World

Peru’s national legislature has passed a law declaring June Life and Family Month throughout the nation.

Law 32671, approved on June 17 and published in the official gazette El Peruano, states that this declaration is intended to commemorate “life and the importance of the family as a natural and fundamental institution of society.”

Milagros Jáuregui de Aguayo, the author of the bill, stated that “the family remains the primary setting for personal formation and the most important pillar of our society. Defending it means building a Peru with greater unity, solidarity, and hope,” according to a statement.

During the parliamentary debate, Jáuregui further emphasized that “strengthening the family means strengthening the foundations of the nation, fostering a society with greater cohesion, solidarity, and commitment to the common good.”

“This law takes on special significance in a context where Peru is facing a worrying birth-rate crisis and a progressively aging population, phenomena that jeopardize the country’s future development,” Carlos Polo, director of the Latin America office of the Population Research Institute, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

“The family, comprising father, mother, and children, constitutes the primary setting where life is passed on, values ​​are instilled, new generations are educated, and responsible citizens committed to their community are formed,” added Polo.

The pro-life leader stated, “promoting and strengthening the family means creating the cultural conditions necessary to ensure the continuity, stability, and prosperity of our nation.”

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

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami and bishops across Ohio are calling for extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the United States and are urging a more permanent solution to care for refugees.

In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation, H.R. 1689, that would extend TPS for Haitians for three more years, which is “a critical lifeline for those desperate to avoid returning to the chaos on the island nation,” Wenski said in a column for the Archdiocese of Miami. Senate consideration is next.

TPS is an immigration status granted to eligible foreign nationals from designated countries that are unsafe to return to due to ongoing conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.

In 2025, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the TPS designation for migrants from Syria, Haiti, and other countries.

To combat the termination, the bill, which needs Senate approval to take effect, would provide “a reprieve to the more than 350,000 Haitians who today live and work legally in the United States under the protection of TPS,” Wenski said.

“Every single day, I see the human consequences of often unintended public policy decisions that result in chronic uncertainty, fear, and the disruption of families and entire communities. It’s up to the Senate now to vote ‘yes’ on extending TPS protections for Haitians,” he said.

Wenski said Haiti “remains a country on the brink,” noting the “widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity.”

“The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace,” he said.

“It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions” and it would “exacerbate Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis,” Wenski said.

Haitians in the U.S. “are hard workers filling jobs that, were it not for them, would go unfilled,” Wenski said. “The sudden expulsion of Haitian TPS holders would have devastating consequences for our nation’s economy.”

Wenski said he understands that “‘temporary’ should mean temporary,” but “without any other workable alternative, TPS is what’s available.”

It is “an imperfect tool,” and “cannot substitute for the hard work of immigration reform that Congress has to undertake sooner or later,” he said.

Senate passage of the bill would “give Haitians a reprieve” and “lawmakers time to explore more durable, more workable solutions.”

Ohio bishops ‘deeply grieved’ by situation of Haitian neighbors

The Ohio bishops similarly spoke out on the matter, calling the situation “a moral and social failure unfolding before our eyes.”

The Catholic Conference of Ohio released a statement on June 22 urging action as the bishops are “deeply grieved by the situation of our Haitian neighbors in Ohio.”

Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the U.S., “we recall the great declarations in our founding documents to establish a free country where people can flourish,” the bishops wrote. “Therefore, as proud and faithful citizens of the United States, we need to take responsibility to support the common good of our country and to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

The bishops “have witnessed the upstanding lives Haitian families have built in Ohio.”

“They work hard, support their families, worship God regularly, and seek to live in peace. Now, they await the U.S. Supreme Courtʼs decision, likely on technical grounds, on whether TPS will continue,” they said.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the governmentʼs effort to end TPS as lower courts previously blocked the termination after determining the administration’s process for ending the protections was unlawful.

The court heard oral arguments in April and is expected to make a decision in the coming months on whether the Trump administration can end the TPS program for Haitian and Syrian nationals.

The bishops "find no moral justification for terminating their [TPS] without an alternative way to adjust their immigration status,” they said.

While the bishops affirmed “the nation’s right and responsibility to regulate immigration and protect its borders,” they said the U.S. “has continued to fail in its attempts to achieve comprehensive reform of our immigration policy.”

“We should have the political and social will to establish and maintain an orderly immigration process while providing a place in the U.S. for those fleeing violence or severe economic hardship,” they said.

The bishops called on Catholics in Ohio and all people of goodwill “to pray for America at 250 years and to reflect on our responsibility as citizens and followers of Jesus Christ.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia approved a chaplaincy to serve Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in accordance with the Missale Romanum of 1962.

The “Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory,” announced June 19, will be officially established on July 1. According to the diocesan announcement, the chaplaincy is being formed “to serve the needs of those who attend Mass and receive other sacraments in the Extraordinary Form.”

The chaplaincy will be administered by two priests from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) appointed from Front Royal, Virginia, about 70 miles west of Washington, D.C.: Father Jonathan Romanoski and Father John Audino.

“As a Chaplaincy, rather than a parish, this agreement allows for Fr. Romanoski and Fr. Audino to live the fraternity that is part of the FSSP charism and to serve primarily in Front Royal while periodically assisting elsewhere in the diocese,” the diocesan statement read.

According to the diocese, the chaplaincy formalizes an arrangement that had already been in place, as an FSSP priest has been assisting Arlington clergy. It does not add more locations for the TLM.

Access to baptism, confirmation, and matrimony in the traditional form remain available only to those “who have a particular pastoral connection to the community and who participate regularly in this form of the liturgy with the consent of the local pastor and the local ordinary,” in line with the current rules, according to the diocese.

“The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is grateful to His Excellency, Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, for establishing the Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory to serve the needs of those who attend the traditional form of the Latin Liturgy beginning on July 1, 2026,” Father Daniel Powers, the provincial secretary of FSSP’s North American Province, said in a statement to EWTN News.

“We are looking forward to working in the Diocese of Arlington and serving the faithful there,” he said.

Noah Peters, a board member and the president emeritus of The Arlington Latin Mass Society (ALMS), expressed “sincere appreciation” to the bishop on behalf of the society for entrusting a chaplaincy to the two priests.

“ALMS believes that this is an enormously positive step that will help ensure access to the traditional sacraments: baptisms, matrimony, confirmation, and the rites for the sick,” he told EWTN News. “We pray for Bishop Burbidge, the FSSP priests, and all the faithful, and we pray that this chaplaincy will be the seed from which broader access to the treasures of Traditional Catholicism grows.”

Arlington, like many dioceses globally, faced Latin Mass restrictions over the past few years, in line with the rules set in Pope Francis’s 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which limited access to the older form of the Mass. However, the pontiff granted FSSP, which will administer the chaplaincy in the diocese, an exemption from those rules.

FSSP was founded in 1988 by priests who broke away from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), when then-Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who led SSPX, defied the Holy See by appointing bishops without papal approval and faced excommunication. FSSP was founded to maintain those liturgical traditions while remaining loyal to the papacy.

In Arlington — where the TLM remains popular, especially among young adults — Burbidge secured dispensations approved by the Holy See for three parishes and five non-parish church locations when Traditionis Custodes went into effect. These were temporary dispensations, but have been extended and remain in place.

This is still a reduction in locations for the diocese, which had 21 locations that offered the TLM prior to the motu proprio. Some Arlington locations also saw an influx of worshipers from the neighboring Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., which limited access to three locations — one in the city itself and two in Maryland.

In March, Pope Leo XIV described divisions surrounding liturgical unity as “a painful wound” in the church.

In his communication with French bishops, Leo encouraged concrete solutions, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that allow for “the generous inclusion” of Catholics attached to the TLM “in respect for the directions desired by the Second Vatican Council in matters of liturgy.”

Leo has not issued far-reaching documents related to the TLM, nor has he changed any of the rules established under Francis. He did, however, approve Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke’s celebration of the TLM last year at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

A 60-day Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) — which strengthens the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and seeks to pave the way for permanent peace — has garnered applause from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, who chairs the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, commended both President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the progress and expressed hope for a long-term deal in a June 17 statement.

Both countries’ leaders, Zaidan said, have taken a “vitally important step,” which is aimed at “ending hostilities” and “advancing deeper dialogue for lasting peace in the region.” He added that “preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons is critically important for avoiding a dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East.”

Zaidan asked all parties involved to engage in good faith and pray for Pope Leo XIV’s intention that “this agreement may help strengthen mutual trust, security and stability in the Middle East, promoting paths of dialogue and cooperation among peoples.”

The bishop, who was born in Lebanon and serves as eparch of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, encouraged the U.S., Iran, and Israel to prioritize peace efforts in Lebanon, which is meant to be covered by the U.S.-Iran deal but is still facing Israeli strikes in spite of the MOU.

“I call on the United States, Iran, and Israel to now also prioritize an end to the fighting in Lebanon,” Zaidan said.

“The disarming of Hezbollah is necessary for peace and development in Lebanon,” he said. “Over one million people have been internally displaced, including 400,000 children, and thousands have fled to neighboring Syria, potentially adding to the region’s instability. If the fighting and humanitarian catastrophe continue in Lebanon, I fear that peace across the wider Middle East will remain unreachable.”

The bishop urged prayers for a resolution to the conflicts.

“Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, creator and vivifier, may breathe wisdom, compassion, and perseverance into the minds and hearts of the negotiators, so that peace in the region may finally become a reality,” Zaidan prayed.

The agreement between the U.S. and Iran puts a hold on military combat and reopens the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for international trade. Both the U.S. and Iran agreed not to prevent the passage of any ships. There is gradual sanction relief for Iran, which has already resulted in Iranian oil sales, and a $300 billion fund for development in Iran supported by private investment.

Iran must agree it will never develop a nuclear weapon, which is aligned with its position since 2003 when former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa declaring the development of nuclear weapons as inconsistent with Islamic law. Questions about whether Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium — or to which level nuclear enrichment will be permitted — will be decided in the 60-day window.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

The European Commission has told EWTN News that Pope Leo XIV’s call for AI to serve human dignity and the common good reflects principles already embedded in the EU’s approach to regulating technology, as lawmakers voted on Tuesday to postpone certain obligations under the bloc’s landmark AI Act.

“We could not agree more with the vision of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and with the need for a robust legal framework for AI,” Thomas Regnier, European Commission spokesperson for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, told EWTN News following a recent Commission dialogue bringing together EU officials, Church leaders, and experts to discuss AI’s ethical and social impact.

“In the EU, this is not just an aspiration. It is already what we are doing through the AI Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the GDPR and much more,” Regnier said.

From Magnifica Humanitas to Brussels

The closed dialogue followed Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published May 25, and offered an early opportunity to gauge whether its themes are resonating with those implementing Europe’s AI rulebook. The discussions included senior officials from the EU’s AI Office, which oversees implementation of the Act.

The encyclical sets out Pope Leo’s vision for safeguarding human dignity, human agency, and the common good amid rapidly advancing technologies. Its presentation at the Vatican last month included Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, as the Holy See seeks to engage directly with frontier AI developers.

Responding to questions from EWTN News, Regnier said Pope Leo’s concerns closely align with existing European policies.

“What the Pope describes is what Europe is already doing,” Regnier said.

“We are protecting minors online. We have banned AI systems that exploit the most vulnerable. We are protecting women and children from non-consensual and sexual-abuse AI-generated content. We have prohibited social scoring.”

“His Holiness speaks of human dignity and the common good. These are exactly the European values.”

Parliament pauses high-risk AI requirements

Regnier’s comments come as the European Parliament approved amendments on Tuesday postponing certain obligations affecting high-risk AI systems under the Act, including systems used in health care, education, employment, and law enforcement, a move supporters say will provide legal certainty while harmonized standards are developed.

Irish MEP Michael McNamara, one of Parliament’s lead negotiators on the legislation, defended the postponement, arguing businesses need regulatory certainty without weakening the Act’s core safeguards.

“We live in an area of rule of law, and one of the things that is most important is regulatory certainty and clarity in what one’s legal obligations are,” McNamara said following Tuesday’s vote.

He said it was regrettable that implementation had to be delayed because harmonized standards had not yet been developed, but stressed that “the protections, the fundamental rights protections, the requirement that you have human beings in the loop, that you have a human override, these all remain in place.”

Referring to Pope Leo’s encyclical and Antiqua et Nova, a Vatican reflection on AI issued during Pope Francis’ pontificate, McNamara said it was essential to ensure “that AI systems work for the benefit of humanity” and that society does not “ever end up in a system where humanity is subjugated by AI systems.”

COMECE urges human-centered regulation

AI has been high on the EU agenda this month, with the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) convening a seminar at the European Parliament examining AI’s impact on health, loneliness, and children’s well-being.

Speaking on behalf of COMECE, Monsignor Emmanuel Agius, professor of moral theology at the University of Malta, argued that the challenge was not simply whether digital environments require regulation, but whether regulation is guided by “an adequate understanding of the human person.”

While acknowledging AI’s promise in health care and research, he warned of growing risks linked to loneliness, addictive behaviors, disinformation, and the impact of digital environments on children and young people. Describing loneliness as a growing public health concern, he said technological innovation should complement rather than replace meaningful human relationships and care, particularly for vulnerable people.

AI rules must remain dynamic

In a recorded message to seminar participants, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola warned that “AI can move faster than our ability to understand it, let alone govern it” and stressed that rules must be “smart, proportionate, and able to work in the real world.”

In his response to EWTN News, Regnier similarly noted that “developments in the field of AI are advancing at an extremely high speed” and “the AI Act was designed as a dynamic and adaptable regulatory framework that is capable of evolving over time.”

He pointed to recently agreed prohibitions on so-called “nudification” applications that generate non-consensual sexually explicit content or child sexual abuse material, saying the updated rules seek to ensure that Europeans can benefit from AI while remaining protected from its harmful effects.

“The EU will continue to protect our values and the fundamental rights of every European,” Regnier said. “Within this robust legal framework, we now need to invest even more in the responsible uptake of this technology and in the use of AI as a benefit for humankind and a force for good.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

In the early morning and late at night, monks still rise to sing the divine office, their voices low and hoarse from sleep. With every breath they are keeping alive a centuries-old tradition in monasteries around the world.

But in a small corner of the internet, and on music providers like Spotify, another form of chant has taken hold. The text is often a hodgepodge of Latin-sounding words; a mechanical simulation not sung by human voices but generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

How should Catholics navigate the new phenomenon of AI-generated chant, or, in the term hymnist Alan Hommerding coined, “Chant GPT”?

What is Gregorian chant?

Chant isn’t something that is consumed, like social media or food. Instead, it is a way to worship and pray, according to Catholic theologians and musicians.

“Chant is not meant to be performed for artistic consumption but meant to attune our hearts to the Lord over the course of time,” Father Phillip Alcon Ganir, a Jesuit priest who teaches sacred music classes at Boston College, told EWTN News.

Composer and liturgist Father Ricky Manalo, a Paulist priest, agreed, adding: “Gregorian chant is not merely an aesthetic; it is part of the Church’s living tradition of sung prayer, as much as Gospel music is a living tradition for many African American Catholics, or pentatonic melodies are a living tradition for many East Asian Catholics.”

“Its beauty is tied not only to its sound but to its liturgical, scriptural, and cultural roots,” he said.

Named for St. Gregory the Great, Gregorian chant is a “musical synthesis” of Roman and Gallican chant, according to Father Basil Nixen, a monk of the Abbey of San Benedetto in Monte, Norcia, Italy, where the monks chant daily together. These chanted psalms continue to be prayed as part of the Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours — a daily practice for Catholic priests, religious, and laypeople.

“Many might assume that Gregorian chant is really a product of the medieval or dark ages from Western Christianity,” noted Giorgio Navarini, founder and director of the Catholic chant group Floriani Sacred Music. “However, Gregorian chant derives its existence from the Hebrew Temple. Sung psalmody, lamentations, and hymns were a significant part of the Hebraic liturgical life in both the synagogue and Temple.”

In the Middle Ages came the “unprecedented notation” of the chant, which helped Gregorian chant spread, Nixen explained.

“The sacred melodies of the chant were written by men and women inspired by the Holy Spirit, and every time we sing them, we allow the Holy Spirit to possess our hearts too so as to enter more fully into communion with God in prayer,” Nixen said.

“Through the Divine Office the voice of Christ praying to his Father mingles with our own, allowing us to unite our voice with his and to participate in his priestly intercession for the salvation of the world,” Nixen said.

How do we pray through Gregorian chant?

Because Gregorian chant is more than just an aesthetic, questions about Gregorian chant are, at their root, questions about the connection between prayer and song.

“Christian worship involves the whole human being — body and soul,” Nixen said. “Chanting is fundamental for Christian worship precisely for this purpose, because it allows us to pray not only with our minds but also with our bodies, our heart, our sentiments.”

“Worship is the natural expression of the highest love, the love which most engages and engrosses us, which is why we owe it to God alone, whom we must love with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength — i.e., with body, heart, mind, and soul,” Nixen said. “And we do this most perfectly when we sing.”

Music, Navarini said, is “an art form that directly reflects the inner workings of the soul, unlike other art forms, which gives it a unique power of being united to prayer.”

“Chant has the power to raise the soul to the divine,” Navarini said. “It is unlike any music in this world and truly provides a doorway and glimpse into the life to come.”

Can machines pray?

Human chant is meant to be just that — human, in every imperfection, hoarse voice, or flat note.

“Even with AI aside, one of the dangers of chant recordings is that singers often aim to present pristine, errorless, and sublime sounds — which are good and holy in and of themselves,” Ganir said. “But such perfection is not often reflective of a life that worships regularly with chant.”

The monks who chant daily in monasteries often sing with “tired” voices, Ganir observed.

“Sung prayer early in the morning or in the evening is often a different, usually 'tired,’ sound than prayers chanted during the day,” Ganir said.

This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it’s part of the deeper meaning behind chant.

“Prayer is meant to span and intersect through all of life,” Ganir continued. “And music, especially our chant tradition, can be such a worthy and life-giving companion.”

“AI-generated sacred-sounding music may have a place as a tool for study, preparation, or even private reflection, but it should not replace the living voice of the Church, the trained pastoral musician, the human composer, or the sung participation of the assembly,” Manalo said.

“AI can generate chant-like sounds or contemporary songs, but it cannot replace the faith, breath, body, and communal participation during a liturgy,” Manalo continued.

“Sacred music requires theological depth, pastoral sensitivity, scriptural grounding, ritual awareness, and a sense of the actual community that will sing or hear it,” Manalo said.

“Every true prayer is an authentic and personal encounter of trust between a creature with its Creator, a recognition of our dependence on the one who is infinitely good,” Father Ezra Sullivan, a Dominican priest and director of the Spirituality Institute at the Angelicum, told EWTN News.

“There is an old saying: ‘You cannot give what you do not have,’” Sullivan continued. “Because an algorithm does not have a knowledge and love of God, no person to have a relationship with him, it cannot make prayers or music that authentically express the raising up of the soul to the hands of our loving Father — even if it makes imitations that are somewhat pleasing, the soul would be missing.”

“One of the reasons why we like to know the biography of composers or authors is because when we read their works or listen to their music, we can commune with them across the ages and join our souls with theirs in coming closer to God,” Sullivan continued. “Artificial intelligence might be able to fool us into thinking that it facilitates these horizontal and vertical relationships, and thatʼs precisely how it can be dangerous in the spiritual realm.”

In Pope Leoʼs recent encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father wrote: “No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil.”

“Gregorian chant is what the soul sings to God; it is what a bride sings to her Divine Bridegroom,” Nixen said. “If an AI-generated thing can love and get married, then it can sing chant. If it can get baptized, then it can sing chant. But if it cannot love, get married, get baptized, or be united to God, then it cannot chant.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Thirty-three-year-old Niclas Eichmuller has always felt called to mission work, but he also wanted to have a family. “European Mission Campus has shown me how to do it,” he told EWTN News.

The European Mission Campus (EMC), based in Vienna, Austria, draws inspiration from St. John Paul II’s “vision of lay vocation, mission, and holiness,” said Father Mark Thelen, a Michigan native who leads the effort in Europe.

In an interview, Thelen said he brought Eichmuller, 33, and two other EMC students to the United States in December 2025 to expose them to American models of evangelization and lay ministry. They visited Renewal Ministries, Legatus, Encounter Ministries, and Christ the King Parish in Michigan as well as Damascus Summer Camp in Ohio.

“They were inspired to see so much involvement and leadership by lay missionaries. In Europe, there are a lot more clergy involved, which isn’t bad, but they are not accustomed to lay leadership,” Thelen said.

EMC, which is managed by Abby Randolph, also based in Michigan, is part of Regnum Christi, a clerical religious institute dedicated to emulating the early Church and forming mission-driven individuals and being a “living fraternity” to renew the Church through spiritual and human support to missionaries.

“Europe needs missionaries,” Thelen told a 2025 retreat. “We will not change Europe without community, and we will not experience relationships that are worthwhile without true community,” he said.

EMC was founded in 2024 but saw its first class of students in September 2025. Five students are expected to join later this year. Instruction is given online and in person by Legion of Christ clergy and consecrated laity, shared with the Legion’s Johannes Paul II Center in Vienna.

EMC students receive three years of formation for missionary service, which Thelen described as a “pastoral MBA” to equip them for full-time lay ministry. EMC students are university graduates, mostly under the age of 30.

Anna Romero, 24, from Spain, told EWTN News that at the age of 8, she joined her family on a Neocatechumenal Way mission to Papua New Guinea. At 18, she experienced a “personal call from Christ to conversion.”

“I realized that I wanted to do more with my life,” she recalled. “Life is more than about studying and working.”

After graduating from university, Romero discerned a call. “I decided to give my life to sharing the Gospel and what God has done for me,” she said.

Last year, she entered EMC’s first class, which has a curriculum ranging from Scripture to faith-based time management. One key component is “Renewal of the Mind,” which draws on the teachings of St. John Paul II.

Romero said EMC formation emphasizes “hearing God’s voice,” discerning his plan, and living out the Christian vocation as “king, priest, and prophet,” even outside ordained or religious life.

EMC participants seek support through “mission partnership development,” which builds teams of cooperators committed to prayer and financial backing. Fundraising and group dynamics are part of EMC formation. In European countries, the Church often receives government funding. Therefore, lay missionaries must generally raise their own support.

Romero and the others were impressed by how much American Catholics give to their parishes and missionaries. She said of the trip: “I learned so many useful things. There is a sense of confidence and clarity about evangelization in the U.S.,” she said. She saw “a more lively faith” there than in Spain, where “if there aren’t professed religious, Opus Dei, or Neocatechumenal Way, there isn’t much parish life.”

“I would love to start a program in Spain to train young people for missions … I want to awaken a mission spirit among young people and all the baptized,” she said.

EMC student Nina Sole-Martino, 23, first received missionary formation as a camper and staffer at Damascus Summer Camp in Centerburg, Ohio.

“I am open to the Lord’s plans for me, and EMC will help to discern my path,” she said. She said she wants to “reconfigure my thinking and others’ to the mind of God. This means, for example, “changing how we speak to others and even how we speak to ourselves.”

Quoting Proverbs 18:21, she said: “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.”

Romero said religious vocation is a gift to the Church, but the Church also needs the laity.

“Laypeople in the world are called to collaborate with the Church,” she said. “Laypeople are also a light to the world, as families and single people. Some laypeople, but not all laity, are called to be full-time missionaries. We also need saints who are doctors, teachers, and workers. Priests and the religious want and need their support.”

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

A relic of the true cross and a decorative silver panel that hung in Christ’s tomb will remain on display until July 12 at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

The exhibit also includes vestments, candlesticks, metal flowers, and numerous liturgical objects used in Jerusalem hundreds of years ago.

Catholic kings sent these items to Franciscan friars in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Mass over the course of many years. Similar metalwork was common in Europe but was often melted down for wars or lost due to natural disasters. In Jerusalem, however, the items were preserved despite many wars and being ruled by Ottomans, the British, and eventually the state of Israel.

“We are so honored to present these works of art to our audiences — and delighted, too, that so many people have come to see the exhibition so far,“ George T.M. Shackelford, Kimbell curator and deputy director, told EWTN News. ”People from all over are making the trip to the Kimbell and telling their friends about the experience. That rewards all the work the many members of our team have put into it.”

One reason for the survival of these sacred objects is that few people knew about them. Europeans forgot about them for centuries and local attempts to control the Church of the Holy Sepulchre resulted in damage and destruction of some of the objects. The Ottomans eventually codified the arrangement and damaged items were repaired by artisans. 

The Franciscan friars also reclaimed many items and purchased some from the Orthodox. Some items were irreparably damaged but sent to Venice, Italy, where they were melted down, remade, and sent back to Jerusalem.

Similar efforts were needed to repair metal flowers used to decorate altars. During Jerusalem’s dry summers, there is little rain from May to September and it is difficult to grow flowers. Adorning altars with metal flowers saves money and scarce water.

The history of the Venetian artists who melted down broken silver objects and made two torchères for the monks can be seen in the exhibit alongside one of the torchères, or lamps, that was damaged and then remade in 1762. 

Stephen Marshall, who works as a concierge at a nearby hotel, has been to the exhibit twice with his family.

“I was impressed learning how all these adornments got switched around after they were made and how mercury was used to embellish gold onto silver,” he said. "The processes and gifts from kings and queens in the exhibit, that one torchère that was leaning I can see the constant effort of maintenance. These items were given so much effort beyond the actual cost of the material used.”

Monarchs in previous eras rarely visited the Holy Land, so they sent these objects to the Franciscans. Anything created by the French had French symbolism like the fleur-de-lis. The Portuguese used emblems depicting five shields. One Portuguese prince donated a silver bowl for foot washing for the liturgy of the Last Supper.

King John V paid to have a sanctuary lamp made in the 1740s; however, it didn’t arrive in Jerusalem until the 1750s when Joseph I was king of Portugal. An earthquake hit Lisbon in 1755, and most similar metalwork was destroyed.

Gazing at the Spanish sanctuary lamp, Elizabeth Felderhoff of Krum, Texas, told EWTN News: ”It is a blessing to have the opportunity to have all of these pieces so easily available to the public to appreciate.” She said she felt that artists who create good, quality work help others dwell on God during worship.

A humeral veil on display in the exhibit was originally used for secular purposes by a now-unknown Muslim. Somehow it became property of a Christian and was transformed into the veil used by priests during Eucharistic adoration to keep the priest from having to touch the monstrance.

One of the chasubles displayed in the exhibit has images of instruments of Christ’s crucifixion. This chasuble would have been especially used during Lent.

Another visitor, Joann Cox, said: ”The dream of going to the Holy Land is a bit remote. This is just an incredible opportunity to see the aspect of our Catholic Christian faith, the symbolism and history of every piece on display, and we are grateful that itʼs here.”

Her sentiments were echoed by another attendee, Cintia Vera, who, reflecting on the exhibit, said: "Itʼs beautiful. Iʼm Catholic and thankful the Kimbell was able to host this exhibit.”

Andrew Eubank, marketing and communications manager at the Kimbell, said: “The exhibition has had visitors from international locations including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Korea, South America, and Europe.”

Along with the Holy Sepulchre exhibit, visitors can see sacred and secular art of the same and earlier time periods in Kimbellʼs permanent exhibit, which is free for viewing.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

Samuel Blair and Jason Angelette are two of the five hosts of “The Point Man Podcast,” a podcast for Catholic men. Together, alongside Chris Price, Clint Capdepon, and Drew Pearson, they are fathers and husbands who share their knowledge and experience about navigating life today as Catholic men and as leaders of their families.

Blair, a father of four, and Angelette, a widowed father of five, explained that the podcast is aimed at fathers and focuses on how masculinity and the sacramental life can be integrated. Describing themselves as a “mic’d up men’s group,” they try to foster a community to help men realize they’re not alone and encourage one another in their walk with the Lord.

Ahead of Father’s Day, EWTN News spoke to the two men about how masculinity is perceived in today’s culture, what authentic masculinity looks like, and why fatherhood is such an important vocation in the life of the Church.

(Editorʼs note: This interview was edited for clarity and length.)

EWTN News: “Toxic masculinity” is a term used a lot in todayʼs culture. How would you each define authentic Catholic masculinity?

Angelette: Jesus Christ. Thatʼs authentic masculinity. Jesus Christ fully reveals man to himself in his most high calling … the more that we model, imitate, and walk in the footsteps of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will radiate a loving walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ in showing what real masculinity looks like.

He tells the story of the prodigal son, which is the greatest short story ever told of what happens when, in the face of a father who is humiliated by his son, his son abandoned him, took the money, squandered the inheritance, and just left this complete stain on the family name, and how does he respond to it? Or when you see the compassion and the mercy that he shows the woman who is literally caught in the very act of adultery. Or you see when he embraces Peter after heʼs denied him three times and he gives him three chances to redeem himself and to show that mercy and that kindness and that humility and that gentleness.

The heart of a man is a heart that has been set on fire by the Lord Jesus and he loves with gentleness and humility, not weakness in a sense of [being passive], but meekness in the sense of responding to the will of the Father.

Blair: At the end of the day, when we die, the Lord doesnʼt ask us, “All right, well let me see your bank account, let me see the titles.” Itʼs “How well did you love?” And you cannot love if you donʼt receive love, which is to Jasonʼs point, he said it very succinctly, is Jesus Christ — he is the way, the truth, and life. So, modeling our lives after him and in that offering not only our wife, our children, our community, stability, offering our strength, warmth, validation because weʼve received that validation and love from the Father.

Angelette: Toxic masculinity is men who are fighting the wrong fight. Men who have embraced the wrong identity, men who have abused the gifts and talents that theyʼve been given for themselves and not for others and for the kingdom.

Why is fatherhood such an important vocation in the life of the Church?

Angelette: John Paul II, who wrote a play — he wrote five plays — and his last one was called “Radiation of Fatherhood.” And I feel like part of the gift of fatherhood is to radiate the fatherhood of God into the world and to our children.

That is this beautiful gift that weʼve been given to participate in this way that God wants to reveal himself through us. Heʼs allowing us to participate — and not act like him, but to love like him, to love with a love like his.

So as men, as husbands, as fathers, thereʼs this ability that through this masculine heart, this male heart, through this fatherhood, that we can love and reveal the love of God, the love of the father into the world.

Satan hates that. I mean, the thing that destroys families is when fathers have abandoned their post and they leave. Look at the statistics of what happens when a father is not embracing his responsibility as the first herald of the faith, to lead their family in faith, and how hard it is for the faith to be passed on to the next generation.

For Fatherʼs Day, what message would you like to share with fathers?

Blair: Fathers, know that you’re unconditionally loved by God the Father and that the prodigal son points to that. And whether youʼre the younger son or the older son, he has this great inheritance for his boys, his sons.

Not only should we enter into a relationship with Jesus for our own sake but for our wives, for our children, and ultimately the Church. The Church needs her sons fully engaged. Gone are the days you can just be on the sidelines.

Angelette: You hear all the time that God loves you and unless youʼre drawing near to the Father, that just sounds like words. So, just avail yourself to really draw into prayer, to the sacraments, to connect with other men in Christ to not walk this road alone.

If you want your heart on fire, draw near to the Sacred Heart and let his fire, let the heart of Christ, ignite your heart to the love that weʼre called to so we can truly love our families, truly love our children, and love our wives, and be the man that we know in our heart we want to be and that weʼre being called to be.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team

In a time when the meaning of masculinity is often misunderstood and undervalued, Joe Soltis and his 15-year-old son, Jake, are a father/son pair from Cleveland, Ohio, who have made service to others the focus of their lives.

After his mother’s serious illness, Jake, almost entirely by himself, built her a sauna and exercise room in the family’s basement in order to help her recover.

Joe, the CEO of a marketing company, serves on the board of an ecumenical project that unites Catholics and Protestants called Prayer At The Heart, with the aim of igniting “a great spiritual awakening out of a national movement of unified, humble, desperate prayer, unity and evangelism.”

The pair spoke with EWTN News about how their Catholic faith inspires them to be men who make it their mission to love as Jesus loves, and about how they hope to inspire others to do the same.

‘There’s a good chance Mom won’t be coming home’

In 2020, Joe’s wife and Jake’s mom, Becky, almost died after multiple medical issues led doctors to estimate she had only a 10% chance of survival. Joe said she was diagnosed with lupus, Lyme disease, a burst gall bladder, sepsis, and pancreatitis.

“We weren’t allowed to see her in the hospital because it was during Covid,” said Joe, the father of five boys and one daughter, who had to tell his kids “there’s a good chance Mom won’t be coming home.”

After weeks in the hospital, Becky began to recover, Joe said, and “by the grace of God, she pulled through.”

“Out of that hardship, I have found a woman who is incredibly holy,” Joe said of his wife, who, though mostly recovered, still suffers ongoing symptoms from lupus. “She is an incredible mom and an incredible wife. I couldn’t ask for anyone better. She is a blessing to all of us.”

Joe said that time “brought our family tremendously closer together.”

A plan to ‘mobilize Christians’

As Becky recovered from her health crisis, Joe watched the race riots that erupted all over the country that summer, leading him to conclude that “there are evil forces” at work leading to such division between Americans.

“That’s not what Christ wants,” he said, and he wondered whether such division was “manufactured and intentional.” He read Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, which he called “diabolically brilliant.”

On July 4, 2020, between his work, family, and other responsibilities, Joe “happened to be free to sit down and think.” He felt inspired to write out a plan that would address how to “mobilize Christians” in a “Catholic, Christian, biblical manner.”

Becky helped him fine tune the plan, which Joe then sent to various Christian leaders. Tom Phillips, vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called him back and put him in touch with Doug Small, a Pentecostal leader with a similar vision who also lives in Ohio.

Together, the men came up with Prayer at the Heart, an evangelistic endeavor with the goal of “one million Christians praying for one million friends to know Christ.”

Of the ecumenical nature of their ministry, he said there is “great unity among” the team. “We can all unite around Christ.” 

“Each congregation-denomination-ministry would brand the effort calling their constituents to prayer, evangelism-mission in their own way,” reads the website, on which Christians can sign up to pray for unbelievers.

“The early apostles didn’t just stay in their church and pray,” Joe said. “They went out and evangelized. It’s time for Christians to get out of their homes and churches and bring Jesus to people.”

The ministry’s strategy also involves other practical initiatives, such as the organization of local gatherings and outdoor prayer meetings, as well as a prayer request line available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In addition, the ministry is organizing neighborhood prayer walks, weekly groups of Christians praying for coworkers, and a new missionary and mentorship program to train young adults in prayer and evangelism.

“There’s no person or political party that’s going to save us. The only thing that’s going to save us is the love of Jesus Christ and the love of others,” Joe said.

A message to fathers: ‘Love your wife’

This Father’s Day, Joe has encouraging words for fathers: “Love your wife and kids the way Christ loved the Church.”

“Sacrifice, be willing to lay your life down,” he said. “Go to church every Sunday. Your kids wonʼt know faith is important if you don’t show it. Pray every day with your kids.”

“Every night we say the Seven Sorrows of Mary, the St. Michael prayer, and the Angel of God prayer,” he said. “Then we say what we’re thankful for, and this is what we’d like God to help us with.”

The Soltis’ also say a rosary once a week as a family, as well as in the car on long trips.

“If your family is going through a difficult time, strongly follow the lead of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and consecrate your family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” Joe said.

“One of the promises of that consecration is peace within your family. Ours didn’t have peace for a while but it does now, thank the Lord.”

‘If I start, God will help me and guide me through it’

Jake told EWTN News that “my dad and mom have always shown what love is. It’s a choice, You choose to love others, to love your enemy. Love is a choice and not an emotional feeling.”

When he decided to build the sauna and exercise room for his mother in the family’s basement, he said he had “no idea what I was getting into.”

Before beginning the basement renovation, Jake said he only “knew how to build a sub par table.” During the work, he said he “was just inspired. I just wanted to help my mom.”

Joe said his son “put a lot of pressure on himself because his mom’s health was at stake.” Becky had a grand mal seizure in 2025, which Joe called “scary.”

“I have based the majority of my life on the saying ‘I will figure it out,’” Jake said. "I know that if I start something, and use the gifts I was given from God, I will be able to figure it out. I’m not wasting my ability, and I trust that if I start, God will help me and guide me through it.”

His father said Jake “looked at two Google images” before starting the project. “He has the knack and ability to do this stuff. He would come home from school and work for thousands of hours.”

“The only thing I did was I loaded the stuff in the back of the Chevy Tahoe at the hardware store. Every now and then I helped him out,” Joe laughed.

“As an 8th grader, he took an unfinished basement, and now we have a fitness center, sauna, theater room, and theyʼre beautiful! They look professional. He did it all himself, for his mother,” Joe said proudly.

Saint of the Day – rosary.team