The U.S. House of Representatives on June 23 passed Catholic-backed housing legislation that, if and when it is signed by President Donald Trump, is expected to expand financing for affordable housing.
Catholic Charities USA President Kerry Alys Robinson said in a June 23 statement the bill (HR 6644) “has the potential to improve the lives of so many of our fellow citizens.” The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment, but Trump is expected to sign the bill into law on June 24.
The House cleared the measure and agreed to the version that the U.S. Senate had amended on June 22. The legislation, among other things, would adjust federal multifamily loan limits.
Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, sponsored the bill, titled “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.”
“We applaud Congressʼs effort to address manufactured housing laws, veterans’ access to housing, and rental assistance for the elderly and disabled through the advancement of this bill,” Robinson said.
The Catholic Charities leader praised provisions in the bill related to zoning reforms, increased private investment in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, a higher public welfare investment cap for banks, changes to homeless assistance programs, and the reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery program.
She also lauded the bill’s proposed reforms to the HOME Investment Partnerships and Community Development Block Grant programs, which she said have been key resources for addressing the housing needs of low-income individuals and families.
“All of God’s children deserve a safe, decent, affordable place to call home and this legislation is an important next step in providing that assurance,” Robinson said.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with Congress to ensure that housing policy in our nation reflects both sound research and our shared moral commitment to protect the most vulnerable.”
The EWTN Global Catholic Network received widespread recognition at the 2026 Catholic Media Awards, including 30 first-place awards across its many divisions: EWTN Digital, EWTN Studios, EWTN Publishing, and EWTN News.
EWTN’s top awards reflected the network’s comprehensive coverage of major events in the life of the Catholic Church around the world, including reporting on the death of Pope Francis, the election of Pope Leo XIV, and the lives of persecuted Christians.
The awards were announced at the conclusion of the 2026 Catholic Media Conference, held June 16–19 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The awards recognize outstanding work produced in 2025 across EWTN’s multimedia platforms; from social media and video production to book and newspaper publishing, photography, advertising, and English and Spanish language journalism — showcasing the network’s continued innovation, creativity, and commitment to excellence in service of the Church.
“These honors reflect the extraordinary dedication of our teams across television, radio, digital, print, and news media, who work every day to create opportunities for people around the world to encounter Jesus Christ and His Church,” said Michael Warsaw, chairman of the board and CEO of EWTN.
“As the media landscape continues to evolve, EWTN remains committed to meeting audiences wherever they are, through both traditional and emerging platforms, ensuring that the truth of the Gospel and the Real Presence of Christ are accessible to the faithful and to those who may be encountering Him for the first time,” Warsaw added.
EWTN’s papal photographer, Daniel Ibáñez, was named Photographer of the Year. In awarding the distinction, CMA’s judges noted that in the work of Ibáñez “each photo is thoughtfully framed and immediately connects with the audience.”
Meanwhile, EWTN Digital’s Debbie Cowden was named Social Media Professional of the Year for her “strong, innovative, and enterprising content.”
The EWTN News special report in English and in Spanish, “Before Francis, Who Was Bergoglio?,” won first place in the category of Best Video — Hot Topic — Pope Francis. Judges called the report “one of the strongest entries in this year’s awards” and “a must watch.”
The network’s coverage of the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC), which featured Pope Leo XIV’s historic first digital encounter with young U.S. Catholics, earned two first-place awards, for Best Multimedia Package — News and Best Social Media Campaign — General Interest.
At the prestigious Gabriel Awards, which includes competition with both secular and religious media, EWTN Studios’ romantic-comedy streaming series “James the Less” won first place for Best Video for Digital Media for its second season. The show previously won best video for its first season in 2024.
EWTN News also secured first place in Single News Story for the documentary “Christians Fight To Survive: ISIS in Iraq,” which has garnered over a million views on YouTube alone.
The National Catholic Register earned 17 total awards, including 10 first-place honors, and once again received the top distinction as Best Catholic Newspaper, the sixth such recognition in the last decade.
The publication also won first place for its reporting on the Jubilee Year and on emerging Catholic population hubs across the United States.
The National Catholic Register won Best Newspaper for the sixth time in the last decade at the 2026 Catholic Media Awards in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 19, 2026. | Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/EWTN News
The EWTN News Spanish-language service, ACI Prensa, also took home numerous recognitions with 10 awards, including four first place wins.
“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by our peers for excellence in Catholic journalism and storytelling,” said Montse Alvarado, president and COO of EWTN News.
“The past year marked a defining moment not only for EWTN News but for the global Church, as we helped audiences navigate the historic passing of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope.”
“Those extraordinary events challenged us to innovate, deepen our coverage, and create new ways of reaching people with meaningful, faith-filled content at a moment when the world was watching,” she said.
Now in its 45th year, EWTN is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. The network’s 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division; and EWTN News, its global, multilingual news service.
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Catholic Voices for Israel is asking Pope Leo XIV to clarify the Church’s position on Zionism and the modern state of Israel.
In an open letter addressed to Pope Leo on June 22, the group’s co-founders André Villeneuve and Father Antoine Lévy, OP, are asking the Holy Father to answer the question, “Should Catholics interpret the creation and enduring existence of the State of Israel as a sign of God’s providence — or should they not?”
Sacred Heart Major Seminary professor André Villeneuve is co-founder of Catholic Voices for Israel | Credit: Courtesy of André Villeneuve
While the pair note that “the Church’s reticence to pronounce on the theological meaning of the State of Israel has served a real purpose,” they proceed to express concerns over “a number of Catholic commentators” who they contend “have interpreted this silence as a formal dismissal of the very possibility of ascribing any theological resonance to the founding of the State of Israel and to its enduring existence.”
“The Church’s silence regarding Israel’s right to exist — the reluctance to go beyond mere political recognition, on a par with that extended to the still inchoate State of Palestine (2013) — gives ground to all those Catholic voices that wish to lend this campaign of denigration the authority of the Church’s own name,” the letter manifests.
Villeneuve and Lévy argue that “the ‘theological silence’ that has prevailed until now would risk doing more harm to the Church’s witness than the prudence it was meant to preserve.”
‘For Zion’s Sake’
Villeneuve and Lévy’s letter to Pope Leo comes as part of an effort by Catholic Voices for Israel to make “a biblically grounded, theologically informed case for Catholic solidarity with Israel.”
In its founding statement, “For Zion’s Sake: A Catholic Appeal in Support of Israel,” the recently formed Catholic Voices for Israel (CVFI) calls for Catholic Zionism to be understood as “supporting the Jewish people’s right to self‑determination in their ancient, biblical homeland; acknowledging God’s love for Zion and his promise of the land in Scripture; recognizing that these promises were never revoked in the New Testament; and remaining open to seeing the work of divine providence in Israel’s return to the land — a possibility the Church has not foreclosed.”
Since launching CVFI last month, “For Zion’s Sake” has garnered 165 signatories, including prominent names such as Gavin DʼCosta of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Addressing the question of his motivation for helping to spearhead the initiative, Villeneuve, an associate professor of Old Testament and biblical languages at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, told EWTN News that Catholic antisemitism has “become much more prevalent” since Oct. 7, 2023 on two levels: the political level and the theological and biblical level.
“All the prophets consistently reaffirm Godʼs covenant with Israel and his promises that he will return them back to their land. So why arenʼt Catholics taking that seriously?” Villeneuve said. “As if this is just an evangelical, dispensationalist-type of idea, when Scripture is really quite clear about it? These promises and prophecies are never abolished in the New Testament.”
One of the four “Guiding Principles” in CVFI’s Charter asserts the importance of the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the modern State of Israel, quoting Pope Benedict XVI who said in a 2018 letter to Rabbi Arie Folger that "it is not difficult, I believe, to see in the creation of the State of Israel the fidelity of God to Israel is revealed in a mysterious way.”
While Villeneuve and the Charter both make the case for a Catholic Zionism and recognition of biblical significance for the modern state of Israel, other Catholic public intellectuals argue that the lack of official teaching leaves room for Catholics to disagree or form alternate opinions.
Indeed, in the same 2018 letter to Rabbi Folger, Benedict XVI says “the state of Israel cannot be seen to theologically represent fulfillment of the Land promise, but rather as a secular state which of course has religious foundations.”
Outside perspectives on the effort
“The Charter is strongest when it grounds itself in truths the Church has clearly affirmed,” Simone Rizkallah, manager of Jewish-Christian Partnerships at the Tikvah Fund, told EWTN News.
Simone Rizkallah is manager of Jewish-Christian Partnerships at the Tikvah Fund. | Credit: Courtesy of The Given Institute
“Where the Charter moves beyond settled doctrine is in its attempt to reflect on the theological significance of the modern State of Israel,” she said, explaining that the Catholic Church has never taught that the modern State of Israel was biblically prophesied, nor rejected the idea that “the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland might bear theological significance in light of Godʼs enduring fidelity to the Jewish people.”
“On these questions there remains room for legitimate theological exploration and debate among Catholics,” Rizkallah, who is not a signatory to the Charter, said.
In addition, Rizkallah pointed to the perspective of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in his framing of the issue: “[Pizzaballa] put his finger on an important aspect of the discussion when he observed: "While Europeans primarily view Israel as a state, for Jews it is much more than that.”
“Too often Catholics discuss Israel exclusively as a political entity without adequately appreciating the religious, historical, and covenantal significance that the Land of Israel holds within the Jewish self-understanding,” she said. “Recognizing that reality does not require agreement with every policy of the Israeli government, but it does require taking Jewish self-understanding seriously.”
Rizkallah, who is also a founding member of the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism, said she welcomed the charter’s rejection of dispensationalism, dual-covenant theology, political absolutism, and the notion that Israel should be exempt from moral scrutiny. She further praised the document’s acknowledgement of the dignity and concerns of Palestinians and local Christians.
“One reason I believe this conversation is so important is that, despite the tremendous progress in Catholic-Jewish relations since Nostra Aetate, there are signs that certain anti-Jewish attitudes are reappearing within parts of Catholic discourse,” she said. “I do not mean that large numbers of Catholics are racial antisemites, nor do I mean that the Churchʼs official teaching has changed. On the contrary, the Churchʼs teaching on the Jewish people remains one of the great achievements of the post-conciliar era.”
“The challenge facing Catholics today is not only to reject overt antisemitism, but also to ensure that our theological, political, and moral judgments are shaped by what the Church actually teaches about the Jewish people,” Rizkallah pointed out.
Association of Hebrew Catholics President David Moss. | Credit: “The Journey Home’/EWTN screenshot.
“I am totally in agreement with this new Catholic initiative in support of Israel,” Moss told EWTN News. “It can only be a work of God that His chosen people, the people Israel (aka the Jews), would survive the holocaust in Christian Europe, and then three years after the end of World War II return to their ancient homeland.”
Moss emphasized that “it is way past time for Catholics to stand up for the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the many Jewish traditions of Jesus and His people upon which the Catholic faith is based.”
Christians and rights advocates in Pakistan have welcomed the acquittal of a blind Catholic man who spent nearly 10 months in jail on a blasphemy charge carrying a mandatory death sentence.
A sessions court in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, on June 22 cleared 49-year-old Nadeem Masih, who is blind by birth, of charges under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which criminalizes insults against the Prophet Muhammad.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Saad Salman Khan dismissed the case after finding insufficient evidence to support the prosecution’s allegations.
Masih had been in custody since August 2025. His family alleges the accusation stemmed from a dispute with contractors at Nawaz Sharif Park, where he earned a living operating a weighing scale for visitors. The family said the contractors harassed him and demanded money.
Fearing reprisals, relatives have since moved to a shelter and were unavailable for comment.
Defense attorney Javed Sahotra said the prosecution’s own evidence undermined its case.
“The police report stated they received information about the alleged blasphemy at 11 p.m., although the park closes at 9 p.m. Two prosecution witnesses also gave statements that raised serious questions about the allegations,” he told EWTN News.
Sahotra said imprisonment had been especially difficult for Masih because of his disability.
“He spent 10 distressing months in prison. Simple daily tasks such as using the toilet and obtaining food were major challenges,” the lawyer said.
“The case demonstrates how vulnerable people can become entangled in serious criminal accusations. Even a poor blind man was not spared.”
Blasphemy remains one of Pakistan’s most sensitive issues and has frequently triggered mob violence against religious minorities, including attacks on homes and places of worship.
Christian advocacy groups say eight Christians, including two women, were acquitted or granted bail in blasphemy cases during the first half of 2025, all in Punjab province.
Over the past five years, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) has helped secure the acquittal of 15 people accused of blasphemy — 10 Christians and five Muslims, including three women.
Anjum James Paul, a CSI partner who helped coordinate legal and financial support for Masih’s family, attributed many acquittals to careful legal preparation.
“We maintain a low profile during such trials because of the sensitivity of these cases,” Paul said.
“One of the lawyers representing Masih is a Hafiz-e-Quran [a person who has memorized the entire Quran]. Having Muslim lawyers on defense teams can help reduce pressure because some district bar associations discourage lawyers from taking blasphemy cases.”
Paul also called for authorities to implement court directives requiring the involvement of qualified religious scholars and senior police officers in preliminary blasphemy investigations.
A support group formed by families affected by alleged false blasphemy accusations welcomed the verdict in a social media statement issued hours after the ruling.
The Voice of the Victims of Blasphemy Business Group described the acquittal as a rare example of a lower court dismissing a blasphemy case and expressed hope that courts were becoming less vulnerable to public pressure in such cases.
The group alleged that Masih had been falsely accused following a dispute with park management and said the verdict offered encouragement to other families fighting blasphemy allegations.
Widows have a place of privilege and special care in the Judeo-Christian tradition, according to biblical texts. On International Widows’ Day, annually observed on June 23, the Church has the opportunity to honor these women who, throughout the ages, have meaningfully supported their families and communities after the loss of their spouses.
Widows in Scripture
In St. Lukeʼs Gospel, Jesus’ encounters with widows began in his infancy, when he was presented in the Temple of Jerusalem, and continued into the years of his public ministry as a teacher and healer.
These various meetings recorded in the Gospel highlighted the strength of a widow’s faith and prayer before God, as well as Jesus’ particular compassion for her needs and well-being.
Anna, the 87-year-old widow who “worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer,” recognized the divinity of Jesus when Mary and Joseph brought him into the Temple.
According to Luke, Anna was a prophetess and one of the first women to praise Jesus as the Messiah. She “spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”
When Jesus saw the widow of Naim mourning the death of her only son, accompanied by others, during the funeral procession, the Gospel said Our Lord was “moved with pity” when he saw her tears.
Without being asked to perform a miracle, Jesus approached the widow without hesitation, raised her only son back to life from the dead and “gave him to his mother.”
Before dying on the cross, Jesus entrusted the care of his own widowed mother, Mary, to the "disciple whom he loved.”
“He said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son,’” St. John wrote. “Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
In the Acts of the Apostles, the evangelist Luke also sheds light on how certain ministries were formed to support widows in the early Church.
The ministry of deacons was established by the Twelve Apostles to resolve the dispute among their Hebrew and Greek disciples regarding the care of widows, as outlined in Acts 6.
St. Luke also mentions how these women supported the various spiritual and material needs of the first Christian communities.
In Acts 9, Peter promptly visited the widows of Joppa who mourned the death of their friend Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, who was “completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.”
“When he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs where all the widows came to him weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks that Dorcas had made while she was with them,” the evangelist wrote.
After kneeling down and praying beside her, Peter “raised her up” and “presented her alive” to her Church community.
St. Augustine’s letter to a Roman widow
According to Augustinian Father Kolawole Chabi, the Church’s concern and reverence for widows continued over the centuries, exemplified in St. Augustine’s letter to Proba written in A.D. 412.
The Roman noblewoman’s supplication to St. Augustine led him to write an ancient treatise on Christian prayer that remains relevant today, the professor at Rome’s Patristic Institute Augustinianum told EWTN News.
“The letter to Proba spoke of continuous praying,” Chabi said in an April 27 interview. “Augustine said that inasmuch as you continue desiring God, you are praying. Your prayer stops when your desire for God stops.”
In the bishop of Hippo’s written response to the Roman noblewoman, he praised the widows mentioned in the Gospel whose ceaseless prayers were heard and heeded by God and encouraged her to continue living a pious life for the benefit of her family and community.
“[Proba] became, also, a leading figure in the Christianization of the Roman aristocracy,” Chabi told EWTN News.
Before becoming a prominent Church leader, Augustine owed his own widowed mother St. Monica for his conversion. Through her persistent prayers and example of holiness, he was baptized by St. Ambrose during the Easter Vigil in A.D. 387 at the age of 32.
St. Monica continues to be a popular Catholic patron for married women, mothers, and widows.
Widows’ ministries in the Church today
From ancient times to the present day, widows continue to have a significant apostolic role and place of care in Catholic archdioceses around the world.
Among several widows’ groups formed within the Church, the Order of Widows (Ordo Viduarum) has seen a recent revival in parts of the U.S.
Carlotta Stricker, assistant servant leader for the Widows of Prayer, spoke to EWTN News about the unique vocation and how women who have lost their husbands are keeping the faith.
“As a Widow of Prayer, we live our lives with God as our focus,” she explained. “Responsibilities include daily Mass, Eucharist, rosary, adoration, Liturgy of the Hours (morning and evening), and Divine Mercy Chaplet. All other forms of prayers and spiritual reading are encouraged.”
“In spite of our promise and vows, we are still mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers and still have an active role in our families lives,” she said.
Catholic bishops across the United Kingdom say they need to see more legislative detail before supporting government proposals to ban social media for youth under 16.
On June 15, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Liz Kendall announced to the House of Commons that the government "will ban social media companies providing their services to under 16s.”
Kendall said that the UK would be following the same model as Australia, which was the first country in the world to ban social media for youth under 16. The UK ban is due to come into effect early next year.
In an email response to EWTN News on June 17 regarding whether bishops of England and Wales support the proposed ban, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference for England and Wales said: “Until the government publishes further details it’s hard to give a yes or no answer.”
But Bishop John Arnold, the lead bishop for communications for the conference, “is very keen to ensure that the safety and protection of the dignity of young people online is a central concern for all,” the statement said.
In a separate email to EWTN News, Bishop Arnold wrote that the “safety of children and young people in the digital world is paramount. Young people face many pressures today, which are often exacerbated by unrealistic and harmful material which they have accessed online.”
“When it comes to the responsible and appropriate use of technology, the protection of children and young people is a shared responsibility among parents, schools, government and society,” he said.
“I urge all people to work together to protect and place the dignity of the human person, especially children, the young and vulnerable, at the center of technological and legislative developments,” the bishop said.
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, meanwhile, said it would “prefer not to comment directly on the specific policy issue, but rather give a considered response to the noble principles behind online safety measures.”
“The bishops support the introduction of any new measures which increase online safety for children and young people,” the conference said.
"We have a responsibility to ensure that children and young people are protected from harmful and age-inappropriate content, and from online environments that can negatively affect their wellbeing, relationships and healthy development,” the statement continued.
The UK governmentʼs proposal includes banning youth usage of platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and X. They do not intend for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included in the ban.
Livestreamers and strangers being able to contact children will also be restricted for those under‑16 on other online services like gaming.
“Who should take responsibility?”
Edwin Fawcett, a Catholic psychotherapist based in England and Wales, is also unsure about the benefits and drawbacks of the proposal.
“At this point the toll taken on mental and emotional health by social media, especially for developing brains, is virtually undisputed. Who should take responsibility for young peopleʼs formation and education?” he told EWTN News.
“The Churchʼs wise answer: parents. Yet in a busy, driven and fragmented society the tsunami of digital hyper-reality is almost impossible to avoid or withstand,” he said.
Fawcett argued that there is “a pandemic of relational wounds and deficits in the real world” which “has set the stage for widespread mental health issues, which are being activated and worsened by addictive online behavior — behavior chosen in an attempt to anesthetize the same wounds.”
He continued: “Whether the ban is designed to support the rights and responsibilities of the family is hard to say. But letʼs pray that a deep renewal of family life, communities and culture will begin filling the void which social media has falsely promised to do — a void which may now be exposed by the incoming ban.”
Lucy Marsh, a spokeswoman for the Family Education Trust — a secular research body which supports traditional family values — said that the ban has not been sufficiently “thought through.”
“Children should not have unsupervised access to social media, but the government’s rushed plan to ban under-16s from using certain platforms is the wrong way to go about it,” she told EWTN News.
“Rather than educating parents on how to restrict their child’s access to the internet and raising awareness about why young children should not have smartphones, the government is trying to introduce digital ID via the back door. This means using facial recognition and biometrics which involve giving even more information to tech companies. In the name of protecting children, those children will be under even more surveillance.”
The government “should focus on ensuring tech companies make phones for children which cannot access social media apps, including WhatsApp, which is used by predatory adults to share pornography and groom children,” she said.
Cambodia’s Buddhist leadership has conferred a high honorary title on the Catholic bishop of Phnom Penh, recognizing decades of cooperation between Buddhist and Christian communities in a country where the Catholic Church remains a small minority.
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, received the title “Akka Mahāupāsakabuddhasāsanūpatthambhakr,” roughly translated as “Elder Great Lay Supporter and Upholder of the Buddha’s Dispensation,” during a ceremony on June 13, 2026, at Wat Botum Vatey in the Cambodian capital.
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler meets with Venerable Khim Sorn, third deputy supreme patriarch of Cambodiaʼs Mohanikaya Buddhist order, during a ceremony at Wat Botum Vatey in Phnom Penh on June 13, 2026. | Credit: Ly Sovanna/Catholic National Office for Social Communications in Cambodia
The title was conferred by Supreme Patriarch Nun Nget of Cambodia’s Mohanikaya Buddhist order and presented at a ceremony presided over by Venerable Khim Sorn, the order’s third deputy supreme patriarch.
The honor builds on a distinction Schmitthaeusler received in 2022, when Cambodia’s Buddhist leadership named him a “Maha Upasaka,” recognizing his support for Buddhist communities and his role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between Cambodia’s Buddhist majority and its small Catholic minority.
At the time, Buddhist leaders cited joint development projects, educational initiatives, and efforts to strengthen social cohesion. The new title represents a higher level of recognition from the country’s Buddhist establishment.
Speaking at the ceremony, Khim Sorn pointed to Cambodia’s constitutional framework, which recognizes Buddhism as the state religion while protecting religious freedom.
He said the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia clearly stipulates that Buddhism is the state religion, but “it also guarantees complete freedom of religious belief without coercion” and promotes religious harmony, peaceful coexistence, and mutual respect among the different religions.
Buddhist leaders said the recognition reflected Schmitthaeusler’s long involvement in educational, humanitarian, and community-development initiatives carried out in cooperation with Buddhist institutions.
For Schmitthaeusler, the award marked another chapter in a relationship that began more than two decades ago. “This is a profoundly meaningful event for me as a Catholic bishop,” he said.
The French-born missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society traced that relationship to his years as a parish priest in Takeo province, where Catholics and Buddhists worked together on local development projects.
Among them was the construction of a road linking a Catholic community and a nearby pagoda, an initiative he said helped lay the groundwork for deeper cooperation.
Over the years, that collaboration expanded into education and social services. Schmitthaeusler noted that he supported the establishment of a primary school at Wat Ang Montrey, where students study Pali, Sanskrit, and other academic subjects.
The prelate also highlighted joint humanitarian efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and assistance provided to displaced families during recent tensions along the Cambodia-Thailand border.
“Receiving the status of Akka Mahāupāsakabuddhasāsanūpatthambhakr today is a moment of profound recognition of how the Catholic Church and Buddhism walk hand-in-hand for the common good of our people and our country,” he said.
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler poses with community members outside Wat Botum Vatey in Phnom Penh on June 13, 2026, after receiving a high honorary title from Cambodiaʼs Buddhist leadership in recognition of his work promoting Buddhist-Christian cooperation. | Credit: Ly Sovanna/Catholic National Office for Social Communications in Cambodia
Schmitthaeusler also cited recent dialogue initiatives involving Buddhist and Christian leaders from Cambodia and across Asia focused on peacebuilding and reconciliation.
“We know that when Cambodia is full of peace, it radiates a positive influence to the rest of the world,” he said. “This is a powerful signal: when religions journey together, the world will witness true peace,” he added.
A small Church rebuilt after the Khmer Rouge
Theravada Buddhism is practiced by the vast majority of Cambodia’s roughly 18 million people. The Catholic Church numbers about 20,000 faithful across one apostolic vicariate and two apostolic prefectures.
The Catholic Church was nearly wiped out during the Khmer Rouge era, when religious communities were persecuted and most church buildings were destroyed.
Since public religious life resumed in the early 1990s, the Catholic Church has gradually rebuilt through education, health care, social services, and pastoral ministry, becoming a small but visible presence in Cambodian society.
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has rejected a request by the German Bishops’ Conference to allow lay faithful, in exceptional circumstances, to preach the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.
The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments communicated the decision in a letter dated June 17 addressed to Bishop Heiner Wilmer, president of the German Bishops’ Conference.
In the letter, the Vatican dicastery said it is “not possible to grant the indult requested” made on March 30 which would have allowed a duly designated layperson to preach in place of the homily.
Although the dicastery — which oversees most matters related to the Catholic Church’s liturgy and the ritual of the sacraments — expressed appreciation for the pastoral motivations behind the request, it emphasized that current norms do not allow for exceptions on this point.
“The reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm, but derives from the very nature of the liturgy,” the dicastery said.
The letter noted that the homily “constitutes an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word,” is “intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel,” and “represents an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the sacrament of holy orders.”
The dicastery also stressed that the “proclamation of the Word within the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally and from the unity that links the Word and the Sacrament in the eucharistic celebration.”
The letter underlined the need to strengthen the formation of clergy, pointing to “the importance of promoting the ongoing formation of ordained ministers, so that the homily may fully express its pastoral and spiritual efficacy.”
Finally, the dicastery recalled that the Church’s current discipline already provides other possibilities for lay faithful to preach.
“There are numerous forms of proclamation of the Word and preaching that can be entrusted to the lay faithful outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist,” the dicastery said, noting that such preaching must always be carried out in accordance with canon law and the proper nature of those forms of announcing the Gospel.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Abelardo de la Espriella is the new president of Colombia, according to the preliminary vote count released by the National Civil Registry on June 21.
With 99.9% of polling stations reporting, De la Espriella, of the conservative Defenders of the Homeland party, secured 49.6% of the vote. His opponent, Iván Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact party, stood at 48.7%. The remaining votes were either null or blank.
De la Espriella said on Instagram that “today marks the beginning of a new chapter for our country, a chapter built upon the free and democratic will of millions of citizens who chose to believe in a Colombia that is great, secure, prosperous, and full of opportunities.”
He added that “with Godʼs help and the efforts of all Colombians, the ‘Miracle Homeland’ will become a reality.”
Moments later, in his first public appearance from the northern city of Barranquilla, De la Espriella called on the country to put division aside and pledged to be the president of all Colombians, including those who did not vote for him.
Addressing thousands of gathered supporters, the president-elect concluded his speech by asking God to bless the country. “Long live Christ the King!” De la Espriella declared.
The governmentʼs reaction
President Gustavo Petro, who campaigned for his candidate, Iván Cepeda, over the past few weeks, wrote on X that “no one can be proclaimed president” because “it is the official vote count that determines who the president is.”
For his part, Cepeda said in his first public appearance that while he accepts the preliminary unofficial vote count, his delegates intend to challenge the results from 33,000 polling stations during the official tally. On election day, Colombians cast their votes at 122,000 polling stations, both domestically and abroad.
Following the announcement of the unofficial preliminary vote count, the official validation process takes place immediately. According to the National Registry, this is "the official process of verifying and counting the votes cast in the ballot boxes, carried out by poll workers and the validation commissions …a process that guarantees the validity and transparency of the election results.”
De la Espriella’s position on life and family issues
During the election campaign, De la Espriella pledged to change current government policies regarding health, the economy, and public safety by taking an “iron-fist” approach against drug trafficking and armed groups.
Furthermore, he was the only candidate to sign the Commitment to Life and Family promoted by the United for Life platform, pledging to defend not only the family and the right to life but also freedoms related to conscience and worship, as well as the human rights enshrined in the country’s constitution and in international treaties ratified by the Colombian state.
Regarding gender ideology, De la Espriella stated on Caracol Radio that he has no issue with the homosexual community but noted that he is an “enemy of gender ideology.”
“I do not accept attempts to condition our children or to contaminate them with gender ideology in order to try to change their view of sexuality, or even of sex itself,” he said.
Regarding the legalization of marijuana, the president-elect says the plant “is a gateway to other drugs” and “there will be no room” for its legalization under his administration, according to the Defenders of the Homeland website.
Congratulations from leaders
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X that he spoke “with Colombia’s President-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, to congratulate him on his electoral victory.”
“The Trump Administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen our economic ties. Colombiaʼs best days are ahead,” Rubio stated.
The presidents of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; Argentina, Javier Milei; and Chile, José Antonio Kast, congratulated De la Espriella on the election.
Kast wrote on X that this electoral victory marks “the beginning of a new era of freedom for Colombia that will allow them to regain security and prosperity.”
Likewise, Milei noted that, with De la Espriella, “the majority of Colombians chose the path of economic freedom, prosperity, and uncompromising security, and said ‘enough’ to transnational organized crime and drug trafficking.”
Noboa stated, “Today, Colombia chose order over impunity. Congratulations to Abelardo de la Espriella on this victory. We share the conviction that our region deserves security, progress, and governments that confront crime without excuses.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
The Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists has withdrawn its disciplinary order against Catholic counselor Frank Canepa and is reconsidering the case in light of a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a formal notice filed with the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Canepa, a licensed counselor in Beaverton, Oregon, faced nearly $90,000 in fines and other sanctions after telling a longtime client that he could not personally affirm or “bless” her same-sex relationship due to his Catholic faith.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal group representing Canepa, the client had pressed the issue for 20 minutes in one session, despite Canepa having seen her 44 times over two and a half years without raising or being questioned about his religious views.
According to the Oregon board, Canepa violated state law as well as the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics. The board ordered him to attend six hours of continuing education and pay for his own hearing, which cost $89,636.
ADF appealed the board’s decision on Canepa’s behalf on May 1, arguing that the punishment violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion, particularly in light of recent U.S. Supreme Court precedents such as Chiles v. Salazar.
Shortly after ADF filed its opening brief, the board voluntarily withdrew its disciplinary actions against Canepa without providing a detailed public explanation.
However, in the Withdrawal of Notice of Proposed Disciplinary Action signed on June 5, the Oregon board cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Chiles v. Salazar as a reason for withdrawing the disciplinary action.
Colorado’s law targeting certain viewpoints on sexual orientation and gender identity constituted unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, the court said in its decision.
“The government can’t target counselors for their views and force people to say things that go against their core convictions,” said Jonathan Scruggs, ADF senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy, in a June 22 statement to EWTN News. “The Supreme Court recently took Colorado to task for censoring counselors and mandating orthodoxy in the counselor’s office, and Oregon should take notice.”
“ADF will continue to ensure that free speech is protected in Oregon — and every state where it’s threatened — and halt states’ attempts to weaponize their licensure systems,” Scruggs said.
