The Diocese of Albany, New York, will pay survivors of sexual abuse a $148 million settlement in restitution for what Bishop Mark O’Connell called a “shameful chapter” of abuse in the diocese’s history.
The diocese announced the settlement in a press release on March 27. The nine-figure amount was still subject to court approval, but the amount itself had been accepted by the committee of survivors suing the diocese.
In the press release, O’Connell admitted a “clear and un-nuanced statement of guilt on the part of the diocese in its handling of our predator priests and others within the diocese.”
“It is a shameful chapter in our history, and no monetary settlement such as the one reached today will erase the pain caused to survivors,” he said while apologizing.
The bishop vowed to be “exceedingly diligent” in working to “prevent anything like this occurring again.”
Representatives of the survivors’ committee, meanwhile, said the settlement pointed the way to “closure for all survivors.”
The committee said it “looks forward to working further with the diocese to enhance its child protection protocols.”
The diocese in its statement said that diocesan insurers may contribute additional funds to the global settlement; the statement noted that it is “typical” for insurance carriers to provide “a significant portion” of abuse settlements.
The diocese had declared bankruptcy in 2023 while facing hundreds of abuse lawsuits under the state’s Child Victims Act of 2019.
In April 2025 then-Bishop Edward Scharfenberger announced that the Albany Diocese would launch a campaign to “rechannel [diocesan] efforts and resources” amid a major financial crisis.
The plan included the closure or merging of “perhaps one-third” of the diocese’s 126 parishes. The bishop said at the time that, among other things, “clergy health and well-being, quality sacramental ministry, consistent attendance, participation, and volunteerism” were “heading in the wrong direction.”
When Pope Leo XIV arrives in Monaco for a one-day trip on March 28, he will attend a welcome ceremony with the prince of Monaco, meet with Catholics at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and visit the Chapel of St. Dévote, a historic Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to the principality’s patron saint.
During the brief visit to the chapel, the pope will meet with young people and catechumens from Monaco outside the church.
Located in the Ravin de Sainte-Dévote, the chapel devoted to St. Dévote dates back to before 1070 and is a key site for Monegasque traditions, including the annual burning of a boat and the royal bride’s bouquet-laying.
Although relatively unknown beyond Monaco, St. Dévote remains a deeply admired figure in the small city-state where her legacy has been honored for centuries after her martyrdom. But who was this beloved young woman whom Monaco still celebrates?
Legend of St. Dévote
The sources of the legend of St. Dévote have survived in the form of manuscripts. The oldest known version dates back to the early 12th century and is now housed at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.
According to the ancient legend, Dévote lived in the third century in Corsica, a small mountainous Mediterranean island. She was a young Christian when openly following Jesus could mean prison, torture, or death. As a devout follower of her faith, she consecrated her virginity and life to Christ.
When persecution rose, Dévote was arrested. The young woman refused to deny Christ, so she was brutally tortured and killed. It is believed she was martyred by the prefect Barbarus during the reign of Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in 303 or 304.
Her persecutors planned to burn her body so Christians would have no relics or body to venerate, but a small group of Christians secretly recovered her body. They placed it on a boat sailing to North Africa, hoping to bring her relics to a community that would bury her with honor and invoke her as a martyr.
The legend says that as the boat journeyed, a mysterious dove appeared and guided it along the coast, but a violent storm broke out and the sailors prayed for Dévote’s intercession and the storm suddenly calmed. The boat finally made its way to a port in Monaco.
The Christians believed the diversion was a sign that God had chosen Monaco as Dévote’s final resting place. She was buried there and a small and simple oratory was built over her tomb.
The faithful in Monaco never forgot the teenage martyr whose body arrived on their shore in the storm‑tossed boat. St. Dévote became the patron of Monaco and of the ruling Grimaldi family — which has reigned in Monaco since 1297.
She is also a protector for sailors, fishermen, and all who travel by sea.
Monaco’s deep devotion to the young martyr
The legend of St. Dévote is one of Monaco’s oldest traditions, influencing a deep devotion to the faith and to the saint. It has also shaped national life in Monaco including its literature, arts, music, coins, and stamps.
The Chapel of Sainte-Dévote in Monaco. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Monaco
The Chapel of St. Dévote, where Pope Leo will visit, is first mentioned around 1070 as belonging to the Abbey of St. Pons. The chapel was rebuilt and expanded several times. It became a priory in the 13th century and then was acquired by Honoré I, Lord of Monaco, in 1536. It later became a parish church in 1887.
St. Dévote’s feast day falls on Jan. 27 and has become an important day for Catholics in Monaco. It is celebrated as a solemnity and a national public holiday.
Her feast day is honored in many ways, but most notably with the burning of the boat. On the evening of Jan. 26, the prince and royal family, the archbishop, clergy, locals, and visitors gather at the chapel. The group prays as the prince and archbishop set a small wooden boat on fire outside the church. The crowd prays, sings, and watches the boat burn, which serves as a reminder of the boat that once carried the martyr to safety and the fire that threatened to erase her memory.
The day after the burning of the boat, on Jan. 27, the faithful continue to celebrate. Catholics attend Mass and then process with relics of St. Dévote past the Prince’s Palace of Monaco and through the Rock of Monaco.
Throughout the year the saint is also honored with statues, artwork, and symbols around Monaco, especially near the port where her legend is centered.
In St. Dévote’s honor, it is also customary for brides to offer their wedding bouquet to the saint as a way of asking her to bless their marriages. It is a long-standing tradition for the bride of the sovereign prince to lay her bridal bouquet at the Chapel of St. Dévote after the royal wedding ceremony.
Widely regarded as a tropical paradise, Hawaii was anything but from March 20–22 as two Kona low-pressure systems unleashed heavy rain and strong winds, causing widespread destruction and at least one reported fatality.
The hardest-hit areas included Oahu’s North Shore and southeast Maui, which were struck by as much as 46 inches of rain in areas triggering floods, landslides, and widespread destruction. An estimated $1 billion in damage to homes, businesses, and farms has been reported, with hundreds of structures torn off their foundations, roads destroyed, vehicles swept away, and residents left homeless. Surviving structures in impacted areas are not only flooded but also coated with mud.
Among the islands’ many Catholic facilities, varying degrees of damage have been reported and relief efforts are underway. Among those taking a leading role are Catholic organizations, including EPIC Ministry, the Knights of Columbus, and Catholic Charities Hawaii — as well as many Catholic parishes.
The hall of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish Mission on the North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii, after devastating storms hit the island in late March 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish Mission
Father Romple Emwalu is pastor of St. Michael Church in Waialua and serves a parish mission, Sts. Peter and Paul Mission near Waimea Bay, located eight miles away. Both are located on Oahu’s North Shore, popular for its surfing, and were the hardest-hit Hawaii Catholic churches in the storms.
Emwalu recalled that for three days “it was windy and rained continuously.” While St. Michael’s is located on a hillside and did not suffer significant flooding, many homes just below it were severely damaged and one washed away. The surrounding streets were also flooded, as was the parish parking lot and parish school lawn. The Sts. Peter and Paul Mission church also escaped serious damage, but the halls and offices around it were flooded.
As the storms subsided, St. Michael’s became a hub for a variety of relief organizations. Food and clean water were distributed, and volunteers arrived to begin the process of clearing debris and cleaning homes.
“Many of the homes of our parishioners were unlivable, with as much as 4 feet of water inside,” Emwalu told EWTN News.
Mud cakes the floors in the hall of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish Mission on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, after devastating storms in March 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish Mission
Among the Catholic groups that mobilized to help was EPIC Ministry, a lay association of the faithful. While its main purpose, according to its president Dallas Carter, is “to help young adults encounter Christ,” a second focus is to help those in need, including helping those in emergency situations.
In the 2023 fire that killed 102 and wiped out the Maui town of Lahaina, for example, EPIC sent 300 volunteers and raised $500,000 to help victims.
Carter lives on Oahu and directly participated in helping North Shore victims. He noted that as the water receded, homes were filled with mud that destroyed residents’ possessions, including carpets, furniture, appliances, and clothing. Many of these homes are uninhabitable, he said, “and people are living out of suitcases.”
EPIC Ministry volunteers clean the homes of North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii, residents affected by devastating storms in late March 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Dallas Carter of EPIC Ministry
St. Michael’s has offered temporary shelter to the displaced, Emwalu explained, while others have gone to live with relatives elsewhere in the islands or to homeless shelters.
Besides housing, the priest said, transportation is difficult as well due to flooded roads and cars covered in water after the storms.
Yet there is plenty of reason to hope, Emwalu said, as many have stepped up to volunteer to help victims and donations have poured in.
“Tragedies like this can really bring out the best in people,” Emwalu said. “It’s wonderful to see people working together to help one another.”
Damage to the roads around St. Theresa Parish, Kihei, Maui, after torrential rains and winds pummeled the island in March 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Karen Powers
Another particularly hard-hit region of the island was the Kihei area of Maui. Pastor of Kihei’s St. Theresa Parish, Father William Kunisch, told EWTN News: “I’ve lived in Hawaii for 35 years, and it’s the worst storm I’ve ever seen. The rain was torrential.”
The parish church flooded, and portions of its parking lot were underwater for a week. The community around the parish was devastated, with roads washed out, telephone poles overturned, power outages widespread, and homes destroyed.
“We had parishioners whose homes were up to their waists in water,” Kunisch said. He joined other religious leaders at a local Red Cross relief site to offer spiritual support to victims.
“People were traumatized. They were in disbelief, confused and overwhelmed,” he recalled.
Referencing the Lahaina fire, the priest said: “People are bearing a lot.”
Damage to the roads around St. Theresa Parish, Kihei, Maui, March 23, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Karen Powers
Karen Powers, director of faith formation at St. Theresa, said the Kona storms reminded her of the flash floods she experienced when she had previously lived in Arizona.
“I had seen that before and how devastating it can be; many people living in Kihei haven’t,” she said, noting the difficulties with transportation, as portions of the main shoreline road South Kihei were lost to sinkholes, and vehicles parked on roadways were swept away.
Area businesses were also heavily impacted, and according to Powers “employees were afraid to drive their vehicles on the road, concerned the water would push them into the ocean.”
Monsignor Terry Watanabe, vicar for Maui and pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Wailuku, was born and reared in Maui and has spent much of his life there. He, too, noted: “It was the worst rainfall I’ve ever seen; we had 1 to 2 inches come down an hour. The wind was strong, too. It was very unusual.”
While the damage to St. Anthony’s was minimal, there were catastrophic losses within his parish boundaries. These include the storm’s first reported death — a 71-year-old woman who fell into the Wailuku River and was swept out to sea. Friends of a parishioner who built a home in the same area a few years before also saw the structure swept out to sea.
Watanabe also noted that the region was heavily dependent upon the tourist industry and that visitors were either canceling trips due to the rain or leaving early. He said: “I had friends from Kentucky who came for a visit leave 10 days early because of the rain.”
A truck carries away the soiled, muddy items homeowners are throwing away after torrential rains and winds destroyed homes and structures across Hawaii in March 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Dallas Carter of EPIC Ministry
Father Kuriakose Nadooparambil, MF, pastor of Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina, miraculously untouched by the 2023 fire while structures around it were destroyed, expressed his gratitude that flooding in Lahaina was minimal.
“We are blessed. The good Lord continues to protect us,” Nadooparambil said.
St. Michael Parish has set up a relief fund to assist flood victims. EPIC Ministry also welcomes donations for its flood relief work.
Republican lawmakers are actively opposing the nomination of Dr. Michelle Bachelet for United Nations secretary-general due to her “pro-abortion zealot intent.”
Bachelet, a Chilean politician, supported abortion access during her time in leadership positions including her two terms as the 33rd and 35th president of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018.
The next secretary-general will begin a five-year term on Jan. 1, 2027. To be elected, a candidate must receive at least nine votes from the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, and none of the five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — can veto the decision. Chile’s newly elected president withdrew support for Bachelet on March 24.
“Nevertheless, out of respect for former President Bachelet’s distinguished career — and should she decide to proceed with her candidacy — Chile will refrain from supporting any other candidate in this electoral process,” according to the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Nearly 30 Republican lawmakers are urging the U.S. to “use its veto power” to prevent Bachelet from being selected “to preserve the role for a more qualified candidate,” they wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 25.
In the letter, the 23 representatives and five senators outlined their “deep concern” with Bachelet’s past performance and priorities in her previous roles, arguing that her selection would only harm the Trump administration’s vision for the U.N.
A State Department spokesperson outlined what the U.S. is seeking in a secretary‑general.
“The United States is looking for a practical, driven, and reform-focused candidate who will safeguard the valuable contributions of member states, restore competent management, and streamline the organization significantly,” a spokesperson for the State Department told EWTN News.
“Any new secretary-general needs to return the U.N. to its primary purpose — maintaining peace and security in the world rather than the absurd, politicized, woke ideology that has undermined the institution’s effectiveness,” the spokesperson said.
“The United States will be actively assessing the candidate field to determine the best individual with the most exceptional qualifications and will not be prejudging a candidate based on immutable characteristics,” the spokesperson said.
No woman has ever held the post of U.N. secretary-general.
Lawmakers list concerns about Bachelet’s stance
“In her previous roles with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as executive director of UN Women, and as president of Chile, Dr. Bachelet has repeatedly prioritized an extreme abortion agenda at the expense of state sovereignty,” lawmakers wrote to Rubio.
They specifically noted when she called the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision a “huge blow to women’s human rights” and referred to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade as “a major setback.”
She also expressed her view that “abortion is firmly rooted in international human rights law and is at the core of women and girls’ autonomy,” in an OHCHR statement.
“The truth is that killing an unborn child by abortion can never be construed to be a human right,” lawmakers said. “Every person — born and unborn — deserves to have his or her human rights secured and protected.”
When Bachelet was appointed to be the first executive director of UN Women, “Planned Parenthood Federation of America celebrated,” they said. In her position, “Bachelet declared that ‘reproductive rights,’ a euphemistic term that encompasses elective abortion, was ‘absolutely fundamental’ to that mission,” they said.
During her second race for president, “Bachelet campaigned on weakening Chile’s pro-life law protecting unborn life in all circumstances,” they said. After her reelection, she authored “a bill to legalize abortion in certain situations.”
The U.S. lawmakers also addressed Bachelet’s “failure to oppose coerced abortion in China” and other violations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In May 2022, Bachelet traveled to China at the invitation of the CCP “to investigate years of reports of severe human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” they wrote. Instead of identifying “the atrocities committed by the CCP against the Uyghurs as a genocide,” she “released a watered-down report literally minutes before her term expired,” lawmakers wrote.
“She has demonstrated that she is not a candidate who will respect state sovereignty, refrain from divisive ideologies,” or focus on mutual concerns of U.N. member states, lawmakers concluded.
Signers included Republicans Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, chair of the Select Committee on Ethics; Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa; and Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies.
The U.S. saw a slight increase in all abortions in 2025 and a more than 25% increase in chemical abortions obtained through telehealth, according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute.
There were 1,126,000 total abortions recorded in 2025 in the U.S., a less than 1% increase from 2024.
The report concedes, however, that the numbers are an “underestimate” of the total number of abortions nationally because abortions that are not provided by U.S. clinicians are not included.
The report also found that women traveled less frequently to obtain an abortion, coinciding with an increase in the number of chemical abortions obtained through telehealth provision.
“What’s really concerning is that we see a big increase in telehealth abortions,” Michael New, a scholar at The Catholic University of America, told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.” “They found that in states with abortion bans, over 91,000 women obtained abortions by telehealth. That was over a 25% increase from the previous year.”
“This really shows telehealth abortions are increasing abortion numbers,” New said. “Putting some limits on these telehealth abortions needs to be a top priority for pro-lifers.”
U.S. senators launch investigation into chemical abortion drug manufacturers
Five U.S. senators launched an investigation this week into chemical abortion drug manufacturers’ compliance with FDA safeguards, urging the FDA to take action on issues surrounding chemical abortions obtained through telehealth.
Led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the senators in a March 25 letter pressed the FDA to “take immediate action,” citing concerns about women’s safety, fraud risks, and illegal sales of abortion drugs.
Cassidy and Sens. Steve Daines, R-Montana; James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi; and Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, requested records from abortion drug manufacturers Danco Laboratories, GenBioPro and Evita Solutions.
“It is unclear how the three FDA-approved chemical abortion drug manufacturers, Danco, GenBioPro, and Evita, ensure that prescribers and pharmacies comply with the few remaining [Mifepristone Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy] requirements, especially when pills are sold online and without the in-person oversight of a medical professional,” the press release from the senators read.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley investigates abortion drug manufacturers
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley launched his own investigation into abortion drug manufacturers last week, requesting records from Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro.
Hawley is concerned that drug companies profited from abortion pills while knowing the risks to women.
“Mounting evidence suggests that mifepristone poses grave risks to women,” Hawley wrote in the letter. “Yet your company has continued to profit from the widespread distribution of this drug even as serious questions have emerged about hemorrhage, infection, sepsis, and other dangerous complications associated with its use.”
Judge grants $1 murder bail, $2,000 for drug possession for Georgia woman after infant daughter dies
A Georgia judge granted a $1 bond for a woman accused of murder after introducing oxycodone into her infant daughter’s system and also ordered a $1,000 bond for each of two drug charges.
In late December 2025, Alexia Moore allegedly took eight misoprostol pills when she was between 22 and 24 weeks pregnant and “introduced illegal oxycodone into the infant’s system,” according to the arrest warrant. She gave birth prematurely to a baby girl who died within the hour.
Moore was arrested on March 4, facing one count of murder for unlawfully causing the death of the infant with “malice aforethought” and two drug-related charges.
Ohio bill would recognize unborn babies with heartbeats with certificate of life
A recently proposed Ohio bill would require a certificate of life for unborn babies whose heartbeats are detectable.
The bill, backed by Republican state Rep. Jean Schmidt, would recognize unborn babies with detectable heartbeats through a certificate of life.
In Ohio, if an unborn baby dies, a death certificate is only required after 20 weeks’ gestation. The new bill would also move this requirement date to when the unborn baby has a heartbeat.
The bill would amend the law to “require the registration of all fetal deaths” and “the filing of a certificate of life after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.”
Another recent Ohio bill, backed by state Reps. Johnathan Newman and Jennifer Gross, would inform women who obtain abortion pills about abortion pill reversal.
“More than 8,000 babies have been saved from the abortion reversal pill,” Newman said. “This is important legislation that supports women and protects life.”
Missouri bishops urge prayer, fasting for passage of pro-life amendment
Missouri bishops are urging people to pray and fast for the passage of a pro-life amendment.
An amendment enshrining a right to abortion in the state constitution passed in 2024, eliminating pro-life laws and other safeguards.
“This year, Missourians will have the opportunity to restore those safeguards by voting for Amendment 3,” the bishops wrote. “The proposed constitutional amendment will protect women’s health and safety and restore protections for the unborn.”
The bishops encouraged the faithful to pray the nine-month “Novena for the Dignity of Human Life” on the 25th day of each month. The novena began in February.
“We ask the faithful and all people of goodwill to join us in prayer and fasting for the success of Amendment 3 and to support each human person from conception to natural death,” the bishops wrote.
If you picture a nun’s first profession of vows, you probably picture a serene, peaceful affair with the sisters singing harmoniously and everything running joyfully and smoothly.
However, the day of Mother Angelica’s first vows was anything but.
Outside, a blizzard spit snow and ice, snarling roads and delaying the guests — including the presiding bishop, James McFadden.
Inside, different storms were brewing.
As then-Sister Angelica knelt behind the grille, trying to pray before taking her vows, the organist sister and the choir director, Sister Mary of the Cross (with whom Sister Angelica had sparred in the past), began arguing about musical technique, within earshot of the already-arrived guests.
Voices slowly escalated. Suddenly the two nuns were at each other: the organist refusing to play, Mary of the Cross threatening to throw her into the snow if she didn’t.
“And I’m sitting there trying to re-collect myself for my vows,” Mother Angelica recalled. “The people must have thought we were nuts.”
Then came the bug, scampering across the wooden floor in front of the sisters.
Mary of the Cross rose up, lifted the kneeler with both hands, and pounded it on the ground, attempting to annihilate the insect. Like a madwoman with a jackhammer, she repeatedly wielded the prie-dieu (kneeler), hurling it and herself at the crawler. The organist, thinking the display an underhanded critique of her playing, pounded the keys all the harder. Sister Angelica could not believe what she termed “the shenanigans.” Then the bishop walked in.
Wet and cold from walking several blocks where he had to leave his stalled car, McFadden requested a fresh pair of socks, which Sister Mary of the Cross sent Sister Angelica to get.
When it came time to place the profession ring on Sister Angelica’s fingers, the bishop couldn’t fit it past her knuckle — her hand was swollen from a shower handle in the convent that had crumbled and cut her hand several days prior.
“With everything going on there, I’m thinking, ‘Oh Jesus doesn’t love me.’ You know? … I mean, it was a real spiritual experience!” Mother Angelica said. “But that’s the way God works with me. As I look back, before anything big that was coming, something happened to me.”
Despite “the shenanigans” of the day, Sister Angelica took her vows seriously, writing in a letter to her mother that “the espoused” and “royal couple” (herself and Jesus) “wished to express their gratitude to their friend and member of their personal court … The spouse has asked the Bridegroom to fill you with his peace and consolation.”
She signed the letter: “Jesus and Angelica.”
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation died on March 27, 2016, after a lengthy struggle with the aftereffects of a stroke. She was 92 years old.
EWTN Global Catholic Network was launched by Mother Angelica in 1981 and now reaches over 425 million households in more than 160 countries and territories. As the world’s largest religious media network, it operates 11 global TV channels 24/7, along with extensive radio, digital, and print platforms, as well as EWTN Publishing. It also offers a religious goods catalogue.
EWTN is the parent company of EWTN News, which operates electronic and print news services, including EWTN News English (a news wire service formerly called Catholic News Agency), the National Catholic Register, and the ACI group (global Catholic news services around the world including Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Germany, and Brazil).
This story first ran on March 28, 2016, and has been updated.
Catholic organizations in the Middle East are helping provide aid, food, and shelter to people in Lebanon who are displaced by the ongoing military conflict, and some people remain concerned that a possible full-scale invasion by Israel could exacerbate the crisis.
Lebanon was pulled into the regional conflict when Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters launched missiles into northern Israel and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) returned fire in their strongholds, primarily southern Lebanon.
Monalisa Freiha, associate editor and deputy editor-in-chief at An-Nahar Al Arabi, spoke to “EWTN News Nightly” on March 26 with concerns for Lebanese people, saying they “did not choose this war” and “are not part of the decisions that led to this war.”
“[We] are paying the price every single day, living under bombardment, fear, and uncertainty,” she said.
Israeli forces launched incursions into southern Lebanon to establish a security zone near the border, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 25 it will move deeper into Lebanon to expand this zone. Hezbollah fighters are scattered throughout the region, but most of their attacks still come from rockets and drones, while ground clashes are limited.
Israeli officials ordered evacuations for areas south of the Litani River, which is primarily Shia Muslim but also home to Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Sunni Muslim minorities. Hezbollah and Iranian leadership are Shia.
More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed. More than 1 million people have been displaced, and tens of thousands of civilians have remained in conflict zones despite evacuation orders.
Situation on the ground
Cedric Choukeir, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) country representative for Lebanon, told EWTN News the evacuations were “very challenging” for people and said the process was “very chaotic” because people did not have “a lot of choice or clarity around when they needed to evacuate, what timeline they were allowed to leave, [or] which routes they should be taking.”
During the initial attacks, he said people “found themselves stuck in traffic with airstrikes around them.” He said people were ordered to leave villages, but then “you’ll find yourself in the next village which was also ordered to evacuate,” and said travel to Beirut was taking anywhere between 14 to 24 hours.
The Lebanese government and humanitarian organizations are providing shelter, food, medical services, and other forms of aid to those affected. Some organizations involved include CRS, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), and Caritas Lebanon.
Choukeir, working out of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, told EWTN News that CRS and Caritas have assisted 145,000 people who have been affected by the conflict so far.
He said CRS is working closely with Caritas and other faith-based partners to provide food kits, medicine, mattresses, blankets, pillows, and other forms of medical assistance to those housed in shelters. As the conflict continues, CRS is also working to make shelters “more dignified” by improving sanitation, access to hot water, and providing supplies “so people can prepare their own meals,” he said.
With many children displaced during the school year, Choukeir said CRS is helping children deal with the trauma of the conflict.
In conjunction with Caritas, he said CRS is also working to provide assistance to the war zones: “We have a stock available of lifesaving assistance and commodities that we are sending to these areas.”
Choukeir noted that some people who evacuated their villages remain stuck in southern cities, such as Tyre. Others chose not to evacuate, he said, because “they don’t have anywhere to go, they don’t have money to go, and they’d rather stay even if it means they’re risking their lives.”
Although 130,000 people are housed in shelters, Choukeir said most people must find “other solutions,” such as staying with relatives, which can mean cramming dozens of people into homes. Many others are “staying in their cars [and] laying out tents in the streets,” he said.
“There aren’t enough collective shelters to host everyone who is displaced,” Choukeir explained.
He said the displacement of people “is very visible around central Beirut,” on the sea front, and in any neighborhood with a large Shia population.
Jesuit Father Daniel Corrou, the Middle East and North Africa regional director for JRS, is also based in Beirut, near Choukeir. He told EWTN News that he opened up his parish, St. Joseph, for migrant workers and ethnic minorities who need shelter during the attacks. The building holds about 200 people.
As he spoke about a recent Israeli attack that destroyed a building just 300 meters from the parish, he said: ”I can hear Israeli drones flying overhead” during the phone interview, which he described as an everyday occurrence for people living in the city.
In addition to housing primarily migrant workers as a shelter, he said that population makes up most of the congregation and most of the volunteers helping refugees.
Corrou said many of the workers “make very little money,” much of which they send back to their families. When speaking about the generosity of the volunteers, he said: “That’s where I just stand back in awe.”
Concerns about escalation
Choukeir expressed concern about a potential large-scale ground offensive from Israel in southern Lebanon, noting “there’s still a significant amount of people there.”
He said he is also concerned about Israel’s destruction of bridges out of the region, stating that “if they want to evacuate,” there needs to be “a way for them to be able to do so.” He is worried about “further waves of people being displaced — not for the first time, but for the second time.”
Corrou also expressed concerns and some pessimism, saying there’s a “general fear” that even if the United States and Iran reach a peace agreement, it “would not end the conflict that’s going on here [because] … Israel has different desires in Lebanon.”
He said he has concerns for Shia Muslims because some shelters won’t house them out of a fear they could “become targets.” He also expressed concern for Catholics in the south, some of whom remain in the war zone out of fear “they wouldn’t be able to get their land back” if they leave and Israel begins a lengthy occupation.
Corrou attended a security briefing for nongovernmental organizations and said it appears that Israel is not “targeting Christian areas” but that “Christian areas have been hit.” He warned: “It’s hard to say that they’re safe, even if they remained in their Christian village.”
He echoed the calls for peace that came from Pope Leo XIV and said “war is not going to solve this.”
“This has to be about coming to some sort of conversation — a compromise,” Corrou said. “This has to [have] a diplomatic solution.”
Choukeir similarly invoked the Holy Father’s call for peace and said “we would like to see the violence end and things to be resolved through diplomatic channels.”
“We want to make sure that civilians are protected, we want to make sure that humanitarian workers are protected in this conflict, including health care workers and paramedics and unfortunately, I think more can be done on this front,” he said.
In a bipartisan letter, federal lawmakers from both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives urged President Donald Trump to use an upcoming U.S.-China summit to advocate the release of Christian leaders being detained by China’s communist regime.
In the March 24 letter, U.S. Sens. Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, and Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, and Reps. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, and Thomas Suozzi, D-New York, along with 29 other senators and House members asked Trump to push Chinese President Xi Jinping to release Christian leaders who have been arrested during recent crackdowns on churches not authorized by the communist People’s Republic of China’s (PRC).
The letter specifically urges Trump to “seek resolution of the case of Ezra Jin Mingri,” founder and head pastor of Zion Church, who was arrested on Oct. 10, 2025, alongside other church leaders. He is still awaiting a trial.
“We encourage you to advocate for their release and request the PRC to allow Mr. Jin to leave China,” the leader reads.
The lawmakers also urged Trump to raise “concerns regarding the ongoing unjust imprisonment and persecution of Christians, Tibetans, and Uyghurs, among other religious and ethnic minority groups across China.”
The letter urges Trump to “utilize existing authorities, including target sanctions and visa restrictions” against those in the communist government “responsible for severe violations of religious freedom.”
The lawmakers listed abuses such as “arbitrary detentions, lengthy prison sentences, forced closures of places of worship, destruction of religious property, and surveillance and intimidation of clergy and congregants.”
“Through the International Religious Freedom Act, the administration is empowered to use targeted sanctions and increase reporting and diplomatic engagement to support your efforts to address severe violations of individuals’ right to freedom of religion,” the letter says.
Jin wanted to ‘let Christ be the center of our church’
Jin, 56, served as an ordained pastor in Beijing’s state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement churches from the early 1990s until 2002. In 2002, he moved with his family to the U.S. to pursue a doctoral degree at Fuller Theological Seminary in California.
Two of his three children, all of whom are American citizens, were born during that time, “bucking the one-child policy,” said Grace Jin Drexel, Jin’s oldest child.
After completing his studies, he returned to Beijing in 2007 and, together with a small group of fellow believers, established Zion Church as an independent Protestant congregation.
Drexel, 31, told EWTN News that her father founded the Zion Church as an unregistered “house church” deliberately outside of the authorized channels.
She said her father and the other leaders chose not to register Zion Church because they wanted “to serve God and let Christ be the center of our church.”
China’s religious regulations require all Protestant churches to register with the government and affiliate with the state-controlled patriotic movement. Registered churches must accept government oversight, including approval of pastors, monitoring of sermons, installation of surveillance equipment, and alignment with official “Sinicization” policies that subordinate Christian faith to communist party ideology.
“I wouldn’t say there are no real Christians in government churches,” said Drexel, who grew up in China but now lives outside Washington, D.C., with her husband and children. “But ultimately, it’s a church in captivity. You’re always having to split your loyalty between God and the Communist Party.”
“They were not being political,” she said of her father and the other founders of the underground Zion Church. But after the Regulation of Religious Affairs law started to be enforced in 2018, “the government became less tolerant.”
The Regulations on Religious Affairs is the primary national framework governing religion in China. In 2018, it expanded government powers over all aspects of religious organizations.
Key features require all religious groups, venues, and clergy to register with the government; religious activities must not harm national security, social stability, or ethnic unity, and there is a strong emphasis on preventing “foreign infiltration.”
The patriotic movement for Protestants and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association operate under government oversight through the State Administration for Religious Affairs, now under the Chines Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. Unregistered or independent groups, often called “house churches,” operate in a legal gray area or are deemed illegal.
Zion Church began as a small house church meeting in homes or rented spaces. It grew rapidly, reaching about 1,500 members and over 20 pastors by 2018, with its own modern worship space, coffee shop, and bookstore in an office building.
It later expanded into a network of congregations across more than 40 cities in China, with estimates of 5,000-10,000 total participants, including online services.
Though technically illegal under Chinese law, Zion maintained its autonomy for years, until 2018, when the authorities shut down Zion’s main Beijing building after the church refused to install government surveillance cameras in the sanctuary.
Drexel said her father’s personality “isn’t confrontational in general,” so after the government’s shutdown of the church, “he tried to find a middle road and went to a hybrid online/offline model.”
Because of its online presence, the church was already poised to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it grew quickly at that time because “our church was the only one that had that structure, so instead of disappearing, it blew up,” Drexel said.
She said the persecution that began in earnest in 2018, resulting in her father’s arrest last fall, would have been “unthinkable” in the early 2000s.
“At the time, we in China thought, [after] the cultural revolution, ‘We don’t do that kind of thing in China anymore.’ Now, so many Christians are in prison. It is bizarre that it is happening again.”
Drexel has joined with Claire Lai, daughter of imprisoned publisher and Catholic Jimmy Lai, to advocate for the release of both their fathers and all unjustly detained Chinese citizens.
The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, will contribute an extra $10 million to its abuse settlement fund while lightening the contribution requirements for some parishes, Bishop Michael Fisher said this week.
The diocese announced a $150 million abuse settlement in April 2025. Insurance contributions have upped the total amount to around $315 million, though the diocesan contribution will remain the same.
The diocese was originally projected to pay $30 million into the settlement, with parishes asked to contribute $75 million. Controversially, parishes that were slated for closure or merger were to be required to contribute up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” to the settlement.
In a March 23 letter obtained by EWTN News, Fisher told diocesan priests the diocese would up its contribution to $40 million while dropping the 80% cash requirement for merging parishes.
“The requested contribution of parishes will be based on the total available cash for those parishes that are being merged,” the bishop wrote.
The prelate said the diocese regards the plan “as a more equitable approach in keeping with essential canonical considerations.”
Fisher said the revised plan was developed after discussions with the Vatican, including a meeting with the Dicastery for the Clergy in Rome in October 2025.
The adjusted settlement plan comes after protracted and at times bitter disputes between Fisher and local parishioners who have opposed the diocese’s plans to close or merge struggling parishes.
In February the preservation group Save Our Buffalo Churches announced that it would appeal to the Vatican over what it claimed has been “ineffective and harmful” leadership from Fisher.
Save Our Buffalo Churches has been at the forefront of opposition to diocesan efforts to close and merge parishes as part of the diocesan “Road to Renewal” program.
Opposition to proposed closures and mergers has gone so far as to reach the New York Supreme Court, which in mid-2025 considered a lawsuit challenging the diocese’s payment requirements for merged parishes. The state court ultimately tossed the suit out, ruling that it did not have jurisdiction over Church governance disputes.
Around the same time, Fisher said he would allow Catholics to meet at diocesan parishes while they work to oppose the parish closures, reversing an earlier rule he had established in October 2024.
In addition to merging parishes, the Buffalo Diocese in March 2024 announced the sale of its headquarters in downtown Buffalo.
NEW DELHI — Two weeks after the Supreme Court of India issued the country’s first ruling approving passive euthanasia, the man at the center of the case — who had been in a vegetative state for 13 years — died March 24 after doctors withdrew his medical support, including clinically assisted nutrition, as the court had ordered.
“I am very sad to hear about the death of Harish Rana, first victim of euthanasia in the country,” Archbishop Raphy Manjaly, the chairman of the doctrinal commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told EWTN News March 26.
“Catholic Church considers life sacred from conception to natural death. No one has the right to take the life of other human being,” said Manjaly, archbishop of Agra, a city in northern Uttar Pradesh state known for the Taj Mahal.
“It is strange and a contradiction that the medical science that is supposed to support life assisted to take away life,” lamented Manjaly, referring to the March 11 order of the Supreme Court that “the medical treatment, including clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) being administered to the applicant, shall be withdrawn/withheld.”
Rana, an engineering student, had been in a vegetative state since 2013 following a fall from the balcony of his fourth-floor accommodation.
“The Church is shocked and appalled by this verdict,” Manjaly said. A previous Supreme Court bench, led by the chief justice of India, had rejected the same family’s demand for euthanasia.
Calls for palliative care
Acknowledging that “it is difficult for the family and I do not condemn them,” the prelate said: “What is required is more and more compassionate institutions to offer palliative care to terminally ill patients. [The] Church has several institutions. There are many people of goodwill also doing it.”
He cited the 2011 verdict of India’s apex court in a similar case — a plea for mercy killing for Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse in a comatose condition for 37 years after a brutal assault in a Mumbai hospital while on duty. In that ruling, the Supreme Court said: “Right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution does not include the right to die.”
Shanbaug was 25 in November 1973 when a sweeper at the hospital where she worked sexually assaulted her and strangled her with a dog chain, interrupting the flow of oxygen to her brain and inducing the coma.
The mercy killing plea “to die with dignity” was then opposed by the attorney general of India — the highest law officer in the government — as well as the staff of King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai, where Shanbaug had been leading a “persistent vegetative life” under their care. She died of pneumonia in 2015.
“The whole country must learn the meaning of dedication and sacrifice from the KEM hospital staff. In her 37 years [of comatose existence], Aruna has not developed a single bed sore,” the Supreme Court said at the time.
Pro-life activists raise alarm
“A deep sense of unease is spreading across sections of Indian society following recent developments that could redefine the meaning of life and dignity in the country,” Sunny Kattukaran, one of the country’s prominent lay pro-life activists, told EWTN News.
“India has upheld life as sacred for ages — protected not only by law but also by deeply rooted cultural and spiritual values. Yet today, there are growing concerns that evolving legal interpretations and scientific advancements are moving faster than the ethical boundaries that once guided them,” said Kattukaran, who leads Christian Movement of India with pro-life activities.
With the media glorifying the decision of the Rana family to donate his corneas and heart valves for transplant, Kattukaran cautioned that “more and more such euthanasia demands will come up now.”
