Spanish Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, announced Tuesday that he will temporarily withdraw from all public and pastoral activities while a preliminary investigation — opened by the Church following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward adult women — is underway.
López Romero asserted his innocence in a brief statement carried by the EFE news agency. “I have not committed any assault, violence, or sexual harassment,” he said.
The prelate himself announced the decision in a message to his archdiocesan community at the end of the pastoral year. In the text, López Romero explains that the Church has initiated a preliminary investigation into the allegations and that the case is currently in the hands of the competent authorities of the Holy See.
“I am accused of inappropriate behavior toward adult women,” the cardinal archbishop noted in the statement, in which he also affirms that he is fully cooperating with the ongoing ecclesiastical process.
While the investigation is underway, López Romero indicated he will not preside at public celebrations or participate in pastoral activities so as not to interfere with the inquiry.
“During this period of investigation, and so as not to hinder it, I am stepping back — refraining from presiding over any public celebration or participating in any pastoral activity, as you will undoubtedly understand,” he emphasized in the statement obtained by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
The prelate also acknowledged the impact the situation might have on the faithful and expressed his awareness of the difficulties and questions the case could raise within the local Catholic community. For this reason, he explained that he considered it important to inform the members of the archdiocese at this stage.
López Romero asked for prayers for all those affected by the situation, for the Church, and for himself, as the decisions to be adopted by ecclesiastical authorities upon the conclusion of the proceedings are awaited.
“While awaiting the decisions the Church will make, let us pray together for those suffering through this situation, let us pray for our Church, let us pray for one another, and please pray for me,” the statement indicated.
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.
Nearly a month into the World Cup, the soccer tournament still holds the world’s attention, with only 16 of the 48 national teams that started the tournament remaining in contention.
In the shadow of this global spectacle, however, the Catholic Church in Argentina is increasingly concerned about online betting and the gambling addiction it can trigger among users, many of whom are children and adolescents.
Just back from the ordinary consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Ángel Rossi, archbishop of Córdoba in Argentina, gave an interview in which he emphasized the need to listen to “the cries of the world.”
In this context, he spoke about young people, who are often victims “of those who exploit them for drugs, drug trafficking, or betting and gambling.”
“You have children or young people more concerned about whether a goal is scored or if there’s a corner kick, that is, about the bet they placed, than about enjoying the match. It’s sad,” he commented.
Dante Braida, the bishop of La Rioja and president of the bishops’ committee for pastoral ministry to society, also warned of the dangers of betting and the consequences it entails for families.
“Any mobile phone can turn into a casino,” he pointed out, noting how easy it is for minors to access betting platforms.
According to a Red Cross survey, the prelate pointed out, 83% of adolescents who bet do so using digital wallets, and six out of 10 cannot distinguish between a legal and an illegal platform.
Moreover, most of them enter the world of betting influenced by advertising, Braida noted. Although the International Federation of Football Association Football (FIFA, by its French acronym) enforces a “clean venue” policy during the tournament by eliminating advertisements for bookmakers, in Argentina, betting commercials are broadcast repeatedly during hydration breaks and halftime.
The bishop of La Rioja called on those in positions of authority to “do much more to set boundaries and support efforts to change,” and extended this appeal to parents, educators, catechists, and parish communities, urging them to foster environments of dialogue and support.
Currently, the prelate lamented, “casinos are no longer found only around the town square but in young peopleʼs pockets.” Recalling the teachings of Pope Leo XIV in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, he said that technological development can only be considered true progress when it’s at the service of the person and his dignity.
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.
A Catholic ministry in El Paso, Texas, that has provided legal help to hundreds of thousands of immigrants over four decades says it is on the brink of shutting down because the Trump administration has withheld more than $765,000 in reimbursements.
Estrella del Paso, formerly known as Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, has seen its cash reserves depleted since payments stopped arriving in December 2025, according to executive director Melissa Lopez.
Lopez told EWTN News Estrella del Paso offers a broad range of services, providing every type of legal immigration representation, including aiding asylum seekers, those in immigration detention seeking to be released on bond, and people applying for residency and naturalization.
The organization serves more than 40,000 people annually and is one of the largest providers of legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children in the country.
The group is currently providing legal help to around 300 minors, though the number fluctuates frequently, Lopez said.
She warned that “a significant number of people will be impacted if the program ceases to exist,” leaving tens of thousands of immigrants without representation in complex immigration proceedings.
“Navigating the immigration system right now is incredibly difficult,” she continued. “Even when someone is represented, outcomes are not always ideal.”
Many of those currently being helped would face deportation and even worse consequences, Lopez said.
“The outcome of many cases without some form of legal assistance is very dire,” she said. “We are talking about life and death consequences for some individuals we currently provide services to, if we were to cease to exist.”
The ministry was founded in 1986 and began specializing in cases involving unaccompanied children in 2007. It operates as one of the primary nonprofit immigration legal aid providers in the El Paso region.
A preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in the Northern District of California in April 2025 had blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to cut funding for legal services for unaccompanied minors. However, advocates say the government has continued to withhold payments in violation of that order.
Estrella del Paso and 10 other legal aid providers have asked Martínez-Olguín to hold the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in contempt of court. A hearing on the request is scheduled for July 16.
A 2008 federal law aimed at protecting victims of human trafficking requires the government to ensure, “to the greatest extent practicable,” that unaccompanied children in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security have access to legal counsel in immigration proceedings. Without the access the law provides, minors would be responsible for navigating the immigration court system by themselves.
However, the Trump administration has argued that funding for these services is discretionary rather than mandatory.
The situation is particularly urgent because unaccompanied minors are reportedly being detained and deported at roughly three times the rate seen during the first Trump administration, according to a recent analysis by ProPublica.
Lopez emphasized the broader issues impacting not only minors but also “all of the vulnerable people who come to us seeking legal representation.”
“It is an issue of family unity, keeping families together, and ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect,” she said.
Estrella del Paso has launched an emergency fundraising campaign to try to bridge the funding gap caused by the withheld reimbursements.
Lopez said she hopes to raise about $500,000 through private donations as well as through grants and requests to philanthropic organizations.
“We don’t want people to feel they have to make a huge donation,” she said. “Even a small donation makes an impact.”
The Administration for Children and Families at HHS told EWTN News it does not comment on matters subject to ongoing litigation.
Tens of thousands of Pennsylvania Catholic school students could lose scholarship funding if a bill passed by the state House eliminating a key tax-credit program is signed into law.
“The recent passage of House Bill 2632 by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives poses a serious threat to school children and families throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia said in a June 23 statement. If passed, the bill would eliminate the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs, a change he described as “devastating for school children and their families.”
State Rep. Nikki Rivera, D-Lancaster, introduced the bill, which the Pennsylvania House passed on June 22. Senate consideration is next.
Rivera said in a statement: “A $680 million annual scholarship tax program should be transparent and include detailed reporting. This bill would ensure that everyone can see how well EITC programs are working, whom they are helping, and whether students in private and parochial schools are receiving tuition relief.”
“This bill would not cut one penny from the $680 million EITC program,” she said.
While Rivera said the bill would only change reporting and oversight requirements, not the program’s funding authorization, Catholic education leaders said eliminating the statutory framework for EITC and OSTC effectively ends the programs.
“If enacted into law, this bill would negatively impact tens of thousands of students across Pennsylvania who currently rely on these scholarship programs. EITC and OSTC scholarships are funded by companies and individuals who see value in providing families with educational choice,” Pérez said. “These programs are vibrant, successful, and reduce taxpayer burdens when it comes to educating our young people, particularly those who come from challenging financial circumstances and live in underserved communities.”
Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Pérez. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Becket Fund
The archbishop called on elected officials to preserve the programs, saying they are “vital” and that “no one can afford to see them disappear.”
Victor D’Ascenzo, vice president for development at the Foundation for Catholic Education, which partners with the archdiocese and the Office of Catholic Education in advancing the mission of Catholic education, said his office has reached out to state representatives in Philadelphia “but have received very little response.”
Noting that while he does not have statewide figures, D’Ascenzo said the Foundation for Catholic Education supports the 102 elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the approximately 33,000 students who attend them. About one-third of those students receive EITC funds for tuition assistance, he said.
“We are hopeful that any resolution that is passed in Harrisburg will have as little negative effect [as possible] on those wishing to pursue a Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” he said.
Legal counsel for the Little Sisters of the Poor delivered oral arguments to a federal appellate court on July 7 as the Catholic religious society continued its 15-year legal battle over contraception mandates.
The dispute goes back to a 2011 federal regulation imposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which requires employers to include coverage of contraception in healthcare plans offered to employees, as part of rules implementing the Affordable Care Act.
Although the Little Sisters of the Poor already won two Supreme Court cases — which found the federal government must protect the religious freedom of those who object to contraception and that the federal government has the authority to create exemptions — the attorneys general of Pennsylvania and New Jersey are challenging federal exemptions on grounds that the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on.
A lower court ruled in favor of the two states, against the Little Sisters of the Poor, finding that the federal exemptions are arbitrary and capricious. The sisters filed an appeal, which is being considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
Aimee Thomson, who represented the two states, argued that the broad exemptions — which allow both religious and moral objectors to avoid the mandate — are “arbitrary and capricious” and that the exemptions “swept well beyond all religious employers” who first objected to the mandate.
Under the rule, employers who have moral or religious objections can opt in to an accommodation in which the federal government subsidizes contraception coverage in their plans. Employers who also have moral or religious objections to the accommodation can sidestep contraception coverage altogether.
She told the panel of judges that the exemption exceeds the scope that is required under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). She said the regulators failed to show that these exemptions were necessary to solve the religious liberty issue and expressed concerns over employers potentially getting exemptions even though their objections are not sincere.
Thomson said it’s unclear “how many women have been impacted” by insincere objections, but “expecting female employees” to study policies and litigate an employer’s insincere objections is burdensome.
“That is an incredible burden to place on employees and on women,” she said.
Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the Little Sisters, argued that the federal government sought to “choose a middle ground” that created a mandate but protected religious freedom, based on Supreme Court guidance: “Nothing about that is even close to arbitrary and capricious.”
“This law is about the federal government … accommodating religion with its own mandate,” he said.
Rienzi said a rule does not become arbitrary and capricious just because the scope is “a hair more than what’s required” under RFRA.
The Little Sisters of the Poor are also receiving support from the Department of Justice. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric McArthur argued on behalf of the federal government, in favor of the exemptions, saying RFRA does not require the exemptions to be the “bare minimum.”
He said HHS chose to “set everything aside and take a fresh look at everything” and decided “an exemption was the most appropriate administrative response” to objections. He said this was adopted “as a policy matter … even if RFRA does not compel it.”
McArthur argued there is “no good reason” for someone to insincerely request an exemption because the employer can request the accommodation “at zero cost.” Yet, if the court decides the exemptions are too broad, the court could strike down “one line in the rule” rather than “take down the entire rule,” as the two states have requested.
Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor said in a statement after the oral arguments that the states’ lawsuit to eliminate the exemptions is threatening their mission to serve the poor and the elderly.
“This is our God-given mission,” she said “For nearly 200 years we have welcomed the elderly poor and dying into our homes, and with the population of seniors rapidly growing we cannot allow a government lawsuit to stop us from carrying out our mission. Pennsylvania and New Jersey can keep fighting if they want. All we want is to keep serving.”
Memorial programs were held across India on July 5 to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old tribal rights activist who died in custody at a Mumbai hospital in 2021 while awaiting trial on terrorism charges.
Memorials in Ranchi and Mumbai
Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi led supporters in garlanding Swamy’s bust at “Bagaicha,” meaning “garden,” the Jesuit social action center Swamy founded near Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.
After the floral tribute, Bagaicha director Jesuit Father P.M. Antony told EWTN News: “All of us proceeded to our program hall to discuss about the present socioeconomic and political situation in the country and the state of Jharkhand today.”
The commemoration featured a screening of “Carrying the Cross,” a roughly 100-minute documentary on Swamy’s life and work.
In Mumbai, where Swamy died, the anniversary was marked in the hall of St. Peter’s Church in Bandra, where his funeral was held in 2021. The Bombay Catholic Sabha, the lay wing of the archdiocese, organized the gathering with civil society groups, at which activists paid tribute to the priest, whom they praised as a fearless advocate for the oppressed tribal communities of Jharkhand.
“We are living in times when if you do anything to fulfill either the words or the spirit of the constitution you are likely to be the next martyr,” said senior advocate Mihir Desai, who led Swamy’s legal defense.
Desai repeatedly petitioned the Bombay High Court for the elderly Jesuit’s release on bail after he was brought to Mumbai following his October 2020 arrest at Bagaicha, in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, in which he was charged along with 15 others.
“If you speak with passion about equality, about nondiscrimination, about freedom of speech — all these are fundamental rights … If you speak about these things in the spirit in which they are incorporated in the constitution, you will be treated as an anti-national,” said Desai, who had worked with the Jesuit for three decades as a civil rights lawyer.
The Bhima Koregaon case
As the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, reported at the time of his arrest in October 2020, the priest, who championed the rights of oppressed tribal communities, was detained along with 15 other activists, academics, and lawyers on terrorism charges related to the “Bhima Koregaon conspiracy.”
The arrests, carried out on the grounds that the accused were allegedly linked to a banned Maoist organization, drew condemnation abroad, including a posthumous resolution honoring Swamy’s life and work in the U.S. Congress in July 2022.
Describing Swamy’s death as “institutional murder,” Desai said “why they wanted to arrest him was because they did not want any urban or rural voice … a dissenting voice of the marginalized to be heard” and alleged that documents had been planted on his computer by hackers, about which the priest had “no clue.”
In December 2022, Arsenal Consulting, a U.S.-based digital forensics firm engaged by Swamy’s lawyers, reported that “incriminating files” had been planted on his computer through a yearslong malware campaign — a finding his supporters said showed he had been framed. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has disputed the analysis, and the trial court declined to consider it.
“Father Stan is gone. But we want the court to declare him not guilty,” said Desai, who said he is preparing a fresh petition to that end after a judicial magistrate’s inquiry concluded that the priest had died of natural causes. “Compensation [must] be paid. Accountability has to be fixed and he has to be declared as innocent,” he said.
The NIA maintains its case, alleging that Swamy aided the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) through the civil society groups he worked with; the special NIA court repeatedly denied him bail, citing what it called “prima facie” evidence.
A judicial magistrate’s inquiry, mandatory in custodial deaths, ruled his death a “natural death” and found no wrongdoing, and in May 2025 the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission accepted those findings, concluding there was nothing “unnatural” in his death and no medical negligence.
In December 2025, the Bombay High Court disposed of a petition by Swamy’s family to clear his name but granted them liberty to file a fresh challenge to the magistrate’s report.
Speakers noted that all 15 surviving co-accused have since been granted bail, while Swamy did not live to see trial.
Teesta Setalvad, who heads Citizens for Justice and Peace, described Swamy as “a priest who jumped out beyond [clerical] culture and took up perverted cases [against the poor tribals] and worked for the release of prisoners, exposing fabricated cases.”
Activist Irfan Engineer read out a protest letter from Surendra Gadling — the last of the 16 accused still jailed, now over a separate case — who was staging a one-day hunger strike at Taloja Central Jail, where Swamy had also been held.
“Father Stan Swamy was a victim of institutional murder because he refused to surrender before those in power and chose to stand firmly for the rights of Adivasis [tribals], Dalits, and the marginalized and oppressed masses,” Gadling wrote. “He fearlessly raised his voice against injustice, repression, and attacks on democratic rights. This one-day hunger strike is to protest against the institutional repression that led to his death.”
Anand Teltumbde, a former professor at the Goa Institute of Management who was released on bail after 31 months in the case, told EWTN News: “July 5 has become a historic day for the country with 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy’s death in custody.”
Dolphy D’Souza, a Bombay Catholic Sabha spokesman, recalled: “During Father Stan Swamy’s funeral at peak COVID time, only 25 people were allowed inside the church here and many of us had to wait outside. Today we are all here to remember him.”
Across India, the anniversary drew commemorations in several cities, including New Delhi, along with a spontaneous wave of social media posts remembering the priest’s imprisonment and death in custody and pressing for his name to be cleared.
A deepening diplomatic rift between Poland and Ukraine over the memory of World War II-era massacres has drawn a rare joint intervention from senior Catholic leaders of both nations — and threatens to complicate Kyiv’s path toward the European Union.
In a joint appeal issued June 29, three Polish prelates — Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, and Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz — together with two Ukrainian Church leaders, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Cardinal Mykola Bychok, urged both governments to pursue reconciliation, as EWTN News reported.
The bishops said they “are saddened to observe the growing tensions and resurgent hostility between Poles and Ukrainians.”
Echoing Pope Leo XIV, they called for a “disarmament of language,” arguing that words, symbols, and public gestures can either deepen divisions or foster peace.
The tensions revolve around wounded national sentiments over the contested memory of the Volhynia massacres during World War II.
Cause of diplomatic tensions
Poland and Ukraine have long-standing social and diplomatic tensions over their conflicting national narratives of World War II.
The current dispute began on May 26, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a military unit after the “heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).”
The UPA was a nationalist partisan formation that waged guerrilla warfare in the mid-1940s against Nazi Germany, Soviet-backed forces, and the underground Polish resistance movement.
Ukrainians view the UPA as a symbol of resistance to foreign occupation in the fight for national independence.
In Poland, however, it is associated with the Volhynia massacres, in which the UPA led the targeted slaughter and ethnic cleansing of around 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians, mostly women and children, from 1943 to 1945.
The campaign was driven largely by a nationalist effort to secure territory for a future Ukrainian state by removing the minority Polish population from lands that had belonged to prewar Poland but were claimed by Ukrainian nationalists. In the chaos of World War II, the UPA sought to ensure that Poland could not reassert control over the region after the war on the basis of the Polish minority living there.
Poland has officially recognized the Volhynia massacres as a genocide, a label Ukraine has rejected.
Diplomatic aftermath
In response to Zelenskyy’s decision to name a unit after the UPA, Polish President Karol Nawrocki on June 19 stripped the Ukrainian president of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor, which had been awarded to him in 2023.
An opinion poll published on the day Nawrocki announced his decision showed that 51% of Poles supported rescinding Zelenskyy’s honor, while only 36% were opposed. Among Nawrocki’s support base, 80% favored withdrawing the order.
In response and in solidarity with Zelenskyy, on June 21 three former Ukrainian presidents, along with various other government officials and diplomats, returned the state awards they had been given by Poland.
This was followed by Polish government officials on June 22 returning awards they had received from Ukraine.
Adding further fuel to the dispute were statements made in February, when Oleksandr Alfyorov, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR), described the Volhynia tragedy as “one of Poland’s state myths.”
Poland’s own Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) replied by declaring that “the Volhynia genocide is a documented fact” while criticizing the Ukrainian state for building elements of its identity on “the cult of individuals and organizations responsible for these crimes.”
The path toward reconciliation
The Polish and Ukrainian prelates also invoked the memory of St. John Paul II, most notably his words marking the 60th anniversary of the Volhynia massacres in 2003, in which he called for “Ukrainians and Poles not to remain enslaved by their sad memories of the past.”
The Polish pontiff also noted that Christians are called to acknowledge the errors of the past while needing the strength to “ask forgiveness for their own shortcomings” and to “forgive one another for the wrongs they have suffered.”
In that spirit, the prelates urged Poles and Ukrainians to “humbly ask for forgiveness and to courageously forgive” while extending “a hand of reconciliation” despite wounds that remain raw.
They also warned against pursuing narrow national interests, saying true reconciliation requires both nations to seek the common good rather than impose their own vision of history on the other.
Future implications
A day before the Church’s joint appeal for peace, Zelenskyy declared that “no one will dictate” to Ukraine which heroes the country honors as he announced plans for a national pantheon celebrating notable Ukrainians.
This was widely read in Poland as a hardening of Kyiv’s position, prompting warnings from politicians across the spectrum that the issue could spill over into Ukraine’s European Union ambitions.
That matters because Ukraine’s path into the European Union ultimately requires the consent of every member state, including Poland.
In the long term, Warsaw is likely to seek a clearer acknowledgment from Ukraine’s highest political levels of the scale and character of the Volhynia massacres and of the role played by the UPA.
With Zelenskyy unwilling even to remove the UPA name from a military unit and Nawrocki escalating the issue in turn, any workable compromise now appears more difficult to reach.
Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, who met with Pope Leo XIV last week, said the pope’s visit to Lebanon last December, held under the motto “Blessed are the peacemakers,” marked the beginning of a new phase of dialogue for peace. Rai expressed hope that the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would lead to a true, just, comprehensive, and lasting peace — but Christians there fear their country’s sovereignty may be at stake.
Rai warned in his Sunday homily that Lebanon “must not become the price of any international or regional understanding, nor an arena for settling scores, but rather a message of peace.” He expressed hope that the efforts involving the United States, Lebanon, and Israel would bear fruit and lead to an agreement that removes “the specter of war” from Lebanon.
His remarks come as Lebanon finds itself at the center of two parallel diplomatic tracks: a U.S.-Iran agreement and a direct trilateral framework involving Lebanon, Israel, and the United States. In both, Lebanon’s future is at stake and the country’s Christians remain a central part of the national conversation on peace and sovereignty.
Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai, speaks during an interview with AFP at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, north of Beirut, on Oct. 15, 2025. | Credit: JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images
For many Christians in Lebanon, the fear is that their country’s future could once again be treated as part of a broader regional bargain rather than as a sovereign national question.
This concern was reflected in a letter sent by Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, in which he urged Washington to separate the Lebanese issue from negotiations with Iran. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem described the agreement as “a great victory” and “a pivotal point for Lebanon.”
Speaking to EWTN News, Lebanese member of Parliament Pierre Bou Assi said that, as the Lebanese Forces leader stated in his letter to the U.S. vice president, their project remains the establishment of a real state in Lebanon. But he said such a state cannot fulfill its role as long as Hezbollah remains armed and continues to drag Lebanon into wars and suffering in service of Iran.
“We want to be freed from Hezbollah’s weapons in order to build a state that protects everyone, Christians and Muslims alike,” he said.
Bou Assi added that he does not believe the U.S.-Iran understanding will have a direct impact on Hezbollah’s behavior in Lebanon. According to U.S. sources, he said, the talks did not focus specifically on this point but rather on the Strait of Hormuz and a monitoring mechanism for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. Many in Lebanon stress that including the Lebanese issue in these regional negotiations has allowed Iran to regain leverage over the Lebanese political sphere.
Moreover, President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that Syria could play a role in addressing the issue of Hezbollah has touched a deep nerve among many Lebanese Christians. For them, any talk of Syrian involvement in Lebanon triggers the memory of nearly three decades of Syrian military and political occupation, which only ended in 2005.
Lebanon member of Parliament Pierre Bou Assi. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Pierre Bou Assi
Bou Assi said that, as a Lebanese and Christian member of Parliament belonging to the largest Lebanese and Christian parliamentary bloc, and despite respect for the United States as a friendly country, “we cannot accept the return of the Syrian army to Lebanon.”
“The Lebanese suffered greatly under the occupation of the Assad regime, which lasted for 30 years between 1975 and 2005,” he said. “For this reason, as a sovereignist component that resisted that occupation, we cannot accept the repetition of this bitter and destructive experience.”
At the same time, Bou Assi pointed to repeated statements by the Syrian president that Syria has no intention of entering Lebanon again, out of respect for Lebanese sovereignty.
He said such positions are in line with the Lebanese Forces’ desire for the best possible relations with Syria, relations based on respect for the sovereignty, stability, and interests of both countries and peoples.
Toni Nissi, president of the Committee for the U.N. Security Council Resolutions on Lebanon and secretary-general of the National Council for the Cedar Revolution, echoed similar concerns in a conversation with EWTN News.
“For many Lebanese, and certainly for many Lebanese Christians, such remarks inevitably awaken painful memories,” Nissi said.
He explained that his generation remembers a period in which Lebanon’s sovereign institutions were overshadowed by external tutelage. For that reason, he said, any suggestion that Syria might once again assume a political or security role inside Lebanon naturally provokes concern.
Toni Nissi, president of the Committee for the U.N. Security Council Resolutions on Lebanon and secretary-general of the National Council for the Cedar Revolution. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Toni Nissi
Nissi also stressed that diplomacy becomes problematic when nations become objects of negotiation instead of subjects of their own history.
“For far too long, Lebanon has been treated as a battlefield where others settle their disputes and as a diplomatic mailbox through which regional powers exchange messages,” he added.
There are growing concerns in Lebanon, especially among Christians, that the U.S.-Iran memorandum and the wider diplomacy surrounding it could overshadow the Lebanon-Israel talks promoted by President Joseph Aoun as an effort to return decisions of war, peace, and sovereignty to state institutions.
For many Lebanese Christians, those talks carry a deeper meaning. They are not only a diplomatic opening with Israel but also a possible step toward restoring the authority of the Lebanese state after years in which Hezbollah’s weapons and Iran’s influence have shaped the country’s security choices.
Lebanese officials have described the move toward direct negotiations with Israel as a historic step through which the state could reclaim responsibility for Lebanon’s foreign and security policy. Yet the government now faces the delicate reality of seeing Iran negotiate with Washington over issues that directly affect Lebanon’s future, raising fears that Beirut could once again be treated as a secondary actor in decisions concerning its own sovereignty.
Nonetheless, last week’s signing of the Trilateral Framework Agreement between Lebanon, Israel, and the United States, announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marked a major milestone, offering a possible path toward placing Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and state authority back at the center of the diplomatic process.
Nissi explained that the framework “establishes a phased mechanism intended to strengthen security, extend the authority of the Lebanese state across its entire territory, and create a practical pathway for implementing long-standing international commitments while reducing the risk of renewed conflict.”
“It is neither a final peace treaty nor merely another ceasefire,” Nissi added. “It is a roadmap for restoring state authority through implementation.”
For Nissi, the framework also carries a deeper national significance. “Perhaps the greatest opportunity created by this framework is that Lebanon can finally stop being a battlefield for others,” he said. “For decades, Lebanon functioned less as an independent strategic actor than as an arena through which regional powers projected their rivalries.”
What these parallel diplomatic tracks will ultimately achieve for Lebanon remains uncertain. For now, the country’s sovereignty continues to be violated from both directions: by Hezbollah’s weapons and decision-making outside the authority of the state and by Israel’s continued occupation of Lebanese territory and military actions inside Lebanon.
Despite a summer heat wave, about 500 Catholics from Pakistan’s Punjab province traveled to the ancient city of Taxila to mark the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle at a site long associated with the apostle’s mission in the Indian subcontinent.
The faithful from St. Francis Xavier Parish in Gujranwala arrived in eight buses on July 4 at the archaeological site of Sirkap, where Christian tradition holds that St. Thomas preached at the court of King Gondophares before continuing his mission to India.
“The Gospel reached the far corners of the world through the companions of Christ, and that same mission has been entrusted to us,” Father Yousaf Yaqoob, the parish priest who celebrated the Mass, told the pilgrims.
He encouraged the faithful to visit Christian pilgrimage sites across Pakistan.
“The relics and even the air at pilgrimage sites are a source of blessing. In this digital age, people speak of the Gospel but have largely forgotten the great sacrifices and miracles behind it,” he said. “A nation that forgets its history is forgotten by history.”
Catholics shelter under umbrellas as Father Yousaf Yaqoob celebrates Mass at the throne of St. Thomas at Sirkap in Taxila, Pakistan, on July 4, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Sagar Rahat
After the Mass, pilgrims toured the Taxila Museum and the sacred sites at Sirkap, through which, according to Christian tradition, St. Thomas passed in the first century while proclaiming the Gospel in the Indo-Parthian kingdom ruled by King Gondophares.
Why Taxila draws Christian pilgrims
The Acts of Thomas, an early Syriac Christian text, recounts that the king gave the apostle money to build a royal palace. Instead, Thomas distributed the money among the poor. Enraged, the king ordered his execution. However, after the king’s brother, Gad, miraculously returned to life and described a heavenly palace built through the apostle’s charity, Gondophares pardoned Thomas and, according to tradition, embraced Christianity along with many of his subjects.
The Punjab Archaeology Department also preserves a local tradition that St. Thomas built a 3-foot-high stone throne at Sirkap and preached there for four decades. Two brick baptismal basins near the throne are still used for infant and adult baptisms.
According to archaeology officials, more than 25,000 visitors had visited the site by July 4.
The parish charged each pilgrim 1,700 Pakistani rupees (about $6), covering transportation, refreshments, and visits to Sirkap and Shahdara Valley, a popular tourist destination in the Margalla Hills near Islamabad.
Braving the summer heat
Sagar Rahat, the parish choir leader, joined fellow pilgrims in collecting small twigs and stones from around the stone throne.
“We keep them as souvenirs and blessings. Our hearts are filled with pride, passion, and honor simply by standing at a place visited by one of Christ’s apostles,” the 34-year-old told EWTN News.
Pilgrims from St. Francis Xavier Parish attend Mass at the throne of St. Thomas at Sirkap in Taxila, Pakistan, on July 4, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Sagar Rahat
Rahat, who has made the pilgrimage annually for the past decade, said the lack of basic facilities continues to trouble visitors. With the mercury climbing to 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), the water in pilgrims’ bottles quickly turned warm under the blazing sun.
“There is no shade, so we have to bring umbrellas. There are no water coolers, and the water in our bottles becomes warm in the direct sunlight,” he said.
In a July 2 message marking the feast, Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi said St. Thomas’ witness continues to inspire Christians, especially young people and families, to remain courageous in bearing witness to Christ.
“The example of St. Thomas invites us to profess our faith courageously, remain committed to sincerity and sacrifice, continue proclaiming the good news, and persevere despite opposition and hardship,” the archbishop said.
Taxila, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its Buddhist and Gandharan ruins, also occupies a unique place in Christian tradition because of its association with St. Thomas and King Gondophares.
Although historians continue to debate the historical details of the apostle’s visit, the tradition remains an important part of South Asia’s Christian heritage.
In 1935, a farmer plowing a field near the ruins discovered a cross that was later presented to the Anglican bishop of Lahore. The relic, known as the Taxila Cross, is now preserved in the Cathedral Church of the Resurrection in Lahore, the Punjab capital.
A broad coalition including the U.S. solicitor general has lined up behind Colorado Catholic families and two Catholic preschools as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether Colorado violated the First Amendment by excluding Catholic preschools from its universal preschool program because they operate according to Catholic teaching.
The case, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, challenges Colorado’s requirement that schools participating in its universal preschool program comply with state policies that the Catholic schools say would force them to violate religious beliefs about marriage, sexuality, and employment to receive public funding.
The U.S. solicitor general joined more than 20 states and 43 Republican members of Congress urging the high court to rule against Colorado’s “discriminatory exclusion” of the faith-based schools. The solicitor general argued that Colorado’s policy discriminates against religious exercise, imposes unconstitutional conditions on participation in a public benefit, and conflicts with recent precedents.
Colorado forces petitioners to choose, the solicitor general wrote. “They can either adhere to their faith, which precludes enrolling families who refuse to adhere to Catholic teachings, and lose the subsidy, or obtain the subsidy but abandon their religious beliefs,” the brief said.
Supreme Court to hear case
Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood, part of the Archdiocese of Denver, along with several Catholic families, argue that the state cannot deny otherwise available public benefits simply because the schools remain faithful to their religious mission.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case this fall after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Colorado’s policy in September 2025 to exclude Catholic preschools because of their religious beliefs.
Broad coalition of support
Support for the Catholic families has continued to grow ahead of oral arguments. A total of 29 friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed urging the justices to rule in favor of the schools, including briefs by more than 20 states, religious liberty scholars, education advocates, and a broad coalition of faith groups.
Among those filing briefs is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). U.S. bishops stated that “if that decision stands, it will provide a roadmap for governments to circumvent this court’s decisions, directly threatening the free exercise rights of religious adherents and organizations.”
Dan and Lisa Sheley, Catholic parents of seven whose children attend St. Mary’s, said they were encouraged by the widespread support.
“We’re grateful that so many people from across the country are rallying behind our case,” they said in a statement provided by Becket. “Colorado promised preschool for all but then showed Catholic families the door. That’s unfair to parents, unfair to children, and contrary to the spirit of the Constitution’s promise of religious freedom.”
Previous religious liberty cases
Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement the coalition demonstrates the significance of the case.
“Colorado has united a diverse array of Americans around a simple point: It’s wrong to promise preschool support to every family in the state and then yank it away from Catholic families,” Rassbach said. “This broad coalition shows just how egregious and unlawful Colorado’s religious discrimination has become. We’re confident the court will remind Colorado — once again — that the First Amendment protects religious people too.”
The case follows a series of Supreme Court decisions strengthening protections for religious schools, including Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and Carson v. Makin, all of which held that states generally may not exclude religious institutions from publicly available benefits because of their religious identity. A decision in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy could further define the constitutional protections afforded to religious schools participating in government education programs.
