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LAHORE, Pakistan — White bedsheets for Muslim worshippers were laid on the grassy lawn outside the Dominican Peace Center in Punjab an hour before the annual interfaith iftar — the fast-breaking meal during Ramadan.

The aroma of crispy pakoras (fritters), dried dates, rose-flavored Rooh Afza, and dahi bhallay (lentil dumplings in yogurt) drew guests to the dining tables after they finished reciting their iftar prayers in Lahore, the provincial capital.

Dominican Father James Channan, director of the center, has hosted such interfaith gatherings for 25 years in a country where religious tensions have periodically turned violent.

“Table friendships are very important in our context. People attending such forums highlight them on social media, reaching millions,” he told EWTN News at the sidelines of the program, timed with International Women’s Day on March 8.

“The combined meals and prayer services have helped curb trends of church attacks that followed U.S. wars in Muslim countries.”

Pakistani Christians have faced multiple terrorist attacks since October 2001, after the United States — seen by many Pakistani Muslims as a Christian nation — launched its military campaign in Afghanistan.

“It’s a bitter past. Churches and Christian settlements were considered soft targets. The ongoing conflicts are not crusades; they are wars of interest,” Channan said.

Interfaith meals continue despite unrest

Interfaith gatherings continued this year even as protests against U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran left 26 dead in Pakistan.

Church leaders joined clerics in prayers for peace and shared meals at mosques, church premises, and hotels across six dioceses and one apostolic vicariate, as Middle East air travel disruption and rising fuel prices added regional tension.

Many Pakistanis view the United States and Western Europe as Christian nations, and some militant groups target local Christians as linked to these “Christian countries.”

Communal tensions have also erupted locally. In May 2024, a mob attacked 74-year-old Christian Nazir Masih over alleged blasphemy in Sargodha. He later died of his injuries. In August 2023, violence in Jaranwala destroyed 26 churches and 80 Christian homes following allegations of Quran desecration.

In a Feb. 17 message, Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Rawalpindi-Islamabad invited Christians and Muslims to offer special prayers for peace as Lent and Ramadan coincided this year. He encouraged people of both faiths “to visit one another, exchange greetings with respect, and unite in serving vulnerable segments of society.”

Joint events across Pakistan

In Multan, over 82 participants attended a Feb. 28 iftar jointly organized by the Catholic Commission for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Ecumenism; Saiban-e-Pakistan, a state peace initiative; and the Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism.

A day earlier in Lahore, Channan and four Catholic priests attended the fast-breaking event at the Badshahi Mosque, the country’s second-largest mosque. He presented a framed photo of Abdul Khabeer Azad, the mosque’s “khateeb” (prayer leader), who met Pope Leo XIV in October 2025 at the “Christian-Muslim Dialogue and Daring Peace” conference in Rome organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio.

Among 120 guests at the Dominican iftar was Muslim speaker Shehzad Qaiser. The event, held in collaboration with groups including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, highlighted ongoing social challenges.

The head of external affairs at Sundas Foundation, which supports patients with blood disorders, agreed that Christians face discrimination in some offices and some Muslims refuse the food prepared by Christians.

“It is very important to share our common practices, joys, and sorrows. Religious leaders have the duty to raise awareness. Sadly some mistake local Christians as ‘kafir’ (infidels),” Qaiser said.

“During Ramadan, people distribute free meals to everyone without asking their religion. Blood donors don’t discriminate either. This is the real spirit of Ramadan and Lent.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

“The Chosen” and “House of David” were among the many winners at the 33rd annual Movieguide Awards, which aired March 5.

The annual Movieguide Awards celebrates TV shows and movies that, according to its website, “reflect Christian values, biblical truth, and messages of redemption, hope, and faith” and “stories that uplift families, strengthen believers, and point hearts toward Christ.”

“House of David” and the star of the show, Michael Iskander, took two awards home. The new hit series won the Faith and Freedom Award for Television — which honors programs that “celebrate independence, faith in midst of oppression, individual dignity, and freedom” — for its Season 2 episode titled “The Truth Revealed.”

Jon Erwin, creator, writer, and producer of the series, said in his acceptance speech that being at the awards show reminded him of Psalm 34: “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

“This really does feel like something that we’re all doing together and have been doing it for a long time,” he said to the faith-based creators in attendance. “I do feel like there’s something in the air in L.A.”

He explained that the show uses an old sound stage in Culver City, California, that was first used for Cecil B. DeMille’s — the filmmaker best known for “The Ten Commandments” — 1927 movie “King of Kings.”

“So, I feel like there’s a bit of a reclaiming of ground going on in our industry and I think we’re back in a big way,” Erwin said.

Iskander, who portrays King David in the series, won the Grace Award for Television for an actor, which is given to an actor whose performance is exceptional and “best contribute to the world’s understanding of God’s love.”

In his acceptance speech, Iskander thanked his family, especially his mother, “for sticking by my side … but most importantly I want to thank God, who’s been my anchor and my sail and my light in the darkness. He’s been everything to me and I owe it all to him. He’s brought me out of so much and wherever he takes me, I want to go.”

He added: “I’ve been thinking a lot about why David is being highlighted so much in today’s culture. David is a guide for us and he shows us that no matter how far away we may stray from Christ, he is going around and looking for us and he’s calling us by name and all we have to do is just say ‘yes.’ All we have to do is just listen to his voice and say, ‘Yes Lord, I will follow you.’ So, I want you to know that God doesn’t see how weak or small you may look or how grand or strong you may look; he sees into your heart.”

“The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 2” was awarded the Epiphany Award for Inspiring Movies, which recognizes a movie that is “both inspirational and redemptive and can lead us to a closer and personal relationship with a kind, loving, and forgiving God.” Despite being a TV show, “The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 2” was released in theaters as a cinematic event.

Other winners included “Light of the World,” which won for Best Movie for Children; “BAU: Artist at War,” which tells the true story of an artist who survives a World War II concentration camp, won the Faith and Freedom Award for Movies; and “Sarah’s Oil” took home the award for Best Movie for Mature Audiences, among several others.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh — In Bangladesh’s bustling port city of Chattogram, where thousands of internal and international migrants struggle daily for survival, a 67-year-old Catholic sister has become their strongest defender. 

Sister Zita Rema of the Salesian Sisters of Mary Immaculate is known across the city as the “Mother of Migrants,” a title she has earned through decades of tireless service to the poor, the displaced, and the forgotten.

Born in the Diocese of Mymensingh, Sister Zita now leads the Migrant Desk of the Archdiocese of Chattogram. The local Catholic community includes about 3,000 faithful, among them migrant workers and expatriates from India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nigeria, Uganda, and South Korea. Alongside them live more than 5,000 internal Christian migrants working in garment factories, shipbreaking yards, bicycle workshops, oxygen plants, beauty parlors, and other sectors. Many face discrimination, unsafe labor conditions, financial insecurity, and emotional isolation. To all of them, Sister Zita offers a compassionate presence.

“Migrants carry heavy burdens,” she said. “I walk with them so that no one feels abandoned.”

Her ministry is a daily journey through crowded streets, workers’ quarters, and factory neighborhoods. She visits homes after long work shifts, prays with families, counsels the distressed, and advocates for those facing harassment or injustice. Many call her “Ma” — a sign of deep affection.

Sister Zita is often among the first to respond when tragedy strikes. On March 4, 2023, an explosion at the Seema Oxygen Plant in Sitakunda killed seven workers, including two Catholics, and injured 25 others. 

“I went to the hospital immediately,” she recalled. She spent days helping secure treatment, comforting families, and negotiating compensation. Her advocacy resulted in more than 1 million taka (about $8,300) paid by the factory owner and the government. “Without Sister Zita, we would not have received justice,” said Mickey Nokrek, whose son died in the blast.

The hardships of migrants extend beyond accidents. Many families cannot afford the cost of transporting a deceased relative’s body back home. “It can cost 10,000 to 30,000 taka,” Sister Zita said. She mobilizes parish committees to raise the necessary funds so that families can bury their loved ones with dignity.

Sister Zita is also deeply involved in preventing human trafficking. She helped rescue seven Christian children taken to a madrasa in Dhaka under false promises of education and pressured to convert. She has intervened for young women in beauty parlors who were facing abuse, helping them seek legal remedies. “Every person deserves safety and dignity,” she said.

Health care is another cornerstone of Sister Zita’s mission. Many migrant women, especially those who are pregnant, seek her guidance. The Migrant Desk works with two part-time doctors who offer free consultations. She also connects patients to affordable diagnostic centers and has introduced a small insurance pool: Each member contributes 100 taka, and the fund supports anyone hospitalized.

Economic instability has made life worse for many workers. The Russia-Ukraine war has slowed operations in shipbreaking yards, reducing daily wages to 300 taka only — and only when work is available. Sister Zita regularly counsels workers and provides school materials for their children. “Without support, they lose hope,” she said.

One migrant who found refuge in her mission is Papia Nokrek, a beautician who suddenly lost her housing due to rising rent. “Sister gave me shelter when I had nowhere to go,” she said. “She truly is a mother to migrants like me.”

Despite working in a Muslim-majority nation, Sister Zita said she has never faced hostility. Her cross silently communicates her Catholic identity. “My witness is through love,” she said.

Bus staff greet her respectfully as “Ma,” and she continues to teach catechism and prepare Catholics for the sacraments of reconciliation, the Eucharist, and confirmation each year.

As International Women’s Day is marked globally on March 8 with the theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls,” Sister Zita said the struggle for safety remains urgent. “Women and children still fear leaving their homes alone,” she said. “My hope is for a Bangladesh where every woman can walk freely, without fear.” Each year, she organizes a program for migrant women to give them a platform to share their struggles and strengthen their unity.

Sister Zita’s concerns reflect the harsh realities women face in Bangladesh. According to the human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra, 749 rapes were reported from January to December 2025, including 569 single rapes and 180 gang rapes. In addition, 193 women were victims of sexual harassment. For Sister Zita, these numbers underscore the urgency of protecting women’s rights and dignity.

Looking back on her decades of service, she said she feels fulfilled. “For 20 years, I have walked with migrant workers, listened to their stories, cried with them, and prayed with them,” she said. “Their love has blessed my life. I thank God for choosing me for this mission.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Ireland group calls for inquiry into deaths of 108 babies born alive after abortion

An advocacy group in Ireland is calling for an inquiry into the deaths of 108 babies who were born alive after attempted abortions in Ireland

In a story published March 1 and authored by Ireland’s Life Institute and others, the institute cited figures released by Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2019 to 2023.

"Were these babies simply left to die and were they denied the life-saving interventions that might have saved them?” asked Life Institute spokesperson Sandra Parda.

“We need answers, we need transparency,” Parda said. “Looking at the evidence, clearly these babies are then simply being left to die, yet everything is shrouded in silence and secrecy.”

Deputy Mattie McGrath, who obtained the numbers after requesting them from the HSE, said he was "gravely concerned about any approach that reduces transparency around perinatal outcomes.”

Woman forced to induce labor while in prison sues Illinois

A former inmate from Illinois filed a lawsuit against the state prison because they allegedly forced her to give birth via induction rather than spontaneous labor.

At about seven months pregnant, Amy Hicks was convicted of an illegal drug offense. Two weeks before her due date, in early 2024, she underwent induction due to prison requirements.

Labor is usually induced only if there is a health concern for the mother or baby. Women will often elect to avoid induction because it can increase pain and lead to higher intervention rates such as C-sections, among other concerns.

The lawsuit, argued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, alleges that the prison’s requirements violate the state’s Reproductive Health Act, an amendment that created a right to abortion in the state law. The federal lawsuit names Gov. JB Pritzker’s Illinois Department of Corrections, the prison’s medical provider, and Wexford Health Sources, among others.

Wyoming Senate passes heartbeat act

The Wyoming Senate passed a Heartbeat bill to protect unborn children from abortion when their heartbeats are detectable.

The act prohibits “procedures that terminate the life of a child with a detectable heartbeat” with some exceptions.

The bill now moves to the governor’s desk; If signed, the act would immediately take effect.

Indiana court blocks protections for unborn children on religious freedom claims

An Indiana court blocked a law protecting unborn children under religious freedom claims on March 6.

The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the advocacy group Hoosier Jews For Choice and anonymous women, claimed the law violated religious freedom by preventing women from aborting their children.

Lawsuit alleges Virginia abortion rights ballot initiative is invalid

A lawsuit dated March 6 alleges that a Virginia ballot initiative to create a right to abortion is invalid.

District 3 Supervisor for the Bedford County Board of Supervisors Charla Bansley claimed in the lawsuit that the House of Delegates missed mandated procedural steps, making the ballot initiative invalid.

The 35-page lawsuit claims that Virginia’s House of Delegates failed to send it to all circuit court clerks so they could post it for public inspection three months prior to the 2025 House of Delegates elections.

North Dakota trains physicians to understand new protections for unborn children

A training for doctors required by a North Dakota law recently became available, part of a recent law passed to enforce laws surrounding abortion.

The online training is required after the legislature passed a bill requiring training for physicians on how to apply the state’s laws protecting unborn children in various scenarios.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America to campaign in Ohio

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Women Speak Out PAC launched a seven figure campaign in Ohio to elect pro-life legislators.

The organizations announced on March 2 that they are dedicating $3.25 million to campaign in support of US Senator Jon Husted, who is running against former US Senator Sherrod Brown and plan to canvas 500,000 houses.

The Ohio campaign is part of SBAʼs $80 million investment for the 2026 midterm cycle across the nation.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Tzu Ping Liu is an international student from Taiwan at the University of Florida who will be entering the Catholic Church this Easter — all thanks to a post he made on Facebook Marketplace and an unlikely friendship.

Liu — who goes by the first name of Davis — is a 30-year-old, second-year graduate student who is part of the Taiwanese military and came to the United States, accompanied by his wife, to study aerospace engineering. In need of some friends when he arrived, he took to Facebook Marketplace — a platform used to buy and sell items — to find them.

Robert Manoogian, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Florida who is studying mechanical engineering, came across Liu’s post looking for friends and decided to reach out and invite him to attend “Mass and Meal” with the Catholic Gators on campus.

“He came just to the meal part the first two times and then he started asking who Jesus was and then came into Mass with me and then he printed out a pamphlet on his own of the Mass in Mandarin and then the Mass in English as well,” Manoogian told EWTN News.

“I was trying to understand the process, like all the Mass, what they’re doing right now,” Liu added.

He explained that in Taiwan the primary religions are Buddhism and Taoism. Due to this, he had never been introduced to Christianity before arriving in the United States.

“When I first went to Mass with Robbie, I was really shocked because what I saw was all the students praying very deeply,” he recalled. “I have never seen this in Taiwan … So this really made me very curious about this religion. So I started looking on the internet, trying to know more about Jesus.”

He shared that he began to read a book given to him by Manoogian on salvation history, which he called “logical” in comparison to the religions in Taiwan.

“In Taiwan there’s a lot of gods and every god has his independent story and it didn’t connect to each other. So it becomes very confusing. It’s like chaos,” he explained. “Then when I read the books that Robbie gave me, I found all this logical. In Genesis, God created humans and then something happens from the prophets and then Jesus comes to the Earth and saves the humans. It’s all logical. So I was very curious about this story.”

Liu recalled the moment he knew he wanted to enter the Catholic Church. During winter break, he was struggling with doubts of whether or not he really wanted to get baptized and become a Catholic. He shared that on the Sunday before classes resumed, he attended Mass and the Gospel reading that day was on the baptism of Jesus.

“During Mass, the Father explained that even though Jesus was without sin, he chose to stand with the sinner. So it’s like he was walking the path of obedience to set an example for us. And it really hit me straight to my heart,” Liu said. “So this is a miracle that I can’t explain. It’s like God was speaking directly to me and then gave me the answer.”

Now Liu is a part of OCIA — the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults — and will be entering the Church this Easter with Manoogian by his side as his sponsor.

Manoogian added that Liu has also started sharing his testimony during Thursday evening dinners with other students who speak Mandarin and have never been introduced to Christianity, which has been “very powerful to witness.”

Liu shared that despite his wife being “shocked” by the news of him becoming Catholic, she was supportive and he is hopeful she will one day join the Church as well.

As for Manoogian, this experience has been one-of-a-kind and has strengthened his own faith by walking with someone whose only knowledge of Jesus was that he was born in a manger.

“It’s been like this big brother, little brother moment in a sense because I’m Davis’ big brother in the faith, in a sense, as a sponsor, but then he’s ahead of me in the same engineering classes that I’m taking. And so it’s like this weird dynamic that works out perfectly, that’s led to just a great friendship as well,” Manoogian said.

He added: “And it’s definitely deepened my faith because I feel sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, like how did you get Davis so interested in the faith?’ And I didn’t really do anything, you know? I just told him who Jesus was and then it was kind of planting that seed and it wasn’t me at all in a sense, which has been really cool to see.”

“A lot of the time we’re so focused on the right things to say to people on evangelization, but at the end of the day, it’s just introducing the idea and then God works through them and sparks their interest. So, it’s definitely grown my faith as well.”

Reflecting on their experience as a whole, Manoogian said: “I think that God can use any source, any moment in your life, any place in your life, to spread the Gospel — through something like Facebook Marketplace or even just in class — and the constant spreading of the Gospel to a stranger in the slightest way, like an invitation to Church, can change the trajectory of someone’s whole life.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

A group of high schoolers from a Maryland boys' school found themselves in the crosshairs of international conflict in the Middle East this week, turning what was meant to be a brief layover in Abu Dhabi into a multi-day ordeal amid escalating hostilities between Iran, Israel, and the United States.

The group — 18 seniors and two faculty members from The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. — had departed on the afternoon of Feb. 27 for a cultural exchange trip to Thailand.

The voyage was part of the school’s yearly Crescite Trips, where students in grades 9-12 participate during the first week of March in local seminars as well as domestic and international trips intended for the students’ growth.

The group was scheduled for a two-hour layover in the United Arab Emirates after their 12-hour flight when regional airspace slammed shut following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranʼs retaliatory missile barrages.

Initially, all flights were cancelled, but soon the airport was closed and had to be evacuated. According to Aidan Korn, a student on the trip, the group was seated at the gate for their next flight when they learned it had been suspended because “the war had begun.”

“It was scary at first. We were sitting by a giant window at the gate and all of our phones started going off at the same time. I saw texts from friends in the U.S. asking if I was alive,” he said. “We saw military men running with guns through the airport.”

Korn said the two faculty chaperones, Justin Myers and Dan Sushinsky, told them to get away from the windows and seek shelter in the airport bathroom. They learned later that a drone was intercepted above the airport, and the debris killed one person and injured several others.

Myers and Sushinsky, both seasoned teachers as well as college counselors at The Heights, immediately called headmaster Alvaro de Vicente, who told EWTN News he called “everyone I know to help” the boys.

De Vicente said the teachers and boys registered through the state department website for U.S. citizens stuck in the Middle East.

The teachers “did an incredible job keeping the boys calm, safe, and engaged,” said de Vicente. He described the men as “real pros in handling a situation no teacher can prepare for.”

“This is not what we do. We donʼt prepare for this!” he said.

Bryson Begg, another senior on the trip, agreed, telling EWTN News that the teachers were "incredible. Their number-one priority was our safety. They cared for us so much.”

Begg described a “confidence” that Myers and Sushinsky emanated that they would all get home safely. “We had this sense that they’ve got it.”

The teachers instructed the boys to be cautious and not to post anything on social media that could compromise their security, Korn said.

Myers told EWTN News the situation felt chaotic at first, as thousands of people with canceled flights tried to find hotels using airline-provided vouchers. Initially, the group was split up and assigned to different hotels, which they deemed unacceptable, so he and Sushinsky decided to stay the night in the airport, hoping a flight would open up while they waited.

The airport was then closed and everyone was ordered to evacuate. After several hours, with the help of several airport employees, Myers said they were able to find a hotel for all 20 of them. When they boarded the bus, again amidst the chaos of thousands of evacuating travelers, the driver asked Myers where the hotel was, and they figured out the directions there together.

Myers said either he or Sushinsky was on the phone almost constantly with the State Department, parents, de Vicente, Heights alumni who lived in the area, and  the U.S. embassy.

Myers, who has taught at The Heights for over 30 years and has led many trips, told EWTN News it was “an unusually good group” of boys. "All of our top students were on this trip. They were very brave.”

“They were probably not as scared as they should have been! And now that they’re home safe, they’re saying it was the best trip ever!” he laughed.

Once at the hotel, he and Sushinsky held group meetings at set times each day, where they ate together, played games, prayed the rosary, and told funny stories. The leaders also made themselves available at set times each day to talk with any boys who wanted to.

Begg said the teachers made sure the boys kept their bags packed and ready to go at all times in case they had to rush to the airport to catch an available flight out.

Korn told EWTN News the hotel’s doors were initially zip tied shut, but as the days went on, they were occasionally allowed to venture outside briefly. On one of these occasions, Begg said he was praying the rosary when warning sirens went off, and the hotel staff urgently called him back inside.

“Most of the time it felt perfectly safe,” Myers said. “We saw some drones a couple of times; saw them intercepted, mostly at night. We’d watch the news and they’d make it worse than it is. They kept showing the same building being hit.”

“It was not like what was being shown on TV. People in the city were going about their daily lives.”

Nevertheless, the boys spent most of their time indoors eating (“The hotel had really nice food,” said Korn), working out at the gym, watching movies in the presidential suite, where two of the students were staying, and even playing hide and seek throughout the hotel.

Thanks to a Heights alumnus who lives there, the group (with all the parents’ permission) was able to go to the beach one day, and on a desert excursion to an oasis, where they rode camels, according to Begg.

‘An overwhelming feeling of comfort’

By 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 28, Karen Korn, Aidan’s mother, told EWTN News she was awakened by the dozens of notifications on her phone from the boys as well as other parents.

“I’m so humbled by and grateful to the amount of people that reached out to us, who were praying,” she said. “I truly believe that was what got us through. It’s unbelievable how many people were praying.”

“We had people praying 24 hours a day; priests at every church around us that had holy hours and said Masses for them … even outside of this area.”

She described “an overwhelming feeling of comfort” knowing how many prayers were being said for the young men. While praying on Sunday, she said she saw an image of Jesus wrapping his arms around the boys, keeping them safe.

‘Men fully alive’

Begg, who has attended The Heights since 3rd grade, credited de Vicente for working “tirelessly to help us.”

“He is the pinnacle of what a Heights man is. ‘Men fully alive’ is our motto, and he’s the epitome of that. He’s strong in his beliefs, and cared for us so much. He waited in the airport for hours before we arrived. It was incredibly heartwarming to see that.”

“He was right at the front of the group of parents at the airport with a big smile on his face, welcoming us home. We all shook his hand.”

De Vicente said he was “thankful to the United Arab Emirates government” for hosting the boys, providing them the hotel and transportation. He also said he was "thankful to our government for being able to get them out.”

The boys left on a charter flight — one arranged by the U.S. State Department filled with other American families — and returned safely to Dulles Airport on the afternoon of Thursday, March 5.

The Heights School, an independent day school for grades 3-12, teaches boys “with a Christian spirit and in accord with the teachings of the Catholic Church” and the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei “provides chaplains for the school and oversees its program of classes in Catholic doctrine,” according to its website.

Over the years, the school has drawn politically conservative families, including the sons of prominent politicians such as former senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum as well as Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, among others.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

The Diocese of El Paso will file for bankruptcy amid more than a dozen lawsuits over allegations of sexual abuse, Bishop Mark Seitz said this week.

In a message to the Texas diocese on March 6, Seitz said the diocese is facing “18 pending lawsuits” for alleged sexual abuse that occurred between 1956-1982.

The alleged abuse occurred “long before society or the Church was aware of the presence and extent of child abuse taking place within its institutions” and “long before the Diocese implemented the strong child protection policies and practices that exist today to guard against these crimes,” Seitz said in the message, which was accompanied by a video posted to YouTube.

Seitz said he decided to have the diocese file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after consultation with priests and diocesan officials as well as “prayerful consideration.”

He described it as “the most prudent course of action” because “there are now financial claims pending against the diocese that exceed our means.”

The diocese will work “to equitably compensate those who have been harmed, and to carry on the essential ministries of the Church in our diocese so we can continue to meet the needs of all who rely upon the Church,” Seitz said.

Describing diocesan resources as “very limited,” the bishop said the bankruptcy filing will allow the diocese to streamline its abuse compensation plan into one process overseen by the bankruptcy court, allowing the diocese to “move forward on stable financial ground.”

Apologizing for the abuse inflicted on victims by diocesan officials, Seitz said the process will be a “difficult journey,” though he said the diocese will “continue to serve the Lord with all our hearts through whatever trials may come.”

El Paso is the first diocese in Texas to file for bankruptcy over abuse claims. The southern U.S. state is home to 13 dioceses and two archdioceses.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

WARSAW, Poland — From Nicaragua to Nigeria, Belarus to China, the Catholic Church is once again facing repression in many parts of the globe. Among those whose witness speaks directly to that reality is Archbishop Antoni Baraniak (1904–1977), a forgotten dry martyr of Stalinism who refused to betray the primate of Poland despite suffering months of extremely painful and humiliating tortures.

Baraniak was born to a farming family in the Greater Poland region, then part of the German partition of Poland. At 16, he entered the Salesian novitiate in Oświęcim and was ordained a priest in 1930. In 1933, the primate of Poland, Cardinal August Hlond, Baraniak’s fellow Salesian, appointed the latter as his secretary.

Six years later, after the fall of Poland, the Polish government urged Hlond to flee the country, first to Rome and then Lourdes.

The cardinal used this as an opportunity to write reports detailing Hitler’s atrocities in Poland addressed to Pope Pius XII and organize humanitarian aid for war refugees; Baraniak assisted him in these efforts.

In 1943, Hlond was arrested by the Gestapo and would be freed only after the liberation of France; during Hlond’s absence, Baraniak continued the former’s humanitarian efforts. 

In 1948, Hlond died, and the new primate, Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, retained Baraniak as his secretary. Three years later, Baraniak was appointed auxiliary bishop of Gniezno, Poland’s first capital and oldest Catholic see.

Arrest and torture

At this point, Poland was behind the Iron Curtain. The Stalinist persecution of the Polish Church reached its climax in 1953, with many priests and laypeople arrested on trumped-up charges.

Baraniak was detained for maintaining contacts with the anti-communist Freedom and Independence Association (Wolność i Niezawisłość, WiN). He was jailed at the notorious Mokotów prison in Warsaw, run by the Ministry of Public Security, Poland’s equivalent of the NKVD.

Other anti-communist bishops were then imprisoned in Mokotów (Wyszyński, meanwhile, was held in several isolated former monasteries across Poland), including Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek of Kielce, who in a Stalinist show trial had been falsely charged with being a Nazi collaborator, and Wojciech Zink, the heroic ethnic German apostolic administrator of Warmia whose “crime” was refusing to sign a statement condemning the Polish primate.

Baraniak was kept in Mokotów for 27 months. During this time, he was starved and beaten; his fingernails were ripped off; and he was often kept in solitary confinement, naked, in a freezing, claustrophobic cell filled with human excrement. He was brutally interrogated 145 times yet never signed statements falsely vilifying Wyszyński; his refusal made it more difficult for the regime to later manufacture accusations in a campaign defaming the primate. 

Signing such statements could have instantly ended Baraniak’s agony. In Jolanta Hajdasz’s documentary “Żołnierz Niezłomny Kościoła” (“The Indomitable Soldier of the Church”) Marek Jędraszewski, archbishop emeritus of Krakow and Lodz, quotes Baraniak’s priestly acquaintance as saying that after each interrogation, the jailed bishop would tell himself, “Baraniak, you can’t act like a swine.”

Archbishop of Poznań

Amid a post-Stalin thaw, Baraniak was freed in 1956. The Holy See nominated him to be the new archbishop of Poznan; the communist regime accepted, apparently confident that the emaciated, sickly Baraniak’s ministry would be brief.

Indeed, Baraniak led the Archdiocese of Poznan for 20 years. During this time, the Salesian bishop took to heart St. John Bosco’s concern for the young, promoting youth ministry and vocations, ordaining an impressive 600 priests during his episcopacy.

Baraniak participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council; he urged his fellow council fathers to speak up explicitly in defense of Christians persecuted by communist regimes. He maintained contacts with the underground Church in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, even clandestinely ordaining Czech priests.

During the Polish bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome, Pius XII introduced Baraniak to Roman Curia officials with the words: “Ecco il vero martire” (“Here is a true martyr”).

A week before Baraniak’s death, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła visited the hospitalized archbishop of Poznan. “Your Excellency, the Church in Poland will never forget that you defended her under the worst possible circumstances,” he said. A year later, Wojtyła would be elected pope and become a true spokesman for the persecuted Church.

Cause for beatification

In October 2017, the Archdiocese of Poznań announced it would open a cause for beatification for its heroic former shepherd; four years later, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints stated a cause would be opened upon sufficient evidence of “lively devotion” to the bishop.

Meanwhile, in 2024, the Polish Parliament declared the Year of Archbishop Antoni Baraniak. For many, a blessed Baraniak would be a perfect intercessor not only for the Church persecuted in many parts of the world but also for the faithful in every circumstance.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Anne-Marie Gustavson’s voice was joyful when she recounted her recent visit to New York to speak on a panel about the 19 Algerian martyrs, one of whom was her brother, Bishop Pierre Claverie, OP.

“I was absolutely amazed by everything,” she said of New York Encounter — held in February at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood — where her brother was featured in an exhibit alongside his fellow 18 martyrs of the so-called “Black Decade” of Algeria from 1992–2002. The Algerian-born French citizen living in New Jersey exclaimed: “I had no idea this existed at all, this New York Encounter!”

Gustavson participated in a panel discussion alongside Father Thomas Georgeon, the postulator for the 19 martyrs of Algeria’s cause; Georgetown University professor Paul Heck; and Bishop Steven Raica of Birmingham, Alabama, who moderated the discussion.

She said the exhibit was “absolutely beautiful” and marveled at its being scheduled to travel to England and Paris.

Indeed, according to Georgeon, the exhibit will travel to many more cities, including Chicago and Nashville, Tennessee, in the U.S. as well as Lourdes, France, and Milan, Rome, and “at least 10 other cities in Italy.”

Prior to the New York Encounter, the exhibit was first presented at the Rimini Meeting, the Italian equivalent of the encounter, in August 2025. “The success in Rimini was phenomenal: 15,000 people visited the exhibition in five days,” Georgeon said.

“That their reputation of holiness is growing, growing, and growing — that’s clear,” Georgeon said.

“Nineteen consecrated men and women, eight different religious congregations; seven women and 12 men who had answered God’s call to devote themselves to him and were called twice to give their lives to the end for the love of Christ and their neighbor,” he said. “The profiles of the 19 martyrs show astonishing variety against the background of the dynamism of a local Church, discerned by events and in a state of resistance to the prevailing violence.”

Claverie and his 18 companions were beatified by Pope Francis on Dec. 8, 2018, in Oran, Algeria, marking the first instance of a Catholic beatification taking place in a Muslim-majority country. Claverie served as bishop of Oran from 1981 until his Aug. 1, 1996, martyrdom.

The best known of Claverie’s companions are the seven monks of Tibhirine, who were kidnapped from their Trappist priory in March 1996. They were kept as a bartering chip to procure the release of several imprisoned members of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria and were killed in May 1996. Their story was dramatized in the 2010 French film “Of Gods and Men,” which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

In her interview with EWTN News, Gustavson described her brother as having “a balanced personality,” saying he shared their mother’s vivaciousness and was often “very joyful and teasing people.” At the same time, she said, “he also had my father’s intelligence and a more sober and thoughtful kind of temperament.”

“He never doubted his faith,” she said. “Once faith came upon him, he never doubted after that, and his path led him back to Algeria.” Gustavson and her brother were born in Algeria, and their family’s history there had stretched back for five generations. During Algeria’s war of independence from France in the 1960s, the family left Algeria for France. Claverie’s faith journey famously began when he joined a scout troop run by the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans, the order he would eventually enter.

Gustavson emphasized the importance to her brother of remaining in Algeria. He was dedicated to helping Algerians to realize their dreams of democracy and peace in wake of the civil war in the 1990s that killed thousands of people. She recounted how he had begun to speak up as bishop of Oran about the suffering of the Algerian people, who were caught between a “a very repressive government and a rebellion based on an extreme form of Islam that had infiltrated the country.”

The question for Catholics became, “Do we stay or do we go?” she said.

“For us, for the family, at that point, my mom had passed away in ’92,” she recalled. “So for my father, and for us, my husband and I, and our daughters, we knew that something might happen.”

“But none of us had the thought of telling him, ‘OK, Pierre, just stop. Just go to France, go wherever.’ No, because he was on the path he wanted to be on,” she said. “And we knew also that he was a great help to the people, the Muslims around him.”

The last time Gustavson spoke with her brother was over the phone, a little over a day before he was killed. She said she could hear that “his voice was really not the way that it usually was,” and it had been several months since the monks at Tibhirine had disappeared. “The next day, a friend of ours gave me the call in the evening saying that Pierre had been killed along with [his driver] Mohamed.”

“When my brother was killed… so there was a six-hour difference with Algeria. And at the time when he was killed, I was in our bedroom, and I was rearranging some things on the shelves. And I had a picture of my brother at the top of that shelf, and it fell. And I picked it up; it wasn’t broken. And at that point, I said, ‘Oh my God.’ It was such a relief to think that it didn’t break.”

“In the years that followed, for me, it became a symbol of the fact that Pierre’s spirit goes on,” she said. “And the proof is now, today, after 30 years, his spirit is still alive.”

In the coming month, Georgeon and her brother’s biographer, Father Jean-Jacques Pérennès, OP, will join a delegation including Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers in visiting Pope Leo XIV ahead of his April trip to Algeria. Georgeon said he has seen “great joy, pride, and a desire for brotherhood being expressed” in the Algerian press and on social media.

Georgeon said there is nothing specific he expects regarding the cause of the 19 martyrs but said it “will be an opportunity to take stock of the cause and the spread of the reputation for holiness of these men and women throughout the world.”

For her part, Gustavson revealed excitedly that she will send a copy of her brother’s biography with them to give Pope Leo and that she has written a message to him inside, saying: “To Pope Leo XIV, from Anne-Marie Gustavson-Claverie. My brother Pierre used to say, ‘I need the truth of others.’ I will be praying for you as you search for that truth among the Algerian people he loved.”

Gustavson will visit the country in August on the 30th anniversary of her brother’s martyrdom.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Luxembourg has become the second country in Europe to enshrine the “freedom to abort” in its constitution, following the precedent set by France in 2024.

The Luxembourg unicameral legislature approved establishing the “freedom to abort” in the constitution on March 1 with a large parliamentary majority in a 48-6 vote with two abstentions.

The amendment to the constitution comes four years after the strengthening of the 1978 legislation that originally permitted abortion in the country. The effort was initiated by the left-wing party Déi Lénk with a proposal presented in 2024, which was subsequently approved by the Council of State.

A number of French-speaking countries refer to abortion with the euphemism “voluntary interruption of pregnancy,” or IVG by its French acronym.

Following the debate prior to the measureʼs approval, it was decided to include the phrase “freedom to abort” in the text instead of “right to an abortion.” This choice establishes the legality of abortion, albeit subject to certain legal limitations.

Its incorporation into the constitution also grants it greater legal protection than that afforded by ordinary laws.

‘Every human being possesses an inalienable dignity’

In September 2025 the countryʼs bishops expressed their disagreement with the constitutional initiative and emphasized that “every human being possesses an inalienable and indispensable dignity at every stage of life, even before birth.”

On behalf of the Catholic Church in the country, they reiterated that human dignity and the protection of life “are inextricably joined together” and that the inclusion of this supposed public freedom in the constitution “represents a shift in the ethical and legal paradigm.”

They denounced the fact that the starting point for legalizing abortion is the womanʼs right to self-determination over her own body, meaning that the fetus ceases to be distinguished “in any meaningful way as a separate human being.”

“The right to life of the unborn child is relegated to a secondary level compared to the womanʼs right to self-determination,” they lamented.

In this context, the prelates emphasized that “creating a legal framework that simply allows individuals to pursue their own life projects in a self-determined manner cannot be the sole consideration.”

They therefore proposed promoting a balance between family and work, fostering a shared approach to parenting, supporting single parents, preventing child poverty, and guaranteeing equal rights in the workplace.

In their view, establishing a fundamental right to abortion in the constitution “promotes the logic of the law of the strongest" and they argued that the problems and crises many families face during pregnancy could be resolved without amending the constitution.

Currently, abortion is legal in Luxembourg up to 12 weeks of gestation. Furthermore, in July 2025 certain requirements were eliminated such as the mandatory three-day waiting period and the pre-abortion counseling session.

Other European countries could be poised to follow the example of France and Luxembourg, as is the case in Spain, after the Council of State endorsed its inclusion as a right in the constitution last February.

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.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team