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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

A new survey has found the majority of adults in the U.S. support allowing Christian prayer in public schools, shedding light on how Americans approach the ongoing debate surrounding religious expression in educational settings. 

According to Pew Research Center, 52% of adults support allowing public school teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus, with 27% saying they strongly support it and 26% saying they favor it. 

“Renewed debates are happening across the United States about the place of religion — especially Christianity — in public schools,” the report stated, citing the recent Supreme Court even-split ruling regarding Oklahoma Catholic charter schools, among other legal debates across the country. 

The June 23 report also comes just two days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law requiring public schools there to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. 

The legislation requires that a “durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” be hung in each Texas public elementary or secondary school classroom.

Pew’s report is based on data from its 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study, which surveyed 36,908 U.S. adults from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024. 

Overall, 46% of American adults oppose Christian prayer in public schools, with 22% strongly opposing. While Pew’s report indicates the majority of adults support Christian prayer in public schools, it notes that support varies widely from state to state. 

The majority of adults in 22 states across the southern and Midwestern parts of the country including Mississippi, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, South and North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Michigan said they supported the practice. 

The majority of adults in 12 states — California, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Colorado, and Illinois — and the District of Columbia said they opposed Christian prayer in public schools. 

Data in the remaining 16 states is divided, with roughly half of adults in states including Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Arizona, and Maryland saying they favor allowing Christian prayer. 

“Once the survey’s margins of error are accounted for, support for teacher-led Christian prayer in these states is not significantly different from opposition,” the report states. 

The report also found that “a slightly larger share of Americans say they favor allowing teacher-led prayers referencing God (57%) than favor allowing teacher-led prayers specifically referencing Jesus (52%).”

null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 15:22 pm (CNA).

A Texas law that requires porn sites to verify that its users are at least 18 years old can remain in effect after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday, June 27, that the law does not violate the Constitution.

In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s majority found that Texas is within its authority “to shield children from sexually explicit content” and that this authority “necessarily includes the power to require proof of age” to access pornographic material.

“Unlike a store clerk, a website operator cannot look at its visitors and estimate their ages,” the opinion continued. “Without a requirement to submit proof of age, even clearly underage minors would be able to access sexual content undetected.”

Texas is one of 24 states that has enacted age verification laws to access pornography on the internet in recent years. The ruling sets nationwide precedent for lower courts reviewing legal challenges to laws in other states.

According to Texas law, a website must verify the ages of all users if “more than one-third of [the website’s content] is sexual material harmful to minors.” The law allows parents to sue websites if their child accesses pornographic material when the website was not complying with the age verification law. The law does not permit pornographers to retain personal information after the verification is complete.

The law also imposes fines of up to $10,000 per day on websites in violation of the law and an additional $250,000 fine if a child is exposed to pornographic content because the website was not verifying the ages of its users. 

“This is a major victory for children, parents, and the ability of states to protect minors from the damaging effects of online pornography,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.

“Companies have no right to expose children to pornography and must institute reasonable age verification measures,” he added. “I will continue to enforce the law against any organization that refuses to take the necessary steps to protect minors from explicit materials.”

Pornographers sued Texas in 2023 shortly after the state enacted the law, asserting that the age verification rule places a burden on adults who are trying to access pornographic material and violates their First Amendment right to access speech. The pornographers, through their trade association called the Free Speech Coalition, have been engaged in lawsuits against other states that require age verification.

In a statement on X after the ruling, Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Alison Boden called the Supreme Court’s ruling “the canary in the coal mine of free expression.” She called the decision “disastrous for Texans and for anyone who cares about freedom of speech and privacy online.”

The court was not convinced by that argument. 

In the opinion, Thomas wrote that the law “is simply to prevent minors” from accessing content — not adults. The ruling acknowledges that the law creates a burden on adults but calls the burden “incidental” and found that “adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification.”

“An age-verification requirement is an ordinary and appropriate means of enforcing an age limit, as is evident both from all other contexts where the law draws lines based on age and from the long, widespread, and unchallenged practice of requiring age verification for in-person sales of material that is obscene to minors,” the opinion read.

Dani Pinter, who serves as senior legal counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), told CNA that the free speech argument “defied common sense,” noting that identity and age verification are regular parts of most people’s lives.

Prior to states passing age verification laws, Pinter said very few pornographic websites had any type of age verification. She said “many don’t do anything at all” and some simply ask a user to “click a box that says you’re 18 or older.”

“Virtually no pornography website restricts minors,” she said.

Even in states that have adopted age verification laws, Pinter warned most websites “have not been compliant” but that some websites have “just withdrawn from the states” altogether. She said she hopes the Supreme Court’s confirmation of the constitutionality of the law will bolster compliance and lead to more states — or even the federal government — passing similar laws to protect children online.

The ruling, Pinter said, is “very historic” and “spells a new era where there is now a path forward to protect kids online.”

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops’ spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. / Credit: USCCB

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 13:31 pm (CNA).

As the Senate considers provisions for the “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget reconciliation, U.S bishops are asking lawmakers to protect vulnerable groups. 

“The bishops are grateful that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes provisions that promote the dignity of human life and support parental choice in education,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in a statement. 

“These are commendable provisions that are important priorities for the bishops.”

“Still, Congress must be consistent in protecting human life and dignity and make drastic changes to the bill to protect those most in need,” Broglio said. 

“As Pope Leo XIV recently stated, it is the responsibility of politicians to promote and protect the common good, including by working to overcome great wealth inequality,” he continued. “This bill does not answer this call. It takes from the poor to give to the wealthy.”

In a letter sent to senators signed by Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Bishops Robert Barron, Kevin Rhoades, Mark Seitz, David O’Connell, and Daniel Thomas, the bishops detailed their stance on certain bill provisions.

Broglio said: “I underscore what my brother bishops said in their recent letter to find a better way forward and urge senators to think and act with courage and creativity to protect human dignity for all, to uphold the common good, and to change provisions that undermine these fundamental values.”

In the letter, the bishops said they “strongly support” the bill’s plan to end “taxpayer subsidization of major abortion and ‘gender transition’ providers such as Planned Parenthood” and the bill’s support for “parental choice in education.”

The bishops also stated their agreement with “the inclusion of a $1,000 ‘above-the-line’ charitable deduction in the Senate bill” and said it is “a very positive step in the right direction.”

However, the bishops are not in support of cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They urged senators to protect these programs, adding that “the changes to SNAP will cause millions of people to go hungry.”

The bishops also disagree with “the unprecedented increase in funding for immigration enforcement and detention,” which they said “would disproportionately impact immigrant and mixed-status families with strong ties to American communities.”

They added that cuts “to clean energy incentives and the repeal of environmental programs and energy efficient loans … will lead to increased pollution that harms children and the unborn, stifles economic opportunity, and decreases resilience against extreme weather.”

In agreement with the letter, Broglio said the bill “provides tax breaks for some while undermining the social safety net for others through major cuts to nutrition assistance and Medicaid.”

“It fails to protect families and children by promoting an enforcement-only approach to immigration and eroding access to legal protections,” he said. “It harms God’s creation and future generations through cuts to clean energy incentives and environmental programs.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2025, ruled Maryland parents can opt out of LGBT-themed lessons in public schools, upholding their right to the free exercise of their respective religions. / Credit: PT Hamilton/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 27, 2025 / 12:26 pm (CNA).

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a group of Maryland parents who had sued a school district over its refusal to allow families to opt their children out of LGBT-focused lessons. 

In a 6-3 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled on June 27 that the parents — who included Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims — were “entitled to a preliminary injunction” against the Montgomery County Board of Education, one that will allow them to excuse their children from the controversial lessons while the case is remanded to lower courts for further proceedings. 

The parents “are likely to succeed on their claim that the board’s policies unconstitutionally burden their religious exercise,” the court said. 

The reading materials, the Supreme Court said — which include promotions of same-sex “marriages” — are “designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated, and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.”

The materials go beyond mere “exposure,” the justices said, and “burdens the parents’ right to the free exercise of religion.”

Under the district’s policy, the school board only permitted opt-outs in narrow circumstances, mostly related to sexual education in health class. It did not permit opt-outs for coursework that endorsed the views that there are more than two “genders,” that a boy can become a girl, or that homosexual marriages are moral.

Some of the coursework initially introduced in the curriculum was designed to promote these concepts to children as young as 3 years old in preschool.

One book involved in the dispute, called “Pride Puppy,” taught preschool children the alphabet with a story about a homosexual pride parade, which introduced children to words like “drag queen,” “leather,” and “zipper.”

It also introduced young children to Marsha B. Johnson, a drag queen, gay rights activist, and prostitute.

Lawyers with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented the parents in their lawsuit. On Friday, Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, called the ruling “a historic victory for parental rights in Maryland and across America.”

“Kids shouldn’t be forced into conversations about drag queens, pride parades, or gender transitions without their parents’ permission,” he said. “Today, the court restored common sense and made clear that parents — not government — have the final say in how their children are raised.”

In a Friday statement, meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops hailed the Supreme Court for upholding parental rights to directing their children's educations.

"Public schools in our diverse country include families from many communities with a variety of deep-seated convictions about faith and morals," Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the chairman of the bishops' religious liberty committee, said in the statement.

"When these schools address issues that touch on these matters, they ought to respect all families," Rhoades said. "Parents do not forfeit their rights as primary educators of their children when they send their kids to public schools."

Stressing that children "should not be learning that their personal identity as male or female can be separated from their bodies," the bishop said in cases where a school teaches this ideology, "it ought to respect those who choose not to participate."

The lawsuit against the school district, located just north of Washington, D.C., was filed in May 2023. 

The Supreme Court took up the controversial case in January of this year after two lower courts ruled against a group of parents who sued the Montgomery County board over the school district’s having provided LGBT-themed lessons and reading materials to their children. 

Both the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled against the parents, claiming they had no right to be notified or opt their kids out of the sexuality-themed literature. 

The school district initially allowed the parents to opt out but changed its policy less than a year later. It removed the LGBT puppy book and another book from the program curriculum last year, though the books were still available at school libraries.

During oral arguments in April, most of the justices on the high court appeared sympathetic toward the parents in their lawsuit. 

In a dissent to the Friday ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed the decision could usher in “chaos” for public schools around the country.

Sotomayor suggested that the LGBT materials in the dispute represented merely “a range of concepts and views” and “new ideas.”

“Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools,” she alleged.

This story was updated on Friday, June 27, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. with a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pro-life activists participate in a Celebrate Life Day Rally at the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 11:41 am (CNA).

This weekend six pro-life organizations will host a three-day-long event in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the third anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

After a successful 2024 event, the Celebrate Life Weekend returns June 27–29 for three days of events that mark the anniversary of the June 24, 2022, decision and encourage “the pro-life generation to fight for equal rights for all — born and preborn — through the 14th Amendment,” according to the Students for Life of America (SFLA) website.

“Last year, we mobilized the youth vote to celebrate Life after Roe v. Wade’s demise,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of SFLA, in a press release. “Now, we’re building on our momentum to create even more pro-life victories — calling on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood while also fighting for equal protections for preborn lives.”

The weekend will be hosted by SFLA, Students for Life Action, Vitae Foundation, Sidewalk Advocates for Life, And Then There Were None, and Pro Love Ministries.

The celebration kicks off Friday evening with a gala in downtown Washington, D.C. Athlete and advocate Riley Gaines will be the keynote speaker alongside other pro-life leaders who organizers say will “highlight the help available for mothers and their children, born and preborn.”

Other confirmed speakers at the gala include Hawkins; Dr. Abby Johnson, president of And Then There Were None and ProLove Ministries; Lauren Muzyka, president and CEO of Sidewalk Advocates for Life; and Brandy Meeks, president and CEO of Vitae Foundation.

On Saturday a diaper drive and rally will be held on Capitol Hill. The event will feature the confirmed speakers from the gala as well as additional guests who will speak about the pro-life movement and the push “to defund Planned Parenthood.”

According to Johnson in a Facebook media post, the event will be the “nation’s largest diaper drive.”

An expected 392,715 diapers will be donated to pregnancy care centers and families in the local community. Each diaper represents “a preborn life ended by Planned Parenthood last year.”

In addition to the two events, the National Celebrate Life Conference will hold other gatherings for registered attendees on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to “offer training and strategy to rally and educate the pro-life generation, as well as key legislators.”

The conference’s mission is to “unite pro-life women and men to celebrate, collaborate, and strategize for the protection of preborn children and to make abortion unthinkable in our culture.”

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church, speaks during a prayer vigil in 2014. / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 11:06 am (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Iraqi bishop says imposing Iran regime change ‘can only worsen the situation’

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church, issued a stark criticism of calls for regime change in Iran following the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

“Imposing another regime would only worsen the situation. Change must come from within, if the citizens deem it necessary,” Sako told Agenzia Fides. “Twenty-two years after the fall of the regime in Iraq, there is still no true citizenship, no law, no security, and no stability. Corruption and sectarianism persist.”

Damascus church bombing exposes deepening distrust and rising extremism

Following the deadly bombing at Mar Elias Orthodox Church in Damascus, tensions have grown not just over the attack itself but over who is responsible.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi condemned the Syrian government in a powerful funeral homily, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, for failing to protect its citizens, signaling an unusually bold rebuke.

Although Syrian authorities claimed ISIS was behind the attack and arrested several suspects, many locals remain skeptical, especially since the group has not publicly claimed responsibility. Amid these conflicting narratives, a lesser-known extremist group, “Saraya Ansar al-Sunna,” claimed the attack on Telegram, citing sectarian motivations. Observers suspect ties between the attackers and radical factions once part of larger militant coalitions.

Pakistani Christian convicted of blasphemy 23 years ago is freed

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has freed Anwar Kenneth, a Pakistani Christian man who was arrested in 2001 for writing letters that had allegedly “blasphemous” content about Muhammad and the Quran according to the Islamic country’s stringent laws. 

Despite Kenneth being diagnosed with a mental illness, a lower court sentenced him to death in 2002 and later upheld the sentence in 2014, according to a report from UCA News. His lawyer, Rana Abdul Hameed, said he will be released next week. “Although doctors had declared him insane at the time of the alleged offense, he kept confessing and pleading to be hanged, which complicated the trial,” she said. 

Indian police charge 9 Catholic priests with ‘unlawful assembly’ 

Police in India have charged nine Catholic priests for causing public disturbance through “unlawful assembly” for joining a protest in the coastal town of Chellanam in the communist-ruled Kerala state, according to UCA News. 

More than 150 priests and 5,000 mostly lay Catholics joined the protest against the government for “[failing] to protect around 500 homes from possible submergence in the Arabian Sea due to coastal erosion.”

Vice President of the Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council Joseph Jude was also charged. “This is totally a false case and we cannot be silenced with it,” he said, highlighting that the government’s failure to rebuild will impact “several thousand” mostly Catholic fishermen in the area, leaving them homeless.

Catholic bishops urge Kenyan government not to ignore police brutality 

Catholic bishops in Kenya have cautioned the government against denying police brutality and silent killings of innocent Kenyans, including peaceful protesters, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported.

In a statement the bishops read out in turns at a June 24 press conference on the state of the nation, they declared that “the government must acknowledge the fact that there have been mysterious deaths under their watch and at least try to get to the perpetrators.” The bishops’ statement comes nationwide after the murder of Albert Ojwang, a teacher and blogger who was arrested and killed in police custody.

Caritas in Papua New Guinea works to end witchcraft accusations, violence

Caritas Papua New Guinea is working to end the widespread problem of violence provoked by false accusations of witchcraft in the province of Simbu, “one of the most affected provinces,” where hundreds of cases are recorded each year, according to an Agenzia Fides report.  

Bishop Paul Sundu of the Diocese of Kundiawa explained in the report that accusations of witchcraft in the region are a commonplace means “to get rid of enemies, block their success in business, education, or politics.” Witchcraft accusations have also been linked to gender-based violence against women, the report noted. 

Judy Gelua, diocesan coordinator of Caritas in the Diocese of Kundiawa, noted Caritas’ successful efforts to promote change by providing “guidance on human rights, peace-building, and the protection of minors, women, and vulnerable people,” resulting in the level of violence “slowly declining.”

Pope Leo XIV ordains a priest in St. Peter’s Basilica on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday, June 27, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2025 / 09:26 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV ordained 32 men to the priesthood Friday on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, calling on them to draw inspiration from the many examples of priestly holiness in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history and to share God’s love with the world.

Thousands of priests filled St. Peter’s Basilica for the June 27 Mass, the high point of this week’s Jubilee of Priests. The diverse group of men ordained hailed from more than 20 countries, including South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Romania — most from beyond Western Europe.

“Love God and your brothers and sisters, and give yourselves to them generously,” Pope Leo in his homily told the men about to be ordained, moments before the ordination.  

“Be fervent in your celebration of the sacraments, in prayer, especially in adoration before the Eucharist, and in your ministry. Keep close to your flock, give freely of your time and energy to everyone, without reserve and without partiality, as the pierced side of the crucified Jesus and the example of the saints teach us to do.”

In front of the altar built on the tomb of St. Peter, the men being ordained lay prostrate on the marble floor of the basilica as thousands chanted the Litany of the Saints.

St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world, was almost completely filled with rows and rows of priests in white vestments kneeling. Pope Leo XIV placed his hands on the heads of each of the young men whom he personally ordained to the priesthood.

Pope Leo highlighted the centuries of priestly witnesses in the Church who “have been martyrs, tireless apostles, missionaries, and champions of charity,” urging the new priests to “cherish this treasure: learn their stories, study their lives and work, imitate their virtues, be inspired by their zeal, and invoke their intercession often and insistently.” 

The pope also warned against the lure of superficial worldly success. “All too often, today’s world offers models of success and prestige that are dubious and short-lived. Do not let yourselves be taken in by them!” he said. “Look rather to the solid example and apostolic fruitfulness, frequently hidden and unassuming, of those who, with faith and dedication, have spent their lives in service of the Lord and their brothers and sisters.” 

The ordinations held special meaning for many of the young men, some of whom were stepping foot in Rome for the first time. 

“I received the news with tears in my eyes, but with joy. I would never have expected it. For me it is the proof of how God acts in one’s life. He has a perfect plan. You just have to trust,” said Jiergue Stanley, a 35-year-old from Haiti who traveled to the Eternal City for the first time to be ordained.

Gilbert Tika from Ghana told “EWTN News Nightly” ahead of his ordination: “It’s something wonderful to be ordained by the pope, Pope Leo. I think it’s a special gift that God is giving me and the other brothers that will also be ordained.”

“Being a priest for me means I have to be a sign of hope for the people with whom I live, with whom I will minister,” he added. “Practicing the habit of looking at things with the eyes of Jesus Christ. And helping others to look at the world through the eyes of Christ and let the people feel they are still loved by God.”

Another newly ordained priest from Mexico, 27-year-old Jorge Antonio Escobedo Rosales, said: “I accepted this gift with great joy after 13 years of priestly formation.”

Pope Leo XIV was visibly emotional as he greeted each of the new priests after the ordination rites, embracing each of them under Bernini’s baldacchino.

“Our hope is grounded in the knowledge that the Lord never abandons us: He is always at our side,” the pope said. “At the same time, we are called to cooperate with him, above all by putting the Eucharist at the center of our lives, inasmuch as it is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’”

He quoted a line from a homily St. Augustine gave on the anniversary of his episcopal ordination — “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian” — emphasizing the joyful fruit of the communion that unites the faithful, priests, and bishops in the recognition that all are saved by the same mercy of God.

On the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which focuses on Christ’s love poured out for humanity, Pope Leo reaffirmed his commitment to ecclesial unity and peace. “The priestly ministry is one of sanctification and reconciliation for the building up of the body of Christ in unity,” he said.

“In the solemn Mass inaugurating my pontificate [on May 18], I voiced before the people of God my great desire for ‘a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.’ Today, I share this desire once more with all of you,” he continued. 

The solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrated each year on the Friday after Corpus Christi, originated in 17th-century France through the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. It was officially instituted by Pope Pius IX in 1856 and has become an important Catholic solemnity day emphasizing Christ’s love and the call to compassion and reparation.

Pope Francis’ final encyclical, Dilexit Nos, meaning “He Loved Us,” was about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

“Reconciled with one another, united and transformed by the love that flows abundantly from the heart of Christ, let us walk together humbly and resolutely in his footsteps,” Pope Leo XIV said. 

“Let us bring the peace of the risen Lord to our world, with the freedom born of the knowledge that we have  been loved, chosen, and sent by the Father.”

Monsignor Vito Buonanno and Dee Steel pose before the Lego model of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 24, 2025. / Credit: Paris Apodaca/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is offering specialized guided tours for deaf and blind visitors, giving immersive and sensory experiences to make the sacred site more accessible.

The Deaf and Blind Tour Initiative, which began holding tours in April, includes American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted guides for those who are deaf and tactile stations for those who are blind, allowing participants to engage with statues, mosaics, and sacred art through touch and sight. 

These tours mark the first of their kind in the U.S., Monsignor Vito Buonanno, the director of pilgrimages for the shrine, told CNA.

The project idea was created by volunteer docent Marilyn Lasecki, ASL interpreter Katy Betker, and with the support of Monsignor Walter Rossi, the rector of the shrine.

Inspired by Vatican accessibility

The root of the idea took shape in 2021 when Lasecki decided to launch the project in honor of her late father, Leonard, who worked with deaf people when he was alive. In her research, she discovered that the Vatican Museums are recognized for their accommodations for deaf and blind visitors. Motivated by that model, the basilica’s staff began planning their own adaptation.

In March, Dee Steel, the director of the basilica’s Office of Visitor Services, traveled to Rome and met with the Vatican’s tour director to study their tactile systems firsthand.

“Both the Deaf and Blind communities are greatly underserved by museums and church communities,” Lasecki told CNA. “The Vatican Museums are at the top of the list for welcoming both the deaf and the blind, with specialized tours.” 

For deaf visitors, volunteer docents work alongside Betker to guide groups through the church. To improve accessibility, Betker helped adapt the docents’ scripts to better suit ASL grammar.

“There is not a word-for-word translation. It’s because they are two very different languages,” Betker said. Tour guides “have to not only change [the] word order around [but also] change a lot of the way that they speak and with their script for the tours.”

She also advised docents on subtle adjustments that enhance communication, like waiting for a deaf participant to finish observing a site before continuing with spoken commentary.

Steel recounted one docent’s realization during a tour: “When somebody is signing what you say, you have to make sure the people are looking at the signer.”

During one of the first tours, Father Michael Depcik — a deaf priest and chaplain from the Archdiocese of Baltimore — concelebrated Mass at the basilica. Depcik emphasized that having direct communication in ASL allowed deaf Catholics to fully experience the liturgy.

“Usually, they would go through an interpreter, but it’s not the same,” the priest told CNA. “The Deaf are finally able to connect directly for the full immersion into the experience with these assets.”

He also highlighted the importance of the sensory experience. “The Deaf are very visual,” he said. 

When asked about smells like incense, Depcik told CNA: “It’s like music for the eyes — the smells and the art, it’s all a very important part of the experience of the Deaf.”

The basilica also created tactile experiences for blind visitors with the help of Father Mike Joly, a blind priest from St. Joan of Arc Parish in Yorktown, Virginia. 

The tour for the blind features 15 hands-on stations, including the Founder’s Chapel, the Our Mother of Africa statue, and the Our Lady of Pompei Chapel.

This tour starts with a scale model of the basilica built from over 10,000 Lego bricks by artist John Davisson. It will be on display on the crypt level to help visitors visualize the structure’s layout and the scale of the building. 

Buonanno described Joly’s visit to the Founder’s Chapel. Staff removed ropes so he could explore the marble sarcophagus of Bishop Thomas Shahan by touch.

“[Joly] realized — he was blind at 7 years old, so he had seven years of seeing — but he never knew the feel of a miter, that it’s two sides,” Buonanno said.

In the Our Mother of Africa chapel, there are faces of the four Evangelists that people can touch as well as the statue of the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child. 

Joly helped staff reinterpret sacred artwork. “We always thought of Jesus as pointing toward another piece of artwork, but [Joly] felt the finger and said, ‘Jesus is giving a blessing,” Steel recalled.

“[Joly] saw more with his hands than we saw with our eyes,” Steel commented.

The priest “taught us things… that is the beautiful interaction with this,” Buonanno added. 

With the tours now underway, the basilica hopes to raise awareness and expand participation.

The facility wants to “expand [the initiative], make it more known,” Buonanno said. “It’s just so that more people can know that it exists.”

Archbishops wear the pallium they received from Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, June 29, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday will bless and bestow the “pallium” — a white woolen vestment symbolizing pastoral authority and unity with the pope — on 48 new metropolitan archbishops, including eight from the United States, in a return to a custom changed by Pope Francis in 2015.

Leo will impose the pallia at a Mass for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 29.

The U.S. archbishops who will be in Rome to receive the pallium on June 29 are Richard Henning of Boston, Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee, Joe Steve Vásquez of Galveston-Houston, Edward Weisenburger of Detroit, Robert Casey of Cincinnati, Michael McGovern of Omaha, W. Shawn McKnight of Kansas City in Kansas, and Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington.

Archbishop Ryan Pagente Jimenez of Agaña, Guam (a U.S. territory), is also expected to be imposed with the pallium.

The pallium is a narrow, circular band of white wool with pendants hanging down the front and the back. It is adorned with six small black crosses and three pins (called spinulae), which resemble both thorns and the nails used to crucify Jesus.

It is bestowed on the Latin-rite patriarch of Jerusalem and metropolitan archbishops — the diocesan archbishop of the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or region — as a symbol of communion, authority, and unity with the pope and his pastoral mission to be a shepherd for the people of God. The pope also wears the pallium over his chasuble when he is celebrating Mass.

Until Pope Francis changed the policy in 2015, it had been the custom for centuries for the pope to impose the pallium on the shoulders of each new metropolitan archbishop created in the past year.

Ten years ago, Pope Francis opted to only bless the pallia and then give them to each of the new archbishops to be vested by the apostolic nuncio in their own archdiocese as a sign of the archbishop’s relationship with the local Church.

According to the master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Pope Leo will be both blessing and personally imposing the pallia on the archbishops.

Before the vestments are bestowed on the metropolitan archbishops, they are placed for a time in a spot near the tomb of St. Peter, under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, to reinforce the bishop’s connection to Peter through apostolic succession.

The tradition of the pope giving a pallium to select bishops began as early as the sixth century, though some historians believe a cloak-like version of pallium existed and was worn by Christians in the first century. By the ninth century, all metropolitan bishops were expected to wear the pallium in their territory.

Another tradition tied to the pallia and believed to date back in various forms to the sixth century is the blessing of the lambs from which the woolen stole, or at least a part of it, is made.

For centuries, every year on Jan. 21, the feast of St. Agnes, two young lambs were brought to the Basilica of St. Agnes to be blessed by the pope. They would then be entrusted to the Benedictine nuns of the Basilica of St. Cecilia to be sheared and their wool woven into the new pallia. While today the pallia are still created from lamb’s wool, the papal blessing of the lambs was discontinued by Pope Francis a few years into his pontificate.

At Pope Benedict XVI’s inaugural Mass on April 24, 2005, he explained the symbolism of the pallium and the lamb’s wool as “meant to represent the lost, the sick, or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders to carry to the waters of life.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Priests are called to be embraced and shaped by God's boundless love, and to realize that there is no place for division and hatred of any kind, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Reconciled with one another, united and transformed by the love that flows abundantly from the Heart of Christ, let us walk together humbly and resolutely in his footsteps, firm in faith and open to all in charity," he told priests from all over the world.

"Let us bring the peace of the risen Lord to our world, with the freedom born of the knowledge that we have been loved, chosen and sent by the Father," he said in his homily during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica June 27, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.

The Mass marked the conclusion of a week of Jubilee celebrations for seminarians, bishops and priests, where Pope Leo reiterated the need to ground one's vocation in God's love, Jesus' friendship and the Holy Spirit's transformative power, as well as the need to be united and missionary in a world thirsting for meaning and hope.

During the Mass, the pope also ordained 32 priests from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. 

In his homily, he told the ordinands, "What I have to say is simple, but I consider it important for your future and for the future of the souls entrusted to your care."

"Love God and your brothers and sisters, and give yourselves to them generously. Be fervent in your celebration of the sacraments, in prayer, especially in adoration before the Eucharist, and in your ministry," he told them. "Keep close to your flock, give freely of your time and energy to everyone, without reserve and without partiality, as the pierced side of the crucified Jesus and the example of the saints teach us to do."

He encouraged them to look among the many examples of holy priests in the church's history. "Learn their stories, study their lives and work, imitate their virtues, be inspired by their zeal and invoke their intercession often and insistently!" he exhorted.

"All too often, today's world offers models of success and prestige that are dubious and short-lived. Do not let yourselves be taken in by them!" he said.

Instead, look to those who, "frequently hidden and unassuming," have spent their lives in service of the Lord and their brothers and sisters, he said. "Keep their memory alive by your own example of fidelity."

Pope Leo told priests that the Sacred Heart of Jesus "is entrusted in a special way to us, so that we can make it present in our world." 

They contribute to the work of salvation in several ways, he said, first, by imitating the Good Shepherd who watches over his flock, seeks the lost, helps the wounded and strengthens the weak and sick.

"In this age of vast and devastating conflicts," he said, "the love of God has no limits. We are called to let ourselves be embraced and shaped by that love, and to realize that in God's eyes -- and our own as well -- there is no place for division and hatred of any kind."

God also exhorts his priests to "entrust ourselves, along a daily path of conversion, to the transforming power of his Spirit who dwells in our hearts," he said.

"We are called to exercise pastoral charity with a generous love, like that of the Father, and to foster in our hearts the desire that no one be lost but that everyone, also through our ministry, may come to know Christ and have eternal life in him," the pope said.

"We are called to deepen our closeness to Jesus and to be a source of harmony in the midst of our brother priests," he said. "We do so by bearing on our shoulders those who are lost, granting forgiveness to those who have erred, seeking out those who have gone astray or been left behind and caring for those who suffer in body or spirit."

Every priest must seek to "remain united with their bishop and within the presbyterate," Pope Leo said. "For the more we are united among ourselves, the more we will be able to lead others to the fold of the Good Shepherd and to live as brothers and sisters in the one house of the Father."

Pope Leo ordains priests: Be faithful!

On the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, during the Jubilee of Priests, Pope Leo XIV ordained 32 men to the priesthood and urged them to be faithful witnesses of service. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)