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The bishop of Springfield, Illinois, is joining a Lutheran nursing home and a group of doctors to sue the state over its assisted suicide law, with the coalition arguing that the state’s suicide regime abandons “nearly two millennia of medical practice” while requiring objectors to participate in it.

The suit, brought in U.S. District Court by Bishop Thomas Paprocki, the Lutheran Care Center, and four Illinois-based doctors, argues that the Illinois “End-of-Life Options” law requires doctors to participate in helping patients kill themselves even if they conscientiously object to doing so.

“Health care entities,” meanwhile, must promote the “benefits” of the suicide law to patients even if they object to doing so, the suit says; those providers are also required to allow on-site practitioners to facilitate patient access to assisted suicide.

The lawsuit argues that both the doctors and the Lutheran nursing facility “[cannot] in good conscience comply” with the law. The suit also says that Paprocki is obligated to uphold the U.S. bishops’ Catholic health service directives that forbid Catholic health facilities from participating in assisted suicide.

In a press release from the Thomas More Society, which is representing the plaintiffs in the suit, Paprocki said Catholic healthcare is meant to advance “the healing work of Christ” and “affirm the God-given dignity of every human life.”

The state’s assisted suicide law “undermines that mission by forcing Catholic hospitals and those who serve in them to push death onto their most vulnerable patients,” the bishop said.

“We must be free to serve the sick and the dying according to our faith, not according to the state’s mandate,” he added.

Mary Keen, one of the physicians in the suit, said the state’s requirement for doctors to facilitate assisted suicide “violates everything I know as a health care professional, as well as my deeply held Catholic convictions on the dignity of every human life.”

“As a doctor, I have a responsibility to meet my patients’ existential pain with loving accompaniment, not with abandonment,” she said.

This is not the first lawsuit brought by Catholic objectors against an assisted suicide law in the U.S. In July, Rockville Centre Bishop John Barres and four communities of religious sisters filed a lawsuit against New York’s assisted suicide law, arguing the measure would force them to participate in helping patients kill themselves.

The state subsequently agreed not to force the sisters to participate in the suicide program while their lawsuit proceeds. The suicide law went into effect on Aug. 5.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Thousands of Christians in Pakistan marked National Minorities Day on Aug. 11 with protest rallies in three major Pakistani cities, calling for constitutional equality and religious freedom and urging the government to move beyond ceremonial celebrations to address long-standing discrimination.

In Karachi, more than 2,000 protesters gathered at the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, carrying placards reading “My religion, my will” and featuring photographs of victims of mob lynchings, forced conversions, blasphemy-related attacks, and assassinated Christian leaders.

“Young people are saying: ‘We shall snatch our freedom,’” Luke Victor, organizer of the Minority Rights March, told EWTN News.

Addressing the rally, speakers demanded an end to faith-based discrimination and violent extremism against religious minorities and called for changes to constitutional provisions they say deny minorities equal access to public office.

Victor said protesters wanted Articles 41 and 91 of the constitution amended to allow minorities to become president or prime minister on merit.

The Minority Rights March’s 11-point charter called for stronger political representation, curriculum reforms, protection of minority property and worship places, safeguards against blasphemy-law abuse, and independent national and provincial minority rights commissions.

The groups said rising violence, discrimination, and attacks on minorities had fueled fear and insecurity, particularly among young people.

Official ceremonies

While activists took to the streets, the government marked the day with official ceremonies promoting religious freedom, equality, and interfaith harmony.

In Lahore, the Punjab government organized a weeklong program beginning Aug. 7 with an interfaith rally, cultural competitions, and welfare camps. Karachi and Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also hosted official programs highlighting the contributions and rights of religious minorities.

Minority activists said such events should be accompanied by concrete legal and institutional reforms.

Aug. 11 was declared National Minorities Day in 2009 following a campaign led by Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s first Catholic federal minister for minorities and a prominent advocate for religious freedom.

Bhatti was assassinated outside his Islamabad home in March 2011. Two gunmen sprayed his car with bullets before leaving pamphlets describing him as a Christian “infidel.”

In his Minorities Day message, President Asif Ali Zardari recalled Jinnah’s Aug. 11, 1947, address to the Constituent Assembly in which the country’s founder said citizens were free to worship according to their religion and that religion, caste, and creed should have no bearing on the affairs of the state.

Faisalabad rally

In Faisalabad, Catholic lawyer Akmal Bhatti, a nephew of Shahbaz Bhatti, led a rally calling for greater protection of freedom of religion and belief.

Participants demanded a ban on the forced conversion of minors, a 5% quota for minorities in public services and educational institutions, direct elections for reserved seats, removal of religious qualifications for the president and prime minister, and the creation of a constitutional National Minority Rights Commission.

They also criticized the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, which oversees the National Commission for Minorities, saying the commission has remained dysfunctional since completing its three-year term in May 2023.

Archbishop’s appeal

Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, in his Aug. 11 message, called for the protection of constitutional rights, religious freedom, and equality.

“Providing all citizens equal rights and equal opportunities for development without discrimination on the basis of religion or belief is a national responsibility,” he said, urging collective efforts to eliminate hatred, prejudice, and intolerance.

He recalled Jinnah’s emphasis on equal rights and religious freedom, saying the principles must be implemented “in their true spirit.”

Non-Muslims accounted for about 14.2% of Pakistan’s population in the country’s first census in 1951. According to the 2023 Population and Housing Census, non-Muslims now constitute roughly 3.5% of the country’s population of about 247.5 million.

Pakistan’s religious minorities include Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadis, Baha’is, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, and followers of the Indigenous Kalash faith.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Pope Leo XIV highlighted religious women’s and men’s work making “the mission and mystery of the Church visible in our world.”

“All Christians are called to be builders of Christʼs communion, formed in a synodal Church in which everyone cooperates in the same mission according to their own charism and ministry,” he said during the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ (LCWR) 70th anniversary celebration being held in Orlando, Florida, Aug. 11–14.

“In a special way, those in religious life are called to become experts in synodality due to the opportunities afforded by community life to practice it, as well as the very way that your congregations are organized,” he said.

The celebration, part of the group’s 2026 annual assembly, brings together women religious from Canada, the United States, and Latin America to foster fellowship and honor decades of ministry.

“Even though you come from communities with different histories and apostolates, it is important to remember the need to foster unity within and among your institutes as well as in the broader Church,” the pope said.

The gathering features numerous talks from religious women, reflections, and time in prayer and adoration.

The Holy Father further highlighted synodality in his message, sharing he “was pleased to learn that the assemblyʼs proceedings will include a synodal method of listening, discussion, and discernment, with an openness and a willingness to understand what others are saying.”

‘The Church needs you’

The Holy Father further expressed his gratitude for “the long-standing contributions” of religious institutions, highlighting their work in “the fields of evangelization, education, and caring for the poor and marginalized.”

“As you reflect on your theme of ‘Many Charisms, One Spirit, One Call,’ I pray that you will especially keep in mind the specific charisms entrusted by God to the founders and foundresses of your respective communities,” he said,

“The Church needs you and all of the diversity and richness of the forms of consecration and ministry that you represent, for with your vitality and the witness of a life centered on Jesus, you can contribute to waking up the world,” he said.

The Church needs you and all of the diversity and richness of the forms of consecration and ministry that you represent, for with your vitality and the witness of a life centered on Jesus, you can contribute to waking up the world.”

Pope Leo XIV

The Holy Father detailed that fostering religious vocations is of “vital importance.”

“Today, despite the increasing phenomenon of secularization in the world, there is also a growing hunger for God. Indeed, as I recently observed on my apostolic journey to Spain, ‘Many young people and adults are rediscovering the Christian faith, sometimes after having drifted away from God over a period of time,’” he said.

In conversation with young people, the Holy Father called on religious women and men “to seek ways to introduce them to your way of life and help them to hear the voice of the Lord, who speaks to us in the depths of our hearts.”

“Encourage them to be courageous in responding to Jesus, who is never outdone in generosity, so that they too may share the joy that comes from following his call,” he said.

Pope Leo concluded wishing the group “a fruitful gathering” and entrusted their work to the maternal protection of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

The Colombian Bishops’ Conference expressed its concern for those affected by the 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Aug. 10, with the bishops calling upon “all the faithful to support them through prayer and solidarity.”

The earthquakeʼs epicenter was in the San José del Palmar subdistrict in the department of Chocó, and it was also felt in at least the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Risaralda, and Valle del Cauca as well as in the capital, Bogotá.

In its initial report, the national government stated that 111 people died and 87 were injured. In addition, 1,575 homes were damaged, 37 were destroyed, 61 buildings had collapsed, and six airports were affected, with one suffering damage to its runway. According to the Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon, at least 180 people were reported dead and 2,500 were injured, with thousands still missing.

Faced with this situation, the bishops’ conference prayed that Christ would strengthen the hearts of the victims and “grant them solace and hope, and accompany those involved in medical attention and rescue efforts.”

“Let us lift up with one voice a fervent prayer for Colombia; let us put into practice the charity of Christ toward our brothers and sisters, especially in these moments of suffering. May our prayer and closeness also be a sign of hope,” the bishops stated on social media.

Subsequently, in a message published on its website, the national bishops’ conference reiterated its call for solidarity, noting “that no one can face an emergency of this magnitude alone.”

“Colombia is called upon, once again, to recognize itself as one family and to respond to the suffering of its brothers and sisters with generosity and solidarity,” the bishops' conference stated, with the prelates adding that they would announce as soon as possible the ways the faithful can provide aid in solidarity with those affected.

Catholic organizations move to provide aid

To assist those affected, various food banks and other Catholic organizations have activated their protocols to collect donations and send them to the affected communities as soon as possible including the food banks of the archdioceses of Bogotá and Bucaramanga, which have issued an appeal on social media for monetary donations and packaged food.

The Colombia office of Aid to the Church in Need has also encouraged people to contribute donations to support the affected communities, “because when everything seems to be tottering, the Church remains.”

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

A federal court granted a request from two parents to consider whether a Michigan school district violated the First Amendment when officials began treating their daughter as a boy without informing them.

Judge Paul Maloney granted the motion to reconsider Aug. 7 in light of the 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta. The Supreme Court decided 6-3 that a similar policy in California likely violated the parents’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion, which includes the right to direct the religious development of their children.

Similar to the California lawsuit, the two Michigan parents — Dan and Jennifer Mead — have argued that their views on gender and human sexuality are based on their Christian faith. The original lawsuit states that the Meads believe “each of us is born with a fixed biological sex that is a gift from God, not an arbitrary imposition subject to change.”

According to the lawsuit, their seventh-grade daughter asked school officials at the Rockford Public School District to refer to her with a masculine name and use male pronouns. School officials began doing this but never informed her parents, and the school counselor had discussed the daughter’s broader mental health struggles with her parents, the lawsuit states.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, who represents the parents in court, said in a statement that “parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children — without government interference.”

“By intentionally concealing this information from the Meads, the school district violated their constitutional rights as parents to make critical decisions about their daughter,” Anderson said. “The court’s ruling is a necessary step toward protecting the Mead family’s First Amendment rights.”

Steve Matthews, superintendent for Rockford Public Schools, told EWTN News “the legal process continues to proceed” and “we have no comment at this time as we continue through this process.”

Court proceedings continue

The lawsuit alleges that school officials began treating the Meads’ daughter as a boy in 2022. It states that the school used a masculine name and male pronouns when speaking with their daughter and in internal school records. Yet, they used her legal name and female pronouns when talking to her parents and in documents shared with parents, it states.

Her parents removed her from the school in October 2022 after school officials forgot to alter a document that used the masculine name and male pronouns before giving it to her parents, the lawsuit states. This is how the parents discovered the school’s practices.

The Meads filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging the school district violated their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the 14th Amendment’s protection of a parent’s right to raise his or her children.

In 2025, a federal court allowed the 14th Amendment claims to proceed but dismissed the First Amendment claims. On Aug. 7, 2026, the court granted a motion to reconsider First Amendment claims in light of the new Supreme Court precedent set in Mirabelli v. Bonta.

Maloney’s court order in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division states the Supreme Court ruling “calls into question the court’s interpretation of the relevant law and will grant the motion to reconsider.” It says the lawsuit filed in Mirabelli v. Bonta “involved school policies similar to the district’s policies here.”

“When a student engaged in gender transitioning at school, the policy prevented school staff from telling the student’s parents about their child’s situation unless the student consented,” the judge said of the Mirabelli v. Bonta decision.

“Like the policies at issue in Mirabelli, the policies here likely created a substantial burden on the Meads’ free-exercise rights,” the order adds. “The Meads share religious beliefs similar to the parents in Mirabelli about the permanency of biological sex and the fixed relationship between sex and gender.”

The judge’s order notes that the Rockford Public School District’s position is that its policies are designed “to meet [the district’s] interest in promoting student safety and success.” Yet, the court order states that the policies “do not factor in parents’ views and, as a result, they ‘cut’ parents out.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Bishops from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Chile expressed their solidarity and offered prayers following the earthquake that struck Colombia on Aug. 10 leaving at least 180 dead and thousands injured.

The bishops of Argentina expressed their “closeness and solidarity with the Church and with the entire beloved people of Colombia.”

In a letter sent to Archbishop Francisco Javier Múnera, president of the Colombian Bishops' Conference, the Argentine prelates stated: “We especially share in the pain of the victims and their families, and we accompany with our prayers all the communities affected by this difficult time.”

“We ask the Lord to grant comfort to those who are suffering, strength to those who have lost loved ones, and hope to those facing the consequences of this tragedy,” they emphasized.

Solidarity with the Colombian people

The bishops of Peru expressed their “most heartfelt closeness and solidarity with the beloved Colombian people and with the entire Catholic Church in Colombia.”

“We accompany with our prayers the families going through moments of anguish and, especially, those who have lost their loved ones. We ask the Lord to welcome the deceased into his presence and to grant solace and strength to their families,” the bishops continued.

The Peruvian prelates also prayed to the Virgin of Chiquinquirá, patroness of Colombia, for the injured and for all those “affected by this disaster, as well as for those participating in relief and aid efforts.”

“From Peru, we renew our prayers and our affection for the sister people of Colombia,” the bishops stated.

Mexican bishops invoke Our Lady of Guadalupe’s intercession

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference stated on X that “we join in prayer with the Latin American Bishops’ Council and the entire Church in Colombia in the face of the earthquake that occurred today.”

“We express our closeness and solidarity with the affected families. We ask God to grant strength and hope to those experiencing moments of anguish today and to bless those working in relief and rescue efforts,” they stated.

“May Our Lady of Guadalupe accompany the Colombian people and cover them with her mantle of protection,” the prelates prayed.

Joining humanitarian aid initiatives

The Chilean Bishops’ Conference also expressed its “fraternal closeness to the Colombian people and their shepherds,” joining in prayer “for the families who have lost loved ones, the injured, and those suffering the destruction of their homes.”

“We also share the concern of the Colombian community in Chile and assure them of our closeness and remembrance before the altar of the Lord,” they added.

The Chilean bishops encouraged the faithful to “pray for the victims and join in the humanitarian aid initiatives of the civil and ecclesial institutions.”

The earthquake in Colombia

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck several Colombian departments (administrative districts) on Aug. 10 has left at least 180 people dead. In an update on Aug. 11, President Abelardo de la Espriella said that almost 2,600 people were injured, almost 200 are missing, more than 1,100 homes have been destroyed, and more than 8,000 have been damaged, the BBC reported.

The quake occurred at 7:34 a.m. local time at a depth of about 60 miles, with its epicenter in the town of San José del Palmar in the department of Chocó on the Pacific coast.

De la Espriella declared a state of emergency to coordinate aid for the nine departments affected by the earthquake, the strongest in the last 10 years.

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

More than a decade of evaluations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America found that family-led development is a consistent driver of lasting progress for families experiencing poverty in Unbound’s programs.

Unbound, an international nonprofit founded by lay Catholics and grounded in Catholic social teaching, centers its numerous programs on alleviating poverty by allowing families to identify their own priorities and lead their personal development.

The organization, which is approaching its 45th anniversary in November, helps families remain in charge through direct cash transfers. Since it was established, Unbound has raised $3 billion, $2.5 billion of which has gone directly into families’ bank accounts.

The findings draw from 13 years of evaluations across 16 countries, spanning programs focused on women’s empowerment, education, elder support, leadership development, and community engagement.

The evaluations serve as a way to examine what is working and where the organization can make changes and updates to better serve families.

Just like its programs, the evaluation process is “quite decentralized” with dozens of “local internal evaluators embedded within each program staff around the world,” Melissa Velazquez, vice president of program evaluation and learning at Unbound, told EWTN News.

The evaluations are “to really make sure that weʼre moving in a direction that is evidence based and helping us understand what works best,” Velazquez said. “First and foremost” the evaluations are “for the families and communities so that they can learn and grow, and we can learn and grow.”

They are also to show sponsors the benefits and success of Unbound’s mission and to show “others who might be working in the international development space,” Velazquez said.

“Our very loyal, longtime base of donors and sponsors are very connected to our work emotionally through their faith and through the power of our stories,” Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound, told EWTN News.

“Then the opportunity is very exciting to be able to turn now to our sponsors and donors and actually show … that impact,” Hufft said.

Data reveals increasing rates of women in leadership

In 2025, Unbound surveyed 2,329 women in Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Uganda, Kenya, and the Philippines. The research compared Unbound participants to women on the organization’s waiting list and adjusted for differences including age, education, and marital status.

It found that women in Unbound programs reported higher levels of confidence, more access to leadership opportunities, and greater financial inclusion.

The evaluations found that 70% of women participating in Unbound programs in Guatemala had a bank account registered in their names, compared with 24% of women with children on the organizationʼs sponsorship waiting list.

In Nairobi, Kenya, 60% of sponsored women accessed credit in the previous year compared with 34% of women on the waiting list.

Unbound also examined the outcomes of its numerous mothers groups, which are community-based support groups of parents or guardians with sponsored children in Unbound.

Through the organizationʼs Agents of Change program, the women make community-level decisions based on community needs with the help of grant money they receive after getting proposals approved.

“Unbound is so focused on household poverty, the elimination of that, and helping families … direct their own path. But we recognize that there are issues in the community,” Velazquez said. “So there are things that have to be worked on at a community level or a structural level.”

When evaluating the program, “we werenʼt just trying to count how many roads were paved or how many solar lights were installed. We were looking at empowerment outcomes for women,” Velazquez said.

The organization asked: “How many women felt confident to speak to authority? How many of them felt like leaders in the community? How many of them felt they actually had the power to make change?”

In Kampala, Uganda, women participating in the groups were 21 percentage points more likely to hold leadership positions than their nonparticipating counterparts.

A 2025 evaluation found that 74% of the participants feel they are involved in community decisions and make their community a better place to live. Also, 35% reported that they held a leadership position in their community since joining Unbound.

Due to the success, Unbound created an additional program, Agents of Change Kids. It will launch in 2027 to give children opportunities to develop community leadership as well as decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Evaluations reveal success for families, elders

Another evaluation addressed Unbound participants who use Poverty Stoplight, a poverty measurement tool. Families use green indicators to mark “no poverty,” yellow for “poverty,” and red for “extreme poverty” in numerous areas of poverty in their lives and then create pathways to improve each one.

A 2025 analysis found that nearly half of participating families have surpassed the 60% green threshold and over 60% have fewer than 10% red indicators.

Evaluations also showed positive updates within Unbound’s programs for elder support. It revealed that elderly participants reported less loneliness, stronger social connections, improved food security, and greater access to healthcare than nonparticipating elders.

It found 66% of participating elders reported receiving all needed medical care compared with only 40% of those not in Unbound. The outcomes for elders led the organization to increase its elder sponsorship in its 2030 strategic plan.

Next steps for Unbound

Unbound’s 2030 strategic plan, “Hope in Every Step: A Radical Journey to End Poverty,” is a guide of the organizationʼs work helping to eliminate global poverty by expanding the impact of its decentralized approach.

The plan was shaped by program partners across the globe. It highlights what Unbound wants to achieve, overarching goals, and strategic pillars it will use to measure the impact to eliminate poverty, empower women, advance education, build community, and promote well-being of all ages.

Ultimately, Unbound will continue its mission of family-led decision-making.

“I donʼt think that thereʼs anyone better positioned to understand what their family needs and how to prioritize between a lot of competing priorities with little resources and various time constraints and levels of urgency on it,” Hufft said. “No one, at the core, can do it like the family.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

A report published by Dallas Baptist University’s Center for Global Religious Freedom detailed concerns that the United States and some other Western nations have shifted their diplomatic priorities away from international religious freedom advocacy.

The report, published July 27, alleged “a retreat of Western nations from human rights” like religious freedom, which has “contributed to widespread religious persecution affecting Christians and other faith communities worldwide.”

According to the authors, the U.S. and many European nations are prioritizing “hard interests,” which they called a shift “reverting to the historical norms of foreign affairs.” The report notes some specific changes seen in President Donald Trump’s second administration, which began in January 2025.

In what the authors called “the U.S. retreat,” they cited elements of the administration’s foreign policy. This included reductions to “funding and staffing” for agencies and nongovernmental organizations that support international religious freedom, the lack of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, and “weak congressional and executive prioritization.”

According to the report, this coincided with a foreign policy centered on “military force, economic power, and territorial security” and de-emphasizing “alliances, values, and soft-power tools.”

Specifically, they note Trump’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which included international religious freedom initiatives, and the suspension of the refugee resettlement program, to which victims of religious persecution previously had access.

It states that USAID’s functions and its staff have been reduced “to the minimum level required by statute” and the Department of State’s human rights initiatives were shifted to its regional bureaus, “which lacked relevant expertise and typically prioritized relationship-maintenance over rights concerns.” It states the International Religious Freedom Office was “demoted” and incorporated into the State Department’s broader human rights bureau and faced staffing cuts.

The report notes the administration has not disclosed how many international religious freedom programs were cut. However, it cited the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) 2026 annual report that concluded “a significant portion” had been terminated.

According to the Dallas Baptist University report, cuts included programs that “counter restrictive laws, support early warning systems for religious violence, promote interfaith dialogue, document violations, provide emergency assistance to religious freedom activists, and provide humanitarian aid to persecuted communities.”

“As the largest financial supporter of international religious freedom efforts, the U.S. government’s abrupt halt and subsequent cuts to its IRF-related assistance harmed the programs’ beneficiaries and implementers, and undercut the IRF advocacy community,” it adds.

The report notes European states followed the U.S. lead by cutting its own foreign assistance, which included initiatives that promote international religious freedom.

It also expresses concern that the position for U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom has remained vacant throughout Trump’s second term after his nominee did not secure a Senate confirmation. The State Department also has not released its annual International Religious Freedom report in 2025, it notes, which is required by law.

Alternatively, the report gives the Trump administration credit for designating Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations, which prompted its government to engage with the U.S. to address problems. It also cited a visa policy that bans individuals who have directed, authorized, supported, or participated in violations of religious freedom.

State Department disputes characterization

In a statement provided to EWTN News, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S., under Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is focused on international religious freedom and has “re-established the United States as a global leader” in defending the right domestically and abroad.

“Under this Administration, the Department of State has made unprecedented advances in accountability by revoking visas from violators of religious freedom and pushing action to defend people of faith around the world,” the spokesperson said. “From our global visa actions, to our public defense of Christians targeted for silent prayer in the United Kingdom, to our designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, we are once again standing up for people of faith in no uncertain terms.”

“The Department unapologetically affirms religious freedom as our nation’s first freedom,” the spokesperson added. “We are also committed to direct advocacy at all levels on behalf of prisoners of conscience.”

Alberto Fernández, an EWTN contributor and former diplomat, told EWTN News that he thinks the U.S. focus on international religious freedom is “far more nuanced” than the report suggests, arguing that religious freedom advocacy always took a back seat in U.S. diplomacy.

Fernández said religious freedom concerns have always been “an add-on” to U.S. diplomatic negotiations, as opposed to a top priority, saying it has always “struggled to get attention.” He said U.S. diplomats may “raise a religious freedom issue,” but “it will be one of a dozen issues that is raised with a specific country.”

He also disputed USAID’s focus on international religious freedom, saying when he was serving in government for more than two dozen years until 2015, the agency “had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do [anything about religious freedom],” adding: “It’s not something they wanted to do; it was something they had to be forced to do.”

Under Trump, he noted that the administration has prioritized religious freedom with the new government in Syria, has made religious freedom in Nigeria a priority, and has advocated on behalf of Orthodox Christians in Turkey, encouraging the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary, which the Turkish government shut down in 1971.

“It’s always going to be an issue that’s going to fight for attention at the table,” Fernández said, adding that “people need to keep pushing it … in their interactions with administrations.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes is preparing to welcome Pope Leo XIV as part of his pastoral visit to France in September, a development that represents “an unprecedented logistical and spiritual challenge” for the site where the Immaculate Conception first appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

The shrine’s recent newsletters have highlighted the preparations and appealed for support to help carry out the necessary work to welcome the Holy Father and the thousands of pilgrims expected for the occasion.

For the Sunday, Sept. 27, Mass, organizers plan to install a platform capable of accommodating 400 people, an audio system suitable for the sanctuary’s meadow, 10 giant screens, and enhanced signage.

In addition, measures are being taken “to ensure the safety of pedestrian routes and facilitate the movement of sick, elderly, and disabled persons,” a priority that is already central to the shrine’s mission but one that organizers hope to improve further.

Most of these upgrades will remain at the shrine for the long-term benefit of pilgrims, so any donations are viewed as an investment in Lourdes’ future.

In total, organizers expect to install more than 6.2 miles of security barriers, mobilize approximately 600 volunteers, welcome nearly 3,000 priests, provide 1,000 temporary public restrooms, and implement an enhanced cleaning and waste-management system.

Registration opens for Mass and rosary procession

Beyond the technical challenges, shrine officials emphasize that the essential priority during the pope’s visit is to maintain the shrine’s normal activities, “accompanying the sick with the same tenderness” and ensuring that “the spiritual heart of Lourdes continues to beat uninterrupted alongside the day’s events.”

Organizers also announced that registration forms are now available for those wishing to attend, either individually or as part of a group. While registration is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended.

Two registration forms have been created: one for individuals, families, or groups of fewer than 10 people, and another for larger groups.

Upon registering, pilgrims will receive practical information by email, including transportation options, recommended travel routes, and instructions for access and seating arrangements in the Meadow or the Rosary Esplanade.

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

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing abortion at any point in pregnancy in the state of Massachusetts, making it the 11th state to impose no limits on abortion.

The legislation signed Aug. 10 removes all of the state’s restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. An elective late-term abortion may be done based upon “the professional judgment of the physician” performing it, under the law.

“It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year. Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey’s approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

The state Senate sent the legislation to Healey’s desk on July 31 for her signature.

Under the previous statute, state law allowed abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy if a physician says it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman, because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis, or because the fetus wouldn’t likely survive outside the uterus.

“Today, mothers and fathers and families who experience these devastating diagnoses — and they are devastating, heartbreaking — now theyʼll be able to make their own choices,” Healey said at a press conference on Aug. 10.

Healey and supporters of the measure said the change in the law was needed because Massachusetts hospitals were increasingly refusing to provide abortions for women who already qualified for post‑24‑week abortions under existing law and that doctors needed clearer authority to reaffirm that medical judgment governs late‑term abortion decisions.

Healey, who is an outspoken supporter of abortion access, has served as the state’s governor since 2023.

Responding to the enacted legislation, Dannenfelser urged that the GOP “must abandon the ‘leave it to the states’ position — a stance that permits egregious late-term abortion laws like this one — and advance national protections for unborn children.”

SBA Pro-Life America highlighted that abortions done during the second and third trimesters are generally done by dismemberment of the baby or labor, noting that inducing labor may result in a live birth.

“Without a minimum national standard, the United States remains 1 of only 8 countries worldwide that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy,” Dannenfelser said.

According to a 2024 study from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, 46 of 50 countries in Europe limit abortion after 15 weeks –– a point by which the baby feels pain. The institute also found that over 60,000 abortions occur after 15 weeks each year.

“We must do all we can to turn the page on America’s ugly chapter of late-term abortion,” Dannenfelser said.

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