “Today I got to see Leo XIV.”Encouragement amid loss and uncertaintyFor Sister Gertrude Ehizokhale of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, Pope Leo XIV’s impact was both affective and pastoral.Having served in Equatorial Guinea for nearly two years, the native of Nigeria interpreted the papal visit through the lens of missionary presence and local context.“I’m so happy because the pope came all the way from Rome to visit us,” she said.Her reaction to the Holy Father’s homily focused on its motivational dimension: “His words … really gave me that more encouragement.”More specifically, she pointed to the pope’s reference to the death, in controversial circumstances, of Father Fortunato Nsue Esono, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Malabo, just days before the arrival of the Holy Father in Equatorial Guinea.For Ehizokhale, the pope’s words of consolation and call for truth and justice at the beginning of his homily functioned as a stabilizing intervention. “That encouraged us … [who] were a bit discouraged,” she said.From the papal homily, she highlighted a call to generosity, “not to be attached to only to ourselves but to others also, learn to give” as well as a preferential concern for the poor, which she interpreted as a source of consolation and the assurance “that we have God on our side.”Peace, joy, and national framingNarciso Pedro Nsue, the president of Radio Maria Equatorial Guinea, situated the papal visit within a broader communicative and national context.“The pope brings peace, joy, and hope to the entire country,” Narciso told ACI Africa.He emphasized that Equatorial Guinea as “the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa,” suggesting that the presence of Pope Leo XIV in his native country carries representational significance beyond strictly ecclesial boundaries.For 19-year-old Ricardo Bibang Bonsundi, a representative of the Bixió tribe who was at the stadium adorned in traditional attire, he attended “to extend greetings and welcome to the people and to Pope Leo XIV.”This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/a-profound-experience-voices-from-africa-reflect-on-pope-leos-papal-visit-catholic-the-final-moments-of-pope-leo-xivs-11-day-apostolic-journey-to-africa-were.webp "‘A profound experience’: Voices from Africa reflect on Pope Leo’s papal visit – #Catholic – The final moments of Pope Leo XIV’s 11-day apostolic journey to Africa were more than the Eucharistic celebration at Equatorial Guinea’s Malabo Stadium; they were a convergence of lived testimonies captured in one phrase: “a profound experience of faith.”At the packed event at the stadium on April 23, the Holy Father formally concluded his visit with Mass, closing a four-nation pastoral visit that took him to 11 cities in northern, central, and southern Africa.“The time has come for me to say farewell to Equatorial Guinea and also to Africa,” Pope Leo XIV said at the end of the Mass, situating his departure within what he termed a grace-filled journey “that God has allowed me to make.”He reflected on the significance of his April 13–23 encounters in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea, stating: “I carry from Africa an invaluable treasure of faith, hope, and charity.”Those who spoke to ACI Africa at the concluding Mass expressed a comparable assessment, also characterizing Pope Leo XIV’s presence on the continent as a treasure.‘A profound experience of faith’For Father Jose Fernando Liso, 44, the defining takeaway lay less in the logistical success than in its spiritual benefits.“I believe it has been a profound experience of faith,” he told ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa.Situating the events of the papal visit within the collective effort of the clergy, women and men religious, and the lay faithful, the parish priest of St. Anthony Abad Parish of the Archdiocese of Malabo said the experience “has involved fatigue, hard work, ups and downs.”Yet for Liso its real significance will be measured in its aftermath, he said, emphasizing the virtue of responsibility.“The responsibility, the growth of our nation as a Church and of our nation as a whole, depends on the responsible decisions that each of us … make,” he said, referencing a key theme he attributed to the Holy Father’s broader reflections during his maiden trip to Africa as pope.Also at Malabo Stadium for the closing Mass was Maria Lourdes Ndong Esono, 57, who framed her experience through a recollection that links two papacies across decades.“We were thrilled with the pope’s visit; it couldn’t have come at a better time,” she said.Esono recalled “walking from Malabo to the airport to see Pope John Paul II” alongside her pregnant mother in February 1982 and expressing gratitude, adding: “Today I got to see Leo XIV.”Encouragement amid loss and uncertaintyFor Sister Gertrude Ehizokhale of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, Pope Leo XIV’s impact was both affective and pastoral.Having served in Equatorial Guinea for nearly two years, the native of Nigeria interpreted the papal visit through the lens of missionary presence and local context.“I’m so happy because the pope came all the way from Rome to visit us,” she said.Her reaction to the Holy Father’s homily focused on its motivational dimension: “His words … really gave me that more encouragement.”More specifically, she pointed to the pope’s reference to the death, in controversial circumstances, of Father Fortunato Nsue Esono, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Malabo, just days before the arrival of the Holy Father in Equatorial Guinea.For Ehizokhale, the pope’s words of consolation and call for truth and justice at the beginning of his homily functioned as a stabilizing intervention. “That encouraged us … [who] were a bit discouraged,” she said.From the papal homily, she highlighted a call to generosity, “not to be attached to only to ourselves but to others also, learn to give” as well as a preferential concern for the poor, which she interpreted as a source of consolation and the assurance “that we have God on our side.”Peace, joy, and national framingNarciso Pedro Nsue, the president of Radio Maria Equatorial Guinea, situated the papal visit within a broader communicative and national context.“The pope brings peace, joy, and hope to the entire country,” Narciso told ACI Africa.He emphasized that Equatorial Guinea as “the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa,” suggesting that the presence of Pope Leo XIV in his native country carries representational significance beyond strictly ecclesial boundaries.For 19-year-old Ricardo Bibang Bonsundi, a representative of the Bixió tribe who was at the stadium adorned in traditional attire, he attended “to extend greetings and welcome to the people and to Pope Leo XIV.”This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.")
Four attendees at Pope Leo XIV’s final Mass in Africa in Equatorial Guinea share their testimonies.
![Nebraska pro-life ministry brings ultrasounds to classrooms across the U.S. – #Catholic – On the 2012 anniversary of Roe v. Wade, during a Holy Hour, Nikki Schaefer and her 7-year-old daughter, Grace, were inspired to begin a simple ministry selling hand-sewn pro-life pillows to raise money for pregnancy centers. Today, Heart of a Child Ministries has expanded into a fetal development education program present in K–12 classrooms across the country.The ministryʼs initial sale of the pro-life pillow raised roughly $40,000 shortly after they began, Schaefer told EWTN News. “With the sale of the pillow, we were featured in an article, and that’s how the first invitations to schools started to emerge in 2015.”“So, itʼs been 11 years since weʼve been in schools,” Schaefer said. “Since that first presentation, all kinds of things have come forth: We have presented in eight different states, we are all over the state of Nebraska, we have developed a K-4 Celebration of Life program, a fifth through sixth program, a middle school, and a high school and beyond program.”Founded in Omaha, Nebraska, Heart of a Child Ministries is growing into a multistate presence, with two new fetal certified educators in Illinois, one in Springfield and another set to be trained in Mokena in October. The organization also now has certified educators in Alabama and Idaho. Fetal development education for every levelHeart of a Child’s fetal development education brings live ultrasounds to classrooms in a way that is specially tailored to suit each grade level. Its K–4 program centers on “fun fetal facts for kids” and includes “all kinds of hands-on things,” such as a team of musicians who play songs, according to Schaefer. “The kids absolutely love it,” she said. “We’re just putting the joy of life in front of them.”Having the foundation of a K–4 program is crucial, according to Schaefer. “It really solidifies the deal — it puts the truth in their hearts from the very beginning so that when the lies start coming in middle school through social media, through their friends, they’ve already seen an ultrasound; they’ve already learned all these amazing facts about what’s happening.”Through middle school, the curriculum progresses with more detailed fetal development facts, adoption stories, and begins addressing the abortion issue. In high school, the live ultrasound and fetal development education is supplemented with more detailed information about abortion, a testimonial speaker, and a panel discussion.The ministry’s first college event on March 30, sponsored by Turning Point USA, utilized this format. The event took place at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska, and included a panel of two OB-GYN doctors, a representative for the abortion pill reversal (APR), Teresa Kenney, host of the Hormone Genius podcast, and other pro-life experts.“We feel confident that when kids walk away from that, their hearts are changed, their hearts are moved, and we have the statistics to prove that,” Schaefer said, noting their events have had “a 56% conversion rate on average” among students regarding the topic of abortion.Schaefer emphasized that the root of the program’s success is its holistic approach, acknowledging that each child processes information differently depending on age, personality, and maturity.“Every piece that we do is extremely important because it hits kids at different levels,” she said. “Some kids are more logical, right? They want the facts. Some kids are more heart. They want to hear a testimonial for some from someone who had an abortion, and it affected them. That’s what’s going to touch their hearts.”9 months of pregnancy for 9 months of schoolApart from its latest multistate expansion, Heart of a Child has also debuted a fetal development curriculum for teachers to implement in their classrooms year-round.Titled “The Journey Within,” the teacher-led curriculum takes students through nine months of pregnancy during nine months of the school year, with posters, fetal development PowerPoints, ultrasound videos, studies, and images of babies in the womb.A version of the curriculum is available for both public and Catholic schools and has been vetted by a medical panel for accuracy, Schaefer noted.“For Catholic schools, we have a spiritual component where each month the teachers go through Scripture readings or a Church teaching, and the kids reflect on that, write about that, and go deeper,” she said. The faith-based curriculum operates under a “4S model” that incorporates Scripture, science, stories, and service. Each faith-based school that Heart of a Child presents to completes a service project, such as raising money to buy diapers for pro-life pregnancy centers.Schaefer emphasized the importance of fetal development curriculum today, noting that “right now the buzz in pro-life education and the pro-life movement in general is that different states have passed a law requiring fetal development education.”States that have laws requiring fetal development education in public schools include Tennessee, Idaho, North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, Iowa, and Ohio. Lobbying efforts in Nebraska to pass similar legislation have yet to be successful, Schaefer said, citing difficulty in finding a senator to prioritize a bill with precise language.“We’ve been meeting with senators, and unfortunately the bill they came up with [had] the potential for a Planned Parenthood to get in there and do fetal development education because it was too loose,” she said. “So weʼve recommended the senators to go back and redo the language, and it might be where certain fetal development programs are required in the state of Nebraska.”Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has signaled his support of efforts to pass legislation requiring education on fetal development in Nebraska public schools, telling EWTN News in an interview earlier this year: “I am 100% behind it and am supportive of it.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/nebraska-pro-life-ministry-brings-ultrasounds-to-classrooms-across-the-u-s-catholic-on-the-2012-anniversary-of-roe-v-wade-during-a-holy-hour-nikki-schaefer-and-her-7-year-old-daughter-grace-scaled.jpg "Nebraska pro-life ministry brings ultrasounds to classrooms across the U.S. – #Catholic – On the 2012 anniversary of Roe v. Wade, during a Holy Hour, Nikki Schaefer and her 7-year-old daughter, Grace, were inspired to begin a simple ministry selling hand-sewn pro-life pillows to raise money for pregnancy centers. Today, Heart of a Child Ministries has expanded into a fetal development education program present in K–12 classrooms across the country.The ministryʼs initial sale of the pro-life pillow raised roughly $40,000 shortly after they began, Schaefer told EWTN News. “With the sale of the pillow, we were featured in an article, and that’s how the first invitations to schools started to emerge in 2015.”“So, itʼs been 11 years since weʼve been in schools,” Schaefer said. “Since that first presentation, all kinds of things have come forth: We have presented in eight different states, we are all over the state of Nebraska, we have developed a K-4 Celebration of Life program, a fifth through sixth program, a middle school, and a high school and beyond program.”Founded in Omaha, Nebraska, Heart of a Child Ministries is growing into a multistate presence, with two new fetal certified educators in Illinois, one in Springfield and another set to be trained in Mokena in October. The organization also now has certified educators in Alabama and Idaho. Fetal development education for every levelHeart of a Child’s fetal development education brings live ultrasounds to classrooms in a way that is specially tailored to suit each grade level. Its K–4 program centers on “fun fetal facts for kids” and includes “all kinds of hands-on things,” such as a team of musicians who play songs, according to Schaefer. “The kids absolutely love it,” she said. “We’re just putting the joy of life in front of them.”Having the foundation of a K–4 program is crucial, according to Schaefer. “It really solidifies the deal — it puts the truth in their hearts from the very beginning so that when the lies start coming in middle school through social media, through their friends, they’ve already seen an ultrasound; they’ve already learned all these amazing facts about what’s happening.”Through middle school, the curriculum progresses with more detailed fetal development facts, adoption stories, and begins addressing the abortion issue. In high school, the live ultrasound and fetal development education is supplemented with more detailed information about abortion, a testimonial speaker, and a panel discussion.The ministry’s first college event on March 30, sponsored by Turning Point USA, utilized this format. The event took place at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska, and included a panel of two OB-GYN doctors, a representative for the abortion pill reversal (APR), Teresa Kenney, host of the Hormone Genius podcast, and other pro-life experts.“We feel confident that when kids walk away from that, their hearts are changed, their hearts are moved, and we have the statistics to prove that,” Schaefer said, noting their events have had “a 56% conversion rate on average” among students regarding the topic of abortion.Schaefer emphasized that the root of the program’s success is its holistic approach, acknowledging that each child processes information differently depending on age, personality, and maturity.“Every piece that we do is extremely important because it hits kids at different levels,” she said. “Some kids are more logical, right? They want the facts. Some kids are more heart. They want to hear a testimonial for some from someone who had an abortion, and it affected them. That’s what’s going to touch their hearts.”9 months of pregnancy for 9 months of schoolApart from its latest multistate expansion, Heart of a Child has also debuted a fetal development curriculum for teachers to implement in their classrooms year-round.Titled “The Journey Within,” the teacher-led curriculum takes students through nine months of pregnancy during nine months of the school year, with posters, fetal development PowerPoints, ultrasound videos, studies, and images of babies in the womb.A version of the curriculum is available for both public and Catholic schools and has been vetted by a medical panel for accuracy, Schaefer noted.“For Catholic schools, we have a spiritual component where each month the teachers go through Scripture readings or a Church teaching, and the kids reflect on that, write about that, and go deeper,” she said. The faith-based curriculum operates under a “4S model” that incorporates Scripture, science, stories, and service. Each faith-based school that Heart of a Child presents to completes a service project, such as raising money to buy diapers for pro-life pregnancy centers.Schaefer emphasized the importance of fetal development curriculum today, noting that “right now the buzz in pro-life education and the pro-life movement in general is that different states have passed a law requiring fetal development education.”States that have laws requiring fetal development education in public schools include Tennessee, Idaho, North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, Iowa, and Ohio. Lobbying efforts in Nebraska to pass similar legislation have yet to be successful, Schaefer said, citing difficulty in finding a senator to prioritize a bill with precise language.“We’ve been meeting with senators, and unfortunately the bill they came up with [had] the potential for a Planned Parenthood to get in there and do fetal development education because it was too loose,” she said. “So weʼve recommended the senators to go back and redo the language, and it might be where certain fetal development programs are required in the state of Nebraska.”Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has signaled his support of efforts to pass legislation requiring education on fetal development in Nebraska public schools, telling EWTN News in an interview earlier this year: “I am 100% behind it and am supportive of it.”")
Heart of a Child Ministries, based on Omaha, is expanding by training pro-life leaders to present fetal development education in schools across the country.
MONTGOMERY, AL — The Southern Poverty Law Center defended itself against reports of controversial spending practices by informing donors that funding the Ku Klux Klan is only 3% of what they do.
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LINDALE, TX — Surprising many, a preacher at New Wine Community Church held up a three-year-old child’s crappy Sunday school drawing and declared that it was pleasing to Jesus.
Read More| Picture of the day |
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Blue shark (Prionace glauca), Faial-Pico Channel, Azores Islands, Portugal. The blue shark is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, that inhabits deep waters (images taken though between 5 and 10 meter below water) averaging around 3.1 m (10 ft) and preferring cooler waters. They can live up to 20 years, can move very quickly and feed primarily on small fish and squid, although they can take larger prey.
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O Almighty God,
Whose great power and eternal
Wisdom embraces the universe,
Watch over all policemen and
Law enforcement officers everywhere.
Protect them from harm
In the performance of their duty
To stop crime, robbery,
Riots and violence.
We pray, help them keep our streets
And homes safe, day and night.
We commend them to your loving care
Because their duty is dangerous.
Grant them strength and courage
In their daily assignments.
Dear God, protect these brave men …
The humanitarian agency stressed the need to protect international food assistance amid growing global hunger and domestic policy debates.
A Reading from the First Letter of St. Peter
5:5b-14
Beloved:
Clothe yourselves with humility
in your dealings with one another, for:
God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.
So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time.
Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.
Be sober and vigilant.
Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, steadfast in faith,
knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world
undergo the same sufferings.
The God of all grace
who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you
after you have suffered a little.
To him be dominion forever. Amen.
I write you this briefly through Silvanus,
whom I consider a faithful brother,
exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God.
Remain firm in it.
The chosen one at Babylon sends you greeting, as does Mark, my son.
Greet one another with a loving kiss.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
From the Gospel according to Mark
16:15-20
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
The task which Jesus entrusts to a small group of common men lacking great intellectual capacity seems truly too bold! Yet this small company, insignificant compared to the great powers of the world, is sent to bring the message of Jesus’ love and mercy to every corner of the earth. But this plan of God can be accomplished only with the strength that God himself grants to the Apostles. (…) This is how this mission was able to be accomplished, and the Apostles began this work which was then continued by their successors. The mission that Jesus entrusted to the Apostles has continued through the centuries, and continues still today: it requires the cooperation of all of us. Each one, in fact, by the power of the Baptism that he or she received, is qualified in turn to proclaim the Gospel. (…) On this journey we encounter Christ himself in our brothers and sisters, especially in the poorest, in those who suffer in their very flesh the harsh and humiliating experience of old and new forms of poverty. As at the beginning the Risen Christ sent his Apostles with the power of the Holy Spirit, so too does he send all of us today, with the same power, so as to establish concrete and visible signs of hope. (Pope Francis, Regina Caeli, 13 May 2018)
Read More![British mother to travel to Switzerland to die by assisted suicide after son’s death – #Catholic – A 56-year-old British mother is traveling to Switzerland to end her life by assisted suicide after the death of her only son.Wendy Duffy told the New York Post she paid $13,500 to the Swiss assisted-dying nonprofit the Pegasos clinic.Duffy’s son, Marcus, died at age 23 four years ago after choking on a tomato lodged in his windpipe while sleeping. Nine months later, unable to cope with her grief, she attempted suicide by overdose and was placed on a ventilator for two weeks.She told the Daily Mail suicide is the only way her “spirit can be free.” She also said no amount of medication or therapy can make her whole again, and she “can’t wait” to die. She added: “I could step off a motorway bridge or a tower block but that would leave anyone finding me dealing with that for the rest of their lives.”She said she has chosen her deathbed outfit and requested that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” play as she dies. Her belongings will be donated afterward. Duffy said she plans to call her four sisters and two brothers from Switzerland to say goodbye. “It will be a hard call where I’ll say goodbye and thank them,” she said. “But they will get it. They know. Honestly, 100%, they know that I’m not happy, that I don’t want to be here.”Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, even for physically healthy people. On its website, Pegasos says it “believes that it is the human right of every rational adult of sound mind, regardless of state of health, to choose the manner and timing of their death."Duffy’s case follows the recent death by euthanasia of 25-year-old Noelia Castillo in Spain. On March 26, the young woman was euthanized over her father’s objections. The case sparked national debate in Spain, where euthanasia has been legal since 2021.The Church in Spain called Castillo’s death “a societal defeat.”In a statement, members of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference’s Subcommittee for the Family and Defense of Life said Castillo’s “story reflects an accumulation of personal suffering and institutional failings that challenge the whole of society.”Timeʼs up for right-to-die bill in UKMeanwhile, a right-to-die bill has stalled in the U.K. Parliament. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ran out of parliamentary time and therefore failed in the House of Lords on April 24. The archbishop of Liverpool, John Sherrington, said he was grateful to “all those Parliamentarians who have worked tirelessly to preserve the dignity of every human life and ensure that end-of life care remains rooted in compassion and respect until the natural end of life.”The Catholic Church teaches that suicide and euthanasia are gravely immoral. In a 2024 message to a palliative care symposium, Pope Francis called euthanasia “a failure of love.” He recalled when he said previously that assisted suicide and euthanasia constitute a “false compassion.”“‘[C]ompassion,’ a word that means ‘suffering with,’ does not involve the intentional ending of a life but rather the willingness to share the burdens of those facing the end stages of our earthly pilgrimage,” he said.In St. John Paul II’s 1999 address to the Pontifical Academy for Life, “Love and Solidarity for the Dying,” he said: “No one can arbitrarily choose whether to live or die; the absolute master of such a decision is the Creator alone.”In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, he said: “suicide … involves the rejection of love of self and the renunciation of the obligation of justice and charity towards one’s neighbor … In its deepest reality, suicide represents a rejection of God’s absolute sovereignty over life and death.” Euthanasia is likewise condemned as “a grave violation of the law of God.”He also calls euthanasia “a false mercy, and indeed a disturbing ‘perversion’ of mercy. True ‘compassion’ leads to sharing anotherʼs pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.”He continued: “Moreover, the act of euthanasia appears all the more perverse if it is carried out by those, like relatives, who are supposed to treat a family member with patience and love, or by those, such as doctors, who by virtue of their specific profession are supposed to care for the sick person even in the most painful terminal stages.”While the Church says euthanasia and assisted suicide are never permissible, it supports palliative care. According to Dian Backoff, former executive director of Catholic Hospice for Catholic Health Services, palliative care is meant to address “what the whole patient wants during the treatment of an illness,” whether or not the patient is terminally ill or dealing with a long-term affliction.“Palliative care, then, is a genuine form of compassion, for it responds to suffering, whether physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual, by affirming the fundamental and inviolable dignity of every person, especially the dying, and helping them to accept the inevitable moment of passage from this life to eternal life,” Pope Francis said in 2024.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/british-mother-to-travel-to-switzerland-to-die-by-assisted-suicide-after-sons-death-catholic-a-56-year-old-british-mother-is-traveling-to-switzerland-to-end-her-life-by-assisted-suicide.jpg "British mother to travel to Switzerland to die by assisted suicide after son’s death – #Catholic – A 56-year-old British mother is traveling to Switzerland to end her life by assisted suicide after the death of her only son.Wendy Duffy told the New York Post she paid $13,500 to the Swiss assisted-dying nonprofit the Pegasos clinic.Duffy’s son, Marcus, died at age 23 four years ago after choking on a tomato lodged in his windpipe while sleeping. Nine months later, unable to cope with her grief, she attempted suicide by overdose and was placed on a ventilator for two weeks.She told the Daily Mail suicide is the only way her “spirit can be free.” She also said no amount of medication or therapy can make her whole again, and she “can’t wait” to die. She added: “I could step off a motorway bridge or a tower block but that would leave anyone finding me dealing with that for the rest of their lives.”She said she has chosen her deathbed outfit and requested that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” play as she dies. Her belongings will be donated afterward. Duffy said she plans to call her four sisters and two brothers from Switzerland to say goodbye. “It will be a hard call where I’ll say goodbye and thank them,” she said. “But they will get it. They know. Honestly, 100%, they know that I’m not happy, that I don’t want to be here.”Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, even for physically healthy people. On its website, Pegasos says it “believes that it is the human right of every rational adult of sound mind, regardless of state of health, to choose the manner and timing of their death.\"Duffy’s case follows the recent death by euthanasia of 25-year-old Noelia Castillo in Spain. On March 26, the young woman was euthanized over her father’s objections. The case sparked national debate in Spain, where euthanasia has been legal since 2021.The Church in Spain called Castillo’s death “a societal defeat.”In a statement, members of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference’s Subcommittee for the Family and Defense of Life said Castillo’s “story reflects an accumulation of personal suffering and institutional failings that challenge the whole of society.”Timeʼs up for right-to-die bill in UKMeanwhile, a right-to-die bill has stalled in the U.K. Parliament. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ran out of parliamentary time and therefore failed in the House of Lords on April 24. The archbishop of Liverpool, John Sherrington, said he was grateful to “all those Parliamentarians who have worked tirelessly to preserve the dignity of every human life and ensure that end-of life care remains rooted in compassion and respect until the natural end of life.”The Catholic Church teaches that suicide and euthanasia are gravely immoral. In a 2024 message to a palliative care symposium, Pope Francis called euthanasia “a failure of love.” He recalled when he said previously that assisted suicide and euthanasia constitute a “false compassion.”“‘[C]ompassion,’ a word that means ‘suffering with,’ does not involve the intentional ending of a life but rather the willingness to share the burdens of those facing the end stages of our earthly pilgrimage,” he said.In St. John Paul II’s 1999 address to the Pontifical Academy for Life, “Love and Solidarity for the Dying,” he said: “No one can arbitrarily choose whether to live or die; the absolute master of such a decision is the Creator alone.”In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, he said: “suicide … involves the rejection of love of self and the renunciation of the obligation of justice and charity towards one’s neighbor … In its deepest reality, suicide represents a rejection of God’s absolute sovereignty over life and death.” Euthanasia is likewise condemned as “a grave violation of the law of God.”He also calls euthanasia “a false mercy, and indeed a disturbing ‘perversion’ of mercy. True ‘compassion’ leads to sharing anotherʼs pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.”He continued: “Moreover, the act of euthanasia appears all the more perverse if it is carried out by those, like relatives, who are supposed to treat a family member with patience and love, or by those, such as doctors, who by virtue of their specific profession are supposed to care for the sick person even in the most painful terminal stages.”While the Church says euthanasia and assisted suicide are never permissible, it supports palliative care. According to Dian Backoff, former executive director of Catholic Hospice for Catholic Health Services, palliative care is meant to address “what the whole patient wants during the treatment of an illness,” whether or not the patient is terminally ill or dealing with a long-term affliction.“Palliative care, then, is a genuine form of compassion, for it responds to suffering, whether physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual, by affirming the fundamental and inviolable dignity of every person, especially the dying, and helping them to accept the inevitable moment of passage from this life to eternal life,” Pope Francis said in 2024.")
![White House to bring back firing squads as Pope Leo XIV calls for U.S. death penalty to be abolished – #Catholic – The Trump administration has announced that it will bring back federal firing squad executions in the United States — a move it claims will “strengthen” the national death penalty — while Pope Leo XIV is simultaneously offering support to those seeking to abolish capital punishment in the U.S. and around the world. The U.S. Department of Justice said on April 24 that it was moving to once again “seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences,” restarting the federal death penalty process that had been indefinitely stalled under the Biden administration. Among the measures that the Justice Department said it will take include “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad” as well as “streamlining” administrative processes to hasten executions by the federal government. The government said it would also seek to restart carrying out lethal injections by pentobarbital, a barbiturate that prisoner advocates have said can cause extreme pain and suffering when used in executions. In an accompanying report released on April 24, the Justice Department called pentobarbital “the gold standard of lethal injection drugs.” It described the drug as “more humane” than other modes of execution and pointed out that it has been used in assisted suicide procedures in the U.S. for those suffering from terminal illnesses. Pope Leo XIV urges abolition of death penaltyThe governmentʼs announcement came roughly at the same time on April 24 that Pope Leo XIV addressed, via video message, a gathering of activists at DePaul University celebrating the 15th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. The pope in his message noted that the Catholic Church teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person." The Holy See updated the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to explicitly call for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide. Leo likewise told the pro-life advocates in his hometown of Chicago that the Church “affirm[s] that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.”The Holy Father said he joined the advocates in celebrating the stateʼs 2011 abolition of the death penalty; he wrote that he offered his “support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.”“I pray that your efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the dignity of every person and will inspire others to work for the same just cause,” the pope wrote. Leoʼs message comes one day after he spoke out forcefully against executions aboard the papal plane returning from his apostolic visit to Africa. Asked about Iranʼs reported large-scale executions, the pope said: “I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe that human life is to be respected and that all people — from conception to natural [death] — their lives should be respected and protected.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/white-house-to-bring-back-firing-squads-as-pope-leo-xiv-calls-for-u-s-death-penalty-to-be-abolished-catholic-the-trump-administration-has-announced-that-it-will-bring-back-federal-firing-squad-e.jpg "White House to bring back firing squads as Pope Leo XIV calls for U.S. death penalty to be abolished – #Catholic – The Trump administration has announced that it will bring back federal firing squad executions in the United States — a move it claims will “strengthen” the national death penalty — while Pope Leo XIV is simultaneously offering support to those seeking to abolish capital punishment in the U.S. and around the world. The U.S. Department of Justice said on April 24 that it was moving to once again “seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences,” restarting the federal death penalty process that had been indefinitely stalled under the Biden administration. Among the measures that the Justice Department said it will take include “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad” as well as “streamlining” administrative processes to hasten executions by the federal government. The government said it would also seek to restart carrying out lethal injections by pentobarbital, a barbiturate that prisoner advocates have said can cause extreme pain and suffering when used in executions. In an accompanying report released on April 24, the Justice Department called pentobarbital “the gold standard of lethal injection drugs.” It described the drug as “more humane” than other modes of execution and pointed out that it has been used in assisted suicide procedures in the U.S. for those suffering from terminal illnesses. Pope Leo XIV urges abolition of death penaltyThe governmentʼs announcement came roughly at the same time on April 24 that Pope Leo XIV addressed, via video message, a gathering of activists at DePaul University celebrating the 15th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. The pope in his message noted that the Catholic Church teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.\" The Holy See updated the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to explicitly call for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide. Leo likewise told the pro-life advocates in his hometown of Chicago that the Church “affirm[s] that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.”The Holy Father said he joined the advocates in celebrating the stateʼs 2011 abolition of the death penalty; he wrote that he offered his “support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.”“I pray that your efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the dignity of every person and will inspire others to work for the same just cause,” the pope wrote. Leoʼs message comes one day after he spoke out forcefully against executions aboard the papal plane returning from his apostolic visit to Africa. Asked about Iranʼs reported large-scale executions, the pope said: “I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe that human life is to be respected and that all people — from conception to natural [death] — their lives should be respected and protected.”")
The federal government says it is moving to “strengthen” the federal death penalty while the pope is calling for an end to capital punishment.
![Former Attorney General Bill Barr: U.S military action against Iran meets criteria for ‘just war’ – #Catholic – Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr made the case for Americaʼs war with Iran as meeting Catholic criteria for a just war. Barr, a Catholic, said because Iranʼs potential use of nuclear weapons posed a legitimate threat to the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, the war doesnʼt violate just war doctrine. Barr said the Iran war doesnʼt clearly violate just war doctrine during an April 23 panel discussion hosted by the Napa Institute.“The traditional position of the Church was to exhort leaders to take into account all the factors, but not to say, ‘thatʼs wrong’ unless it clearly violated the just war doctrine, which this obviously doesn’t,” Barr said. Facebook post‘If we allow this window to go by’Barr, a former board member at the Catholic Information Center, said the U.S. faces “difficult questions dealing with nuclear weapons” and argued that allowing the window of opportunity to dismantle Iranʼs nuclear capabilities to pass by would result in grave consequences. “If somethingʼs obviously out of bounds, you can say the Nazis, you know, should not have invaded this, or, you know, Saddam Hussein should not have invaded Kuwait. But thatʼs not the situation we face,” he said. “We face these very difficult questions dealing with nuclear weapons,” Barr said. "We’ve tried for a long time to deal with it, and if we allow this window to go by, the costs in the future are much higher, and the likelihood will be that the people won’t be willing to pay that, and nuclear weapons will be deployed by Iran.”“Youʼre basically weighing these imponderables and risks,” he said. “If the cost of dealing with it later and allowing them more time to reach a certain level of conventional force will make it almost impossible to deal with it without massive losses, including in Europe, certainly in the Middle East and certainly among Americans, then those future costs have to be taken into account and say thereʼs a window now.”“When youʼre faced with some of these difficult issues, itʼs very easy to stand back and say, turn the other cheek, or take an absolutist position [that] ‘you shouldnʼt be violent,’” Barr said. “But that begs the question, that doesnʼt really solve the problem, and deal with the real issue at stake that other people have to deal with.”Barr also said he believed “the primary temptation of religious people is self-righteousness,” which he said Pope Francis “was very good to call attention to.” He said he has seen Catholics on both ends of the political spectrum fall into “virtue signaling,” which he said, “is not coming to grips with the real moral choices and the real practical reality.”Reflecting on his upbringing, Barr said his father got him interested in St. Augustine, the fourth- to fifth-century theologian who developed criteria morally limiting when war may be justified.“My parents always said, ‘Think things through, donʼt just take your belief like itʼs a suit off a rack in a store and say, ”OK, Iʼm putting this coat on, this is what I believe.“ Understand why you believe it,’” he said.Barr’s remarks come as Leo calls for peace and Church officials question the justification of the war on the basis of just war doctrine. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy have said they do not believe the war fits just war criteria.Leo has said the Iran war fails to align with just war theory, citing failure to exhaust all diplomatic resources, disproportionate civilian harm, and lack of clear moral objectives. The U.S. bishops have publicly backed Leo, stating that just war teachings do not morally authorize unchecked military violence.Popes seldom issue blanket rulings but Pope Benedict XV made clear World War I lacked moral legitimacy given its scale, civilian toll, and lack of proportionate ends. Pope John Paul II warned the Gulf War did not meet just war criteria. And the Vatican also formally stated in 2003 the Iraq invasion failed just‑war standards.Pope Leo XIV urges peace The Holy Father has said “God does not bless any conflict” and said that “anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”On Palm Sunday, Leo stated that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/former-attorney-general-bill-barr-u-s-military-action-against-iran-meets-criteria-for-just-war-catholic-former-u-s-attorney-general-bill-barr-made-the-case-for-americacabcs.jpg "Former Attorney General Bill Barr: U.S military action against Iran meets criteria for ‘just war’ – #Catholic – Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr made the case for Americaʼs war with Iran as meeting Catholic criteria for a just war. Barr, a Catholic, said because Iranʼs potential use of nuclear weapons posed a legitimate threat to the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, the war doesnʼt violate just war doctrine. Barr said the Iran war doesnʼt clearly violate just war doctrine during an April 23 panel discussion hosted by the Napa Institute.“The traditional position of the Church was to exhort leaders to take into account all the factors, but not to say, ‘thatʼs wrong’ unless it clearly violated the just war doctrine, which this obviously doesn’t,” Barr said. Facebook post‘If we allow this window to go by’Barr, a former board member at the Catholic Information Center, said the U.S. faces “difficult questions dealing with nuclear weapons” and argued that allowing the window of opportunity to dismantle Iranʼs nuclear capabilities to pass by would result in grave consequences. “If somethingʼs obviously out of bounds, you can say the Nazis, you know, should not have invaded this, or, you know, Saddam Hussein should not have invaded Kuwait. But thatʼs not the situation we face,” he said. “We face these very difficult questions dealing with nuclear weapons,” Barr said. \"We’ve tried for a long time to deal with it, and if we allow this window to go by, the costs in the future are much higher, and the likelihood will be that the people won’t be willing to pay that, and nuclear weapons will be deployed by Iran.”“Youʼre basically weighing these imponderables and risks,” he said. “If the cost of dealing with it later and allowing them more time to reach a certain level of conventional force will make it almost impossible to deal with it without massive losses, including in Europe, certainly in the Middle East and certainly among Americans, then those future costs have to be taken into account and say thereʼs a window now.”“When youʼre faced with some of these difficult issues, itʼs very easy to stand back and say, turn the other cheek, or take an absolutist position [that] ‘you shouldnʼt be violent,’” Barr said. “But that begs the question, that doesnʼt really solve the problem, and deal with the real issue at stake that other people have to deal with.”Barr also said he believed “the primary temptation of religious people is self-righteousness,” which he said Pope Francis “was very good to call attention to.” He said he has seen Catholics on both ends of the political spectrum fall into “virtue signaling,” which he said, “is not coming to grips with the real moral choices and the real practical reality.”Reflecting on his upbringing, Barr said his father got him interested in St. Augustine, the fourth- to fifth-century theologian who developed criteria morally limiting when war may be justified.“My parents always said, ‘Think things through, donʼt just take your belief like itʼs a suit off a rack in a store and say, ”OK, Iʼm putting this coat on, this is what I believe.“ Understand why you believe it,’” he said.Barr’s remarks come as Leo calls for peace and Church officials question the justification of the war on the basis of just war doctrine. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy have said they do not believe the war fits just war criteria.Leo has said the Iran war fails to align with just war theory, citing failure to exhaust all diplomatic resources, disproportionate civilian harm, and lack of clear moral objectives. The U.S. bishops have publicly backed Leo, stating that just war teachings do not morally authorize unchecked military violence.Popes seldom issue blanket rulings but Pope Benedict XV made clear World War I lacked moral legitimacy given its scale, civilian toll, and lack of proportionate ends. Pope John Paul II warned the Gulf War did not meet just war criteria. And the Vatican also formally stated in 2003 the Iraq invasion failed just‑war standards.Pope Leo XIV urges peace The Holy Father has said “God does not bless any conflict” and said that “anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”On Palm Sunday, Leo stated that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’”")
“Itʼs very easy to stand back and say, turn the other cheek, or take an absolutist position ‘you shouldnʼt be violent,’” Barr said. “But that begs the question, that doesnʼt really solve the problem.”
NASA celebrates Hubble’s 36th anniversary with a new image of the Trifid Nebula, a star-forming region it first captured in 1997. The telescope leveraged almost its full operational lifetime to show us changes in the nebula on human time scales with an improved camera.
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