“Triumph Over Evil: Battle of the Exorcists” will be in theaters for one day only on Oct. 30, 2025, and aims to answer questions regarding the truth about exorcisms. / Credit: Goya Producciones

CNA Staff, Oct 28, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Who is the devil? What is an exorcism? How do you protect yourself from demonic attacks? These are some of the questions a new film titled “Triumph Over Evil: Battle of the Exorcists” aims to answer.

Approved by the International Association of Exorcists, a prominent pontifical association, “Triumph Over Evil” is the first authoritative documentary to delve into the various aspects of demonic possession and exorcism as well as the how the Catholic priesthood and the Blessed Virgin Mary take part in the battle against evil. 

The film, which includes never-before-seen commentary from Vatican exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth and others, will be in theaters for one day only on Oct. 30. 

Giovanni Ziberna, a former atheist who converted to Catholicism, directs the film. 

Despite growing up in an atheist household, Ziberna told CNA in an interview that he always felt like God existed. 

“The beauty of creation always made me feel that there had to be something more,” he said. 

The Italian film director shared that it was not until he and his wife were asked to work on a project on the life of St. Veronica Giuliani — an Italian nun and mystic who belonged to the Capuchin Poor Clares — that he first encountered God. He explained that after receiving a blessing for protection from the priests involved in the project, he began to feel a “fire starting from my feet and rising up all over my body.”

“This fire burned away all my preconceived ideas, my pride, my ego, what I thought about God,” he said. “In that moment, I realized that it was God who humbled himself to embrace us in our smallness and misery and also that fire lit in me the desire to conversion, to be baptized; and the desire to know the faith and the Scriptures.” 

From that point on, he and his wife started their faith journey. They began receiving the sacraments, getting baptized as well as baptizing their children, and having their civil marriage recognized by the Catholic Church.

After becoming Catholic, Ziberna had the opportunity to assist in the ministry of exorcism, where he served as a firsthand witness. This experience inspired him to create the film as a way to show the truth about exorcisms, in contrast to what Hollywood depicts. 

He explained that there is a lot of “misinformation” surrounding this topic, as well as a lack of “theological background,” making it “easy to fall in the devil’s trap.”

Through the film, Ziberna said he wants to “show what a real exorcism is” and how it serves as a “spiritual moment full of light where God’s power wins over darkness.”

Ziberna said he hopes viewers will come away with more knowledge, a desire to “stay closer to God,” and a reminder that the “only real winner over evil is God.”

The St. Paul Center in Steubenville, Ohio, is a nonprofit research and educational institute that promotes life-transforming Scripture study from the heart of the Church. The center serves clergy and laity, students, and scholars with research and study tools. / Credit: St. Paul Center

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2025 / 15:53 pm (CNA).

The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is launching a new Bible study program to help Catholics prepare for the Advent and Christmas seasons. 

The Bible study, titled “Bible Across America,” is set to begin Nov. 5 and aims to gather Catholics “around God’s Word to prayerfully study Scripture, grow in discipleship, and build one another up in the Lord,” the organization announced. The course represents the latest addition to the St. Paul Center, whose offerings include online courses, academic books on Scripture and theology, and in-person events for clergy and laity across the country.

Based in Steubenville, Ohio, the St. Paul Center is an independent, nonprofit research and educational institution dedicated, according to its website, to promoting “life-transforming Scripture study from the heart of the Church” and through its programming seeks “to raise up a new generation of priests who are fluent in the Bible and laypeople who are biblically literate.”

The initiative builds on the center’s previous “Journey Through Scripture” video Bible studies, which have as their goal empowering “Catholics and Christians across North America to experience an ‘Emmaus moment,’ encountering Christ in the pages of sacred Scripture and through the doctrine of the Catholic Church.”

In preparation for Advent and Christmas, the new course will help Catholics understand “who Christ is as ‘Teacher and Lord’ (Jn 13:13).” The Bible study will include seven weekly sessions starting Nov. 5 that will each focus on a different theme including the Infancy Narratives, exorcisms, the Sermon on the Mount, the healing of the synagogue ruler’s daughter, Martha and Mary, the Lost Sheep and Luke 15, and the Transfiguration of Jesus. 

The center’s “Bible Across America” initiative is billing itself as “a nationwide Catholic Bible movement,” encouraging Catholics to create and organize Bible study groups with their families, friends, or fellow parishioners. Leaders can register with St. Paul Center to receive a guide to help conduct discussions with their groups. Use of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, which was released last year and whose general editor is St. Paul Center founder Scott Hahn, is also being promoted as part of the initiative.

As “Bible Across America” is expected to simultaneously welcome thousands of participants, St. Paul Center anticipated it will be the “largest Bible study” in the United States. The organization is working in partnership with other Catholic organizations on the project, including Hallow, FOCUS, and Mount St. Mary’s University. The sessions are slated to include insights from Benedictine Father Boniface Hicks, Heather Khym, Shane Owens, Katie McGrady, and Alex Jones, the CEO of Hallow.

“We want to inspire Catholics around the country and throughout the world to bring the power of Scripture to their homes, neighborhoods and parishes," said St. Paul Center President Scott Hahn.

A portrait of a young St. John Henry Newman hangs in Cathedral High School, part of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, in Houston. / Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

CNA Staff, Oct 27, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will name St. John Henry Newman a patron saint of Catholic education in a document to be published on Oct. 28 for the 60th anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on Christian education.

He will become an official co-patron saint of education, alongside St. Thomas Aquinas, during the Vatican’s Jubilee of the World of Education from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1. He will also be declared a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo at the jubilee’s closing Mass on Nov. 1, the solemnity of All Saints.

Newman will join a list of several other Catholic saints considered patrons of other aspects of education. Get to know them here:

St. Thomas Aquinas

A scholar and doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the Catholic Church’s greatest theologians and philosophers. He is the patron saint of Catholic colleges and universities, teachers, philosophers, theologians, and students. 

St. Albert the Great

A teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great was a provincial of the Dominican order and is also a doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of science students due to his belief that science and faith are compatible.

St. Joseph of Cupertino 

A Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Joseph of Cupertino was an Italian mystic who was known for struggling with his studies. He is a patron saint of students, especially those preparing to take exams.

St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle 

St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a patron saint of teachers.

St. Scholastica

St. Scholastica is the foundress of the women’s branch of Benedictine monasticism, which focuses on prayer, work, and study. Her name also means “scholar.” Therefore, she is a patron saint of education.

St. Francis de Sales

Known for his influential writings on spiritual direction and formation, St. Francis de Sales is the patron saint of writers, journalists, the Catholic press, and educators.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is considered the foundress of the Catholic school system in the United States, making her a patron of Catholic schools. In 1810, she opened the first Catholic girls school in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It was also here where she founded the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity.

St. John Neumann

A member of the Redemptorist order, St. John Neumann was the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. While he was there, he founded the first Catholic diocesan school in the United States, which made him a patron saint of Catholic education.

St. Gemma Galgani 

St. Gemma Galgani is considered a patron saint of students because she was an exceptional and diligent student who excelled in her education despite her fragile health.

St. Catherine of Alexandria

A fourth-century noblewoman and scholar, St. Catherine of Alexandria is a patron saint of students, teachers, and librarians due to her incredible skills in debate, which led to many conversions among pagan philosophers.

null / Credit: Leigh Prather/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

About three-fourths of states scored less than 50% on Napa Legal Institute’s religious freedom index, which measures how well states safeguard religious liberty for faith-based organizations.

The “2025 Religious Freedom Percentage” was part of Napa’s Faith & Freedom Index published Oct. 27. Napa Legal Institute is an organization that assists faith-based nonprofits with legal compliance. 

Alabama scored highest, and Michigan scored lowest.

The report measures a state’s religious liberty in several ways, such as whether faith-based organizations have access to the same public programs and funds as nonreligious groups, whether the state has adopted stronger protections than guaranteed by the First Amendment, and whether employers can operate their organizations consistent with their religious beliefs.

It also considers whether the states protect the free exercise of religion under normal conditions and under a state of emergency such as when states restricted access to religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most states had subpar scores, with about three-fourths failing to reach the 50% mark. Six states scored below the 30% mark, and another 19 states and Washington, D.C., were below 40%. An additional 13 states had scores below 50%. 

Seven states scored between 50% and 60% and another three states scored between 60% and 70%. Only two states scored higher than 70%: Kansas at 79% and Alabama at 86%.

“Faith-based organizations must be free to manage their internal affairs in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs and in ways that further their religious mission,” the report stated.

‘Worst’ states for religious liberty

The worst state for religious freedom was Michigan, which scored 22%, according to Napa. The Great Lakes state was closely followed by Delaware at 25%, Washington at 26%, Maryland at 27%, and Nevada and Hawaii at 29%.

Napa’s report called Michigan “one of the worst places to operate faith-based nonprofits in the United States.” The report cited reasons such as not exempting religious employers from nondiscrimination laws that might implicate their faith and unequal access to public programs and benefits.

In Delaware, religious employers have some protection from nondiscrimination laws implicating faith issues, but not in all situations. The state also does not adequately ensure equal access to public programs and funds, the report said.

For Washington, the report expressed concern about limited freedom for religious employers and unequal access to public programs and funds. In Maryland, the report notes a burdensome audit requirement to keep a charitable tax status and a lack of nondiscrimination exemptions.

“Laws have been enacted that impose restrictions on the religious freedom of nonprofits that serve the public,” the report notes, in reference to low-scoring states. “Such laws threaten to exclude faith-based institutions from the marketplace of charitable services and limit the access of vulnerable populations to needed services.”

Alabama ranks first

Alabama received, by far, the best score at 86%, and the report considers it “one of the best places to operate a faith-based nonprofit in the United States.”

The report said Alabama adopted a constitutional amendment to build on the religious liberty protections of the First Amendment. The state provides exemptions to nondiscrimination laws when faith is implicated and allows equal access to public programs. Still, the report noted a key concern: the Blaine Amendment, which restricts access to public funds.

In Kansas, which scored 79%; Mississippi, which scored 67%; and Georgia, which scored 67%, the states provide exemptions for nondiscrimination laws when faith is implicated and ensure access to public programs. However, they all lack proper access to public funds and have mixed scores on free exercise protections, the report said.

Other states ranking highly in Napa’s report included Florida at 63%, and New Hampshire and Indiana at 59%.

“Even in states with cultures friendly to religious organizations, it is worthwhile to identify areas where there is room to improve the states’ friendliness to faith-based organizations by passing more favorable laws,” the report notes.

New York and California are pouring taxpayer dollars into Planned Parenthood, joining several other states in counteracting the federal defunding of the abortion giant.  / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 25, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

New York and California are pouring taxpayer dollars into Planned Parenthood, joining several other states in counteracting the federal defunding of the abortion giant. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged $140 million to Planned Parenthood locations in California on Oct. 24. On the same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul committed $35 million in funding to Planned Parenthood locations in New York.

Both states are known for their abortion shield laws, which protect abortionists who mail abortion pills into states where they are illegal. Several women are suing California and New York abortionists after being poisoned by or coerced into taking the abortion pill by the fathers of their children.

New York and California join several other states that have made similar moves in light of the yearlong federal defunding of Planned Parenthood. Colorado, Massachusetts, and Washington have all taken similar steps to replace lost federal funding for Planned Parenthood over the past few months.

Newsom said on Thursday that California is “protecting access to essential health care” by providing funding for more than 100 locations across the state. 

“Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood put all our communities at risk as people seek basic health care from these community providers,” Newsom said in a statement.

Hochul in a similar vein said she is putting funding toward the 47 Planned Parenthood clinics in New York, alleging that pro-life politicians will “stop at nothing to undermine women’s health care.”

“In the face of congressional Republicans voting to defund Planned Parenthood, I’ve directed the state to fund these vital services, protecting access to health care that thousands of New Yorkers rely on,” Hochul said in a Friday statement.

Hundreds of alternative clinics exist in both states 

A spokeswoman for Heartbeat International, a network that supports life-affirming pregnancy centers, told CNA there are many low-cost and even free alternatives to Planned Parenthood across the country — including hundreds of clinics and pregnancy centers in both New York and California. 

Andrea Trudden said that “women in California and New York already have access to a vast network of life-affirming care.” 

“California has more than 300 pregnancy help organizations and New York nearly 200,” Trudden said, citing Heartbeat International’s Worldwide Directory of Pregnancy Help.

“These centers offer practical support, compassionate care, and resources to women facing unplanned pregnancies, empowering them to choose life for their children and themselves,” she continued. 

For women who need health care not related to pregnancy, Trudden noted that both states are “well served” by Federally Qualified Health Centers, which are centers that provide “comprehensive, low-cost medical care for women and families.” 

As of 2024, California had more than 170 of these clinics, while New York had more than 60, Trudden said, citing a report by KFF, a health policy institute. 

“If leaders truly cared about women’s health, they would invest in these community-based organizations that meet the needs of women before, during, and after pregnancy — not in the nation’s largest abortion provider,” Trudden added. 

Kelsey Pritchard, a spokeswoman at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNA that in California, Planned Parenthood “is choosing to shutter primary care rather than give up profiting from abortions.”

In Orange and San Bernardino counties, Planned Parenthood will continue to offer abortions while closing primary care facilities. 

“In California, New York, and across the country, Planned Parenthoods are outnumbered by far better options and the pro-life movement is happy to help women locate the care they need,” Pritchard said, citing reports by the Charlotte Lozier Institute on community care centers and pregnancy centers for women. 

Jennie Bradley Lichter, the president of the March for Life, criticized politicians for prioritizing abortion funding instead of care for women and children. 

“Political leaders who prioritize funding for Planned Parenthood leave no doubt where their priorities lie: and it is not with women and children,” Bradley Lichter told CNA.

“It’s a shame that the leaders of states like California and New York aren’t choosing to pour their resources into institutions that truly support moms, like the huge number of pregnancy resource centers located in each of those states,” she said.

Women deserve better than the “tragedy” of abortion, Bradley Lichter said.

“We at March for Life want women to know that when their state leaders fall short and leave them in the hands of Big Abortion, pro-life Americans will stand in the gap and help them find the love and care they need,” she continued.

Defunding Planned Parenthood: a ‘life-saving’ act 

A spokesman for Live Action called the defunding of Planned Parenthood “one of the most lifesaving acts Congress has taken in decades,” noting that the federal government stopped funding the organization that “kills over 400,000 children every year.”

“That victory must be made permanent when the one-year cutoff expires next July,” Noah Brandt told CNA. “Yet pro-abortion states like California and New York are working to undo that progress, using taxpayer money to expand abortion through all nine months and to ship abortion pills nationwide.”

“Federal funding for Planned Parenthood must never return, and states that promote abortion should be held accountable for enabling the mass killing and sterilization of American children,” Brandt said.

Pritchard added that although Planned Parenthood is “constantly scheming to grow their grip on taxpayer money,” the pro-life movement has seen wins around the nation — most especially, the federal defunding of Planned Parenthood.

“Make no mistake, they are losing big in Congress, in courts, and increasingly in the hearts and minds of Americans,” Pritchard said.

Father Burke Masters speaks to Veronica Dudo on "EWTN News Nightly" on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 / Credit: EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Burke Masters’ first dream was to be a major league baseball player, but after feeling a call from God to the priesthood he now uses the sport “to speak about Jesus and the Church.”

“I played college baseball at Mississippi State University, and then played briefly in the minor leagues,” Masters said. “That was my dream to be a major league baseball player, but that didn't work out.”

“God eventually called me to be a priest,” Masters said in an Oct. 24 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” He added: “It really wasn’t what I wanted, but it was this persistent and gentle call from the Lord.”

“I went to seminary fully thinking I would go … not like it, and then go back to my plans,” Masters said. “Yet when I got to seminary I just felt this overwhelming peace, and that’s one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.”

Masters was ordained in 2002, serving as priest in Illinois. Eventually though, baseball did become a part of his career when he was named the chaplain of the Chicago Cubs in 2013.

“God brought baseball back into my life in a way that I never expected,” Masters said. “Since then, people have called me the ‘baseball priest,’ because I love to connect faith with sports.”

While Masters’ “full-time job” was as a pastor in the Diocese of Joliet, he attended all the Cubs’ home games. As the “baseball priest,” Masters was chaplain when they won the World Series in 2016.

“One of my big messages to the players then and to the players now would be: ‘Just remember your identity, you’re beloved sons of God. Your identity is not in the sport of baseball.’ And what I find that helps players … relax to say: ‘Yes, this is a big game. Millions of people are watching, but in the end, it’s still just a game. And life goes on,’” he said.

Connecting faith and sports

In 2023, Masters published a book, “A Grand Slam for God: A Journey from Baseball Star to Catholic Priest.” He wrote about his childhood outside of Chicago, his success in baseball, his conversion to Catholicism, and his acceptance of his vocation.

His story discusses his doubts and personal loss, and how he learned to embrace his identity not as an athlete but as a son of God and spiritual leader. 

“Baseball taught me a lot of things, among them, discipline, hard work, and how to work with people of a lot of different backgrounds,” Masters said. “I find that to be so helpful in my life as a priest, as a vocation director, as a pastor, that I try to invest a lot of time in my spiritual life.”

“Also, baseball has given me a way to … reach people who are not close to God at the moment by bringing stories about baseball and my sports background,” Masters said. “It gives me an opening to speak about Jesus and the Church. It’s just been a great gift."

In homilies, Masters said he will “bring up the sport of baseball.” He added: “I can see some of the people who love the sport perk up and then can bring the Gospel message to them more easily.”

Ahead of the 2025 World Series on Oct. 24, Masters shared with EWTN his predictions for the outcome. He said: “If I go off my head, the Dodgers will win, but I love pulling for the underdog. So my heart is going with the Toronto Blue Jays.”

null / Credit: txking/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 25, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Bishops in multiple U.S. states are leading efforts to spare the lives of condemned prisoners facing execution — urging clemency in line with the Catholic Church’s relatively recent but unambiguous declaration that the death penalty is not permissible and should be abolished. 

Executions in the United States have been increasingly less common for years. Following the death penalty’s re-legalization by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, executions peaked in the country around the turn of the century before beginning a gradual decline.

Still, more than 1,600 prisoners have been executed since the late 1970s. The largest number of those executions has been carried out in Texas, which has killed 596 prisoners over that time period.

As with other states, the Catholic bishops of Texas regularly petition the state government to issue clemency to prisoners facing death. Jennifer Allmon, the executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, told CNA that the state’s bishops regularly urge officials to commute death penalty sentences to life in prison. 

“We refer to it as the Mercy Project,” she said. 

Though popular perception holds that the governor of a state is the ultimate arbiter of a condemned prisoner’s fate, Allmon said in Texas that’s not the case. 

“The state Board of Pardons and Paroles has the ultimate authority,” she said. “The governor is only allowed to issue a 30-day stay on an execution one time. He doesn’t actually have the power to grant a permanent clemency.” 

“We don’t encourage phone calls to the governor because it’s not going to be a meaningful order,” she pointed out. “The board has a lot more authority.”

Allmon said the bishops advocate on behalf of every condemned prisoner in the state. 

“We send a letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and copy the governor for every single execution during the time period when the board is reviewing clemency applications,” she said. “Typically they hold reviews about 21 days before the execution. We time our letters to arrive shortly before that.” 

“We research every single case,” she said. “We speak to the defendant’s legal counsel for additional information. We personalize each letter to urge prayer for the victims and their families, we mention them by name, and we share any mitigating circumstances or reason in particular that the execution is unjust, while always acknowledging that every execution should be stopped.”

Some offenders, Allmon said, want to be executed. “We do a letter anyway. We think it’s important that on principle we speak out for every execution.”

In Missouri, meanwhile, the state’s Catholic bishops similarly advocate for every prisoner facing execution by the government. 

Missouri has been among the most prolific executors of condemned prisoners since 1976. More than half of the 102 people executed there over the last 50 years have been under Democratic governors; then-Gov. Mel Carnahan oversaw 38 state executions from 1993 to 2000 alone. 

Jamie Morris, the executive director of the Missouri Catholic Conference, told CNA that the state bishops “send a clemency request for every prisoner set to be executed, either through a letter from the Missouri Catholic Conference or through a joint letter of the bishops.”

“We also highlight every upcoming execution through our MCC publications and encourage our network to contact the governor to ask for clemency,” he said. Individual dioceses, meanwhile, carry out education and outreach to inform the faithful of the Church’s teaching on the death penalty. 

What does the Church actually teach?

The Vatican in 2018 revised its teaching on the death penalty, holding that though capital punishment was “long considered an appropriate response” to some crimes, evolving standards and more effective methods of imprisonment and detention mean the death penalty is now “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

The Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the revision of which was approved by Pope Francis. 

The Church’s revision came after years of increasing opposition to the death penalty by popes in the modern era. Then-Pope John Paul II in 1997 revised the catechism to reflect what he acknowledged was a “growing tendency, both in the Church and in civil society, to demand that [the death penalty] be applied in a very limited way or even that it be abolished completely.”

The Death Penalty Information Center says that 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment. Morris told CNA that bills to abolish the death penalty are filed “every year” in Missouri, though he said those measures have “not been heard in a legislative committee” during his time at the Catholic conference. 

Bishops have thus focused their legislative efforts on advocating against a provision in the Missouri code that allows a judge to sentence an individual to death when a jury cannot reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty. 

Brett Farley, who heads the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, said the state’s bishops have been active in opposing capital punishment there after a six-year moratorium on the death penalty lapsed in 2021 and executions resumed. 

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley and Tulsa Bishop David Konderla “have been very outspoken both in calling for clemency of death row inmates and, generally, calling for an end to the death penalty,” Farley said. The prelates have called for abolition via Catholic publications and in op-eds, he said.

The state’s bishops through the Tulsa Diocese and Oklahoma City Archdiocese have also instituted programs in which clergy and laity both minister to the condemned and their families, Farley said. 

The state Catholic conference, meanwhile, has led the effort to pass a proposed legislative ban on the death penalty. That measure has moved out of committee in both chambers of the state Legislature, Farley said. 

“We have also commissioned recent polls that show overwhelming support for moratorium among Oklahoma voters, which demonstrate as many as 78% agreeing that ‘a pause’ on executions is appropriate to ensure we do not execute innocent people,” he said. 

Catholics across the United States have regularly led efforts to abolish the death penalty. The Washington, D.C.-based group Catholic Mobilizing Network, for instance, arose out of the U.S. bishops’ 2005 Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. 

The group urges activists to take part in anti-death penalty campaigns in numerous states, including petitioning the federal government to end the death penalty, using a “three-tiered approach of education, advocacy, and prayer.”

Catholics have also worked to end the death penalty at the federal level. Sixteen people have been executed by the federal government since 1976. 

Executions in the states have increased over the last few years, though they have not come near the highs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Allmon said Texas is seeing “fewer executions in general” relative to earlier years. 

The number of executions was very high under Gov. Rick Perry, she said; the Republican governor ultimately witnessed the carrying out of 279 death sentences over his 15 years as governor. Since 2015, current Gov. Greg Abbott has presided over a comparatively smaller 78 executions. 

“It still shouldn’t happen,” she said, “but it’s a huge reduction.”

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 24, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).

A federal judge struck down a regulation imposed by President Joe Biden’s administration, saying the administration was “redefining sex discrimination.” 

The Biden administration adopted the rule through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. The ACA authorized the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement rules that prohibit “sex” discrimination as understood through the 1972 Title IX Education Amendments.

Biden’s administration interpreted the ban on “sex” discrimination to also imply a prohibition on discriminating against a person on the basis of sex characteristics, including “sexual orientation; gender identity; and sex stereotypes.” Neither Title IX nor the ACA define “sex” in this way.

U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the Southern District of Mississippi ruled HHS “exceeded its authority” because when Title IX was adopted in the 1970s, “Congress only contemplated biological sex.”

The judge said the Biden administration was not implementing the prohibition as intended by the authors of the law.

The ruling states that Congress “was particularly concerned with inequality that female students experienced” but that “it did not at that time contemplate gender identity, transgender status, or ‘gender-affirming care.’”

“Neither [the HHS] nor this court have authority to reinterpret or expand the meaning of ‘sex’ under Title IX,” Guirola wrote.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who helped lead the multistate effort to sue the Biden administration over the regulation, praised the ruling in a statement.

“When Biden-era bureaucrats tried to illegally rewrite our laws to force radical gender ideology into every corner of American health care, Tennessee stood strong and stopped them,” Skrmetti said.

“Our 15-state coalition worked together to protect the right of health care providers across America to make decisions based on evidence, reason, and conscience,” he added. “This decision restores not just common sense but also constitutional limits on federal overreach, and I am proud of the team of excellent attorneys who fought this through to the finish.”

At the time the “gender identity” rule was adopted, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) expressed concern that it advanced an “ideological view of sex.”

USCCB Religious Liberty Commission Chair Bishop Kevin Rhoades said at the time that “health care that truly heals must be grounded in truth,” but this rule “denies the most beautiful and most powerful difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference.”

Torture intersects with religious freedom violations worldwide, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says in an October 2025 report. / Credit: Sahana M S/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 24, 2025 / 15:37 pm (CNA).

Governments around the world continue to violate religious freedom and breach international law by engaging in torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, according to a report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). 

In an October USCIRF fact sheet, “Religious Freedom and the Prohibition of Torture and Ill Treatment,” the commission highlighted incidents of torture in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam, and recommended the United States designate each of them as countries of particular concern (CPCs) as they “engage in or tolerate ‘particularly severe violations’ of religious freedom.”

These designations are based on information from the USCIRF’s Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List, which is a database that tracks select victims targeted due to their religion. While the list does not necessarily reflect the exact accounts of torture abroad, at least 206 of the over 2,330 victims on the list have suffered torture or other ill treatment. 

The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’s (CAT) definition of torture outlines three elements that, when combined, “reach the threshold of torture.” 

The definition states that torture is the “intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, for a specific purpose, such as to obtain information, as punishment, or to intimidate, or for any reason based on discrimination, and by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of state authorities.”

While 175 countries have enacted the CAT, the prohibition on torture is “a compulsory norm of international law,” the commission wrote. Torture methods vary and can be physical, sexual, or psychological including sleep deprivation or solitary confinement.

The CAT does not define ill treatment, but it requires states to prevent it. Acts that cause suffering or harm may be considered ill treatment and are still prohibited even if they do not meet the strict definition of torture. Examples of ill treatment might include “holding a prisoner in overcrowded or unsanitary conditions, public humiliation, verbal abuse, or denial of medical care.”

The U.S. government “should strengthen its advocacy on behalf of individuals persecuted in foreign countries on account of their religion or belief, including those who have suffered torture or other ill treatment,” USCIRF recommended.

Global case studies

The report highlighted previous findings to emphasize the instances of torture abroad and the need for designations of CPCs. In May, USCIRF reported “persistent reports of widespread torture and ill treatment in Turkmenistan, including severe beating and other serious abuse often used to extract confessions.” 

The committee further noted its concern regarding a pattern of “institutional impunity,” given the lack of investigations and prosecutions in Turkmenistan and across the Central Asia region. 

In Kyrgyzstan, USCIRF also documented alleged torture. Despite these allegations, the country recently abolished its independent torture prevention body.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban systematically imposes its interpretation of religion to restrict religious freedom. Authorities use corporal and capital punishment to penalize violations of their interpretation of Shari’a law. 

For example, in April, the United Nations reported four public executions in a single day for violations of religious edicts. It also found there were at least 213 corporal punishments carried out in the first half of 2025, including lashings, floggings, beatings, and acts of public humiliation. 

Taliban authorities also use torture as a tool for ideological punishment, often against detained religious minorities. USCIRF noted the “widespread methods include beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, simulated drowning, solitary confinement, sexual violence, and threats of execution,” often while authorities simultaneously use “religious insults.”

Cruel and degrading conditions have been reported including overcrowding, unsanitary environments, and insufficient access to food and medical care. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia were also found to impose the death penalty and corporal punishment based on religious interpretation. Religiously based capital crimes include “waging war against God” and “corruption on Earth.” 

In China, under the Chinese Communist Party, basic religious practices are considered “extremist” and can be grounds for imprisonment. USCIRF wrote: “It is not surprising that detainees in the internment camps are not able to freely practice their religion in any way. Through political indoctrination, China intends to erase ethnic and religious identities.” 

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 24, 2025 / 14:22 pm (CNA).

Life-affirming organizations are calling on the Trump administration and Congress to permanently block funding to Planned Parenthood.

In an Oct. 22 letter, Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins and more than 50 signers asked President Donald Trump to debar Planned Parenthood from federal funding because of reports of the trafficking of baby body parts as well as possible fraud and failure to report sex crimes, among other complaints.

In another letter sent the same day, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and more than 100 signers asked Congress to remove the loophole created by the Affordable Care Act that enables government money to go to Planned Parenthood.

While the Trump administration cut funding to the abortion giant for one year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, pro-life advocates say Planned Parenthood should go through debarment, a significant legal process to block businesses from receiving government funding due to misconduct, fraud, or other concerns.

“Planned Parenthood’s track record shows that they should not be allowed to receive a single penny of taxpayer support,” Hawkins said in the letter. “They are unqualified to work for the American taxpayer.”

More than 50 organizations and legislators signed the Students for Life letter, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, National Right to Life, Americans United for Life, Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, Concerned Women for America, Live Action, and Center for Medical Progress. 

“To debar Planned Parenthood — block them from all federal support — we simply need an honest look at their behavior and the kind of ‘service’ they are selling,” Hawkins said in a statement shared with CNA. 

“Think of this like a long overdue job review after many complaints all leading to one conclusion — Planned Parenthood should be fired,” she said.  

There are more than 5,300 federally qualified health centers that specifically provide women’s health services, while Planned Parenthood has less than 600 facilities in the U.S., according to Students for Life Action. 

“Women and girls won’t miss Planned Parenthood,” Hawkins said. “Federally qualified health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood and can easily absorb their current traffic while providing women and families with the wide range of real health care they need.”  

In the Susan B. Anthony group’s letter to Congress, signers urged Congress “to unequivocally oppose any consideration of extending the COVID-era subsidies without Hyde [Amendment] protections.”

The Hyde Amendment prevents the federal government from directly funding abortion, but a plan by Democrats could expand Obamacare-funded abortions, permanently extending what was initially a temporary welfare program. 

“Obamacare forces taxpayers to subsidize insurance plans that pay for abortion on demand,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “And under the guise of COVID relief, President Biden took it even further, massively expanding those subsidies and the flow of taxpayer dollars to abortion.”

“Extending these subsidies without the Hyde Amendment is a vote to expand abortion on demand,” Dannenfelser said.

Rebecca Weaver, the policy director for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, noted that abortion harms both the child and the mother. 

“Induced abortion is not health care,” Weaver told CNA. “It ends the life of our fetal patient and often causes significant harm to our maternal patient.”  

“As life-affirming medical professionals, we are joining the call against the renewal of the Obamacare subsidy for abortion (through the abortion surcharge) that forces American citizens to fund the harmful and deadly practice of induced abortion,” Weaver continued.

“We support, instead, life-affirming policies that improve the health care that all of our patients receive and their access to that health care,” Weaver said. 

“The more Washington funds abortion, the more unborn children lose their lives, and the more moms are hurt,” Dannenfelser added. “This pro-life Congress must not extend the Obama-Biden legacy of taxpayer-funded abortion that ends the lives of countless innocent babies.”