The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in New York City. / Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 16:19 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing a rule change that would prohibit medical centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from performing both surgical and chemical abortions in most cases and from providing counseling that encourages abortion.

The proposed regulatory change, submitted by the VA on Aug. 1, must undergo a 30-day public comment period before it can be adopted.

Under the proposal, abortion would only be allowed when the mother’s life is at risk. The text also clarifies that women can still receive all necessary treatments for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.

In an explanation provided with the rule change proposal, VA regulators note that Congress created the department to provide “only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families.” It states that unless the mother’s life is at risk, “abortion is not a ‘needed’ VA service.”

From 1999 — when the VA established its first medical benefits package — through September 2022, the department did not offer abortion or pro-abortion counseling. It was not until after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to restrict abortion that President Joe Biden’s administration changed the regulation to permit broad abortion coverage at the VA.

The Biden-era rule permits the VA to perform abortions if “the life or the health” of the woman is endangered by the pregnancy, which broadly extends to both physical and mental health. The new Trump administration proposed rule would create a more strict standard, only permitting abortion “when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.”

Under the Biden-era rule, the VA can also perform abortions in cases of rape and incest, which are self-reported and not verified. The Trump administration’s proposed rule change would not permit the VA to perform abortions in these instances.

The VA’s explanation of the proposed rule change notes that prior to the Biden administration’s shift, the VA “had consistently interpreted abortion services as not ‘needed’ medical services and therefore not covered by the medical benefits package.” It states that the Biden-era rule is “legally questionable.”

“This proposed rule restores VA to its proper role as the United States’ provider of needed medical services to those who served, delivered on behalf of a grateful nation,” the explanation reads.

A spokesperson for the VA said in a statement provided to CNA that the prior administration’s shift was “politically motivated” and that “federal law and long-standing precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling.”

“[The] VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms,” the spokesperson added.

When the Biden administration adopted the rule to expand abortions at the VA, the archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Timothy P. Broglio, condemned the rule as “morally repugnant and incongruent with the Gospel.” 

“I implore the faithful of this archdiocese to continue to advocate for human life and to refuse any participation in the evil of abortion,” Broglio said at the time.

Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro is the new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. / Credit: ACI Stampa

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 15:56 pm (CNA).

The new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, says the Church has plans to address a number of pressing matters surrounding human dignity, including artificial intelligence (AI), health systems, and the environment. 

When Pegoraro stepped into his new role, he said Pope Leo XIV recommended the academy continue a dialogue “with experts from various disciplines on the challenges facing humanity on the theme of life and the quality of life in different contexts.”

The academy will also continue its focus on “issues related to the beginning and end of life as well as environmental sustainability, equity in health care systems, the right to care, health, and essential services.”

In an interview with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Catholic News Service, Pegoraro said as “we live in a difficult landscape … and human life on the planet is truly challenged,” the Catholic Church “has a wealth of wisdom and a vision to serve everyone in order to make the world a better and more livable place.”

Technology and AI

Pegoraro said that “all facets of society” must be involved in the “debate” regarding technology. 

“Really, everything can be addressed if all of society — policymakers, governments, the Church, different organizations — put the issue of the use of technology at the forefront,“ Pegoraro said. “And the media also have a very important role in disseminating information and subject matter on this.”

As AI advances at fast rates, Pegoraro said, the Pontifical Academy for Life “can make an important contribution to the development of the papal magisterium, in line with all the dicasteries.”

The academy, with Catholic Physicians Throughout the World, will organize an international meeting in Rome in November on “AI and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity.” The conference will “confront the changes introduced by AI” and “enhance the ‘Rome Call for AI Ethics,’” a 2020 document that lays the foundations for an ethical use of AI.

The progress of AI and robotics, especially in the health field, is “extraordinary,” but “we must never forget that the needs of the person who is sick and in need of help are the priority,” Pegoraro said.

Health systems

Pegoraro shared that the Church “will address the sustainability of health systems in February 2026, with examples from five continents and detailed studies.”

Leaders will ensure that “ethical framework” will be a theme at the international congress. 

“We want to end up with a strong call to understand that ‘health’ and health systems must provide answers centered on life in all contexts, in all social and political realms,” Pegoraro said. 

“In addition to scientific knowledge, there is a need for an ethical point of view and an awareness of the questions that come from patients, from those who are sick.” 

Pegoraro highlighted the importance of supporting the sick through end-of-life care. The academy “promotes palliative care, always and especially in the final and fragile phases of life, always asking that there be attention to and respect for the protection and dignity of people who are frail.”

When asked about “aggressive treatment and the requirement to provide food and hydration to individuals in a vegetative state,” Pegoraro said it is “very complex.” But, he said, “we need to understand how to interpret treatments so that they may support and care for sick people.”

“Every situation is to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis so that they support the sick person and are not a source of further suffering,” Pegoraro said. “There are no ready-made solutions; instead, an approach of constant dialogue between doctor, patient, and family members must be fostered.”

Most urgent matters

According to Pegoraro, the most urgent bioethical and AI-related issue to tackle is “data management, its use, and storage, the objectives of the so-called ‘Big Companies,’” including Google, Apple, Facebook, and others. 

“The topic of human life must be posed by looking at all dimensions of its development, at different social and political contexts, at its connection with respect for the environment, and by scrutinizing how technologies either help us live more fully and better or [hurt us by] providing terrible tools for control and manipulation.”

The topic of data is key, because “today, the wealth of big industries is the data we ourselves put on the internet,” Pegoraro said. 

“We need a public debate on a global scale,” he said, “a grand coalition aimed at the respect of data … The framework is clear and Pope Francis gave it to us with Fratelli Tutti, expanding on Vatican II: We are one human family, and the issues of development and life affect every one of us.”

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, expressed approval of U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments recognizing starvation in Gaza. 

“I commend President Trump for acknowledging that starvation is happening in Gaza, especially affecting children,” Zaidan wrote in a July 31 statement, adding: “And I urge him to demand the immediate expansion of humanitarian assistance through all channels in Gaza.” 

Zaidan, who leads the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, has remained outspoken in his calls for “lasting peace” in the Holy Land.

The Lebanese bishop’s comments come after Trump told reporters during a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland: “We’ll be helping with the food ... We’re also going to make sure that they don’t have barriers stopping people ... We can save a lot of people. That’s real starvation. I see it, and you can’t fake that.”

Zaidan further cited remarks by the Holy Father during the Angelus last Sunday: “Reflecting Christ’s mandate in the Gospel to love one another, Pope Leo XIV’s challenge to us is clear: ‘We cannot pray to God as “Father” and then be harsh and insensitive towards others. Instead, it is important to let ourselves be transformed by his goodness, his patience, his mercy, so that his face may be reflected in ours as in a mirror.’”

Leo’s appeal came after an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic parish left three dead and 15 wounded, including the parish’s pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said the strike was incidental, with Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein expressing the country’s “deep regret over the damage to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and over any civilian casualties.” 

Zaidan expressed solidarity on behalf of the bishops’ conference with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Gazan Christians; “and all men and women of goodwill in the Holy Land, especially those suffering from unprovoked violence.” 

“Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, creator and vivifier, may infuse fraternal love into the hearts and minds of peoples of all faiths living in the lands of Our Lord’s life, death, and glorious resurrection,” Zaidan concluded.

Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Utah. / Credit: Ritu Manoj Jethani/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 1, 2025 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Salt Lake City on Thursday said it had deemed “credible” several allegations of sexual misconduct made against a Colombian-born priest, with the alleged misconduct dating to the 1990s. 

A press release from the diocese said that in December it had received allegations against Father Heriberto Mejia, a priest from the Diocese of Villavicencio in Colombia who served in Utah in the early 1990s. 

The diocese opened a formal investigation into the allegation, using an independent investigator who interviewed “numerous witnesses” connected to the case. The diocese received the report in July.

After reviewing the report and following a recommendation from the diocese’s review board, Bishop Oscar Solís “determined the victim’s allegation of abuse against Father Mejia is credible,” the press release said. 

The diocese said it offered counseling to the victim and family members and would also share the allegations with law enforcement. 

Mejia’s home diocese in Colombia “will be informed of the outcome of this investigation,” the diocese said; as well, the diocese said it would notify the two Utah parishes at which Mejia served during his time in the state. 

The report would be submitted to the U.S. papal nuncio in Washington, D.C., the diocese said, as well as Las Vegas Archbishop George Thomas. The Salt Lake Diocese is a suffragan diocese of the Las Vegas Archdiocese.

Solís in the press release said he “apologize[d] to [the victim] for the sexual abuse” inflicted by the priest. 

“No one should experience such trauma, especially from any member of the clergy,” the bishop said. “I personally pray and hope for your complete healing, peace, and that of your family.”

In its press release the diocese noted that Mejia “was permanently removed from ministry in the diocese” prior to leaving Utah in 1992. 

The diocese did not immediately respond to a query on Friday seeking more information about the removal of Mejia’s ministry privileges in the diocese in the 1990s. 

The Salt Lake Tribune, however, reported this week that Mejia had his faculties stripped in the diocese after an abuse allegation in August 1991.

The paper noted that Mejia had been included on a list of credibly accused priests in 2019.

The Tribune reported that Mejia’s victim, who had been considering the priesthood, said he felt “isolated [and] unsafe” for years after the abuse and that the traumatic event led him to turn away from the priesthood.

“I’m sure there are a lot of victims like me who are still devout Catholics with a complicated relationship to the Church because of this,” he told the paper, “who didn’t lose their faith over it and want to still stay connected.”

Google offices in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York. / Credit: MNAphotography/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

A Florida woman has secured the last of her Google data after the tech company disabled her account following emails pertaining to pro-life advocacy.

With the help of the Thomas More Society, Trudy Perez-Poveda sued Google in 2024 when the company allegedly blocked her from her account after she sent an email attempting to plan a Catholic Mass and prayer event outside of a local abortion clinic.

The lawsuit claimed that “approximately one hour” after she sent the email, Google suspended Perez-Poveda’s account with no explanation. After several days of trying to recover her account, Google informed her that it had “permanently disabled” it for violating the company’s “acceptable use policy.”

Since filing the lawsuit in July 2024, Perez-Poveda has been able to retrieve some of her messages and data in small quantities with the help of third-party tech experts. But with no assistance from Google, the majority of it remained inaccessible.

In a July 31 press release, the Thomas More Society reported that the last of Perez-Poveda’s data suddenly became “inexplicably accessible for the first time since this controversy began,” within just days of a court-imposed settlement deadline in the lawsuit.

An IT expert confirmed that action taken on Google’s end allowed the data to return. Perez-Poveda recovered the data one year and 10 months after Google first locked her out of her account.

“Google claimed that certain tools existed online to allow her to retrieve the remaining data despite tech experts proving those tools to be unworkable,” the Thomas More Society said. “At another point, Google even falsely claimed the data never had been withheld from her at all.”

“Google has dragged Trudy Perez-Poveda through a land of smoke and mirrors, apparently  because she was a pro-lifer who had the fortitude to stand up to Google and demand what belonged to her,” attorney Matt Heffron said.

Trudy “was not going to let a big-tech behemoth shut down her lifesaving mission to protect the unborn,” Heffron said.

“I was able to regain access to more than a decade worth of personal data and continue my mission to save lives in our Jacksonville community,” Perez-Poveda said in the press release.

She added: “Big tech companies cannot be allowed to decide what speech is acceptable.”

null / Credit: ivanko80/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 1, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Texas man files lawsuit against California abortionist who sent abortion drugs across state lines 

A Texas man filed a federal lawsuit against a California abortionist who shipped drugs across state lines, enabling his girlfriend to end the lives of two of their unborn children. 

The lawsuit takes place amid ongoing legal and political debate over the soundness of abortion shield laws — laws that protect abortionists in their home state even if they break abortion laws in other states. 

Legal experts have noted that this is the first lawsuit filed in a federal court to run up against the shield laws.

In the Texas lawsuit, California’s shield laws could protect the abortionist, Remy Coeytaux, who sent drugs to Jerry Rodriguez’s girlfriend, leading to the death of two of their unborn children. 

While California law protects Coeytaux, Rodriquez alleged that the abortionist broke Texas law by aiding the abortions in 2024. Abortion is largely illegal in Texas with narrow exceptions. 

Prominent pro-life lawyer Jonathan Mitchell, formerly the solicitor general of Texas from 2010 to 2015, is seeking an injunction in the suit on behalf of “fathers of unborn children.”

Texas attorney general files lawsuit over New York abortion shield laws

In a similar case, Texas Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton is taking legal action after New York employed its abortion shield laws to protect an abortionist who shipped abortion drugs into Texas.

The legal dispute began in December 2024 when Paxton sued New York abortionist Margaret Carpenter for sending abortion drugs to Texas. The drugs led to the death of an unborn child and serious medical complications for the mother.

A Texas judge ordered Carpenter to stop prescribing abortion pills to Texas residents and gave her a $100,000 fine. Paxton this week, meanwhile, filed a legal petition against Acting County Clerk for Ulster County Taylor Bruck to enforce the judge’s ruling in New York.

The Ulster County Clerk’s office “plainly rejected any attempt by Texas to enforce the judgment and authorize collection of the penalty,” Paxton’s office said in a press release. 

Paxton called Carpenter “a radical abortionist who must face justice.” 

“No matter where they reside, pro-abortion extremists who send drugs designed to kill the unborn into Texas will face the full force of our state’s pro-life laws,” Paxton said.

Oklahoma governor directs state agencies to withhold funding from abortion providers

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday issued an executive order directing state agencies to “cease all public funding” for abortion providers and affiliated organizations.

“Oklahoma is a pro-life state, and our policies should reflect that at every level of our government,” Stitt said in the release. “We won’t allow tax dollars to indirectly subsidize and flow into the abortion industry under the guise of women’s health.”

The directive will require providers who want to access state Medicaid dollars to affirm whether or not they are involved with any “abortion-related activities.” Providers who take part in such activities will see their state contracts terminated, the order says.

The measure “also prohibits all state agencies from providing grants, contracts, or funding of any kind to abortion-affiliated providers directly or indirectly.”

The oratory in Cathedral High School, part of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, the principal church of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, in Houston. / Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Houston, Texas, Aug 1, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Members of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter celebrated with extra gusto the Vatican’s July 31 announcement that St. John Henry Newman will soon become the 38th doctor of the Church.

“St. John Henry Newman is part of our patrimony,” Bishop Steven J. Lopes, the first bishop of the ordinariate, wrote in a celebratory message email to its members. He called Newman “a treasure to be shared,” writing that his “doctrinal contribution to the life of the Church — his particular way of expressing the faith in English — does not belong to one specific time or culture or linguistic context.”

The Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, which is the equivalent of a Roman Catholic diocese, has a special relationship with Newman. The ordinariate was established in 2012 after Pope Benedict XVI issued Anglicanorum Coetibus, which provided a pathway for Episcopalians and Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving some elements of their Anglican patrimony in their liturgies and ministries.

Before his conversion to Catholicism in 1845, Newman was an Anglican priest and academic and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, a 19th-century religious revival within the Church of England that sought to renew Anglicanism by emphasizing its Catholic heritage.

His intellectual rigor and spiritual openness led to Newman’s conversion, which shocked the Anglican establishment. A prolific writer of more than 40 books and thousands of sermons and articles, his most well-known works include “Apologia Pro Vita Sua,” a spiritual autobiography, and “The Idea of a University,” in which he outlines his vision for higher education.

When Pope Leo XIII made Newman a cardinal in 1879, Newman chose the motto “Cor ad cor loquitur” (“Heart speaks to heart”) because he realized we are saved through the Lord speaking from his heart to ours.

Newman is the patron of Cathedral High School, located at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, the principal church for the ordinariate located in Houston. The school shares his motto, which is inscribed throughout the school: on the entrance to the Gothic structure, in the gym, and on the school’s seal.

Dr. Alexis Kutarna, principal of Cathedral High School, upon learning of the honor being bestowed on Newman, told CNA that “we rejoice with the Church on this blessed occasion!”

Kutarna pointed out a portrait of a young Newman wearing an Oratorian collar (anachronistically stylized in that he would not yet have worn the collar at that age) that hangs on the wall near the school’s entrance. She said it was chosen because the school’s leadership wants the students to see that even as young people, great contributions like Newman’s are possible in their own lives and they too can do much for the Church.

She recalled with a smile that a student, J.P. England, asked her if they put the photo of a young Newman up “because we’re young too?”

After she said yes, he replied: “I like it.”

“St. John Henry Newman held a special love for students,” Kutarna said, adding that she hopes to inspire the students with “Newman’s commitment to the intellectual life and the pastoral love he had for his people.”

She told CNA that as the school was being formed, the curriculum committee studied Newman’s “The Idea of a University.”

“Our hearts must be open to the Lord, dialoguing with him in friendship, and with one another,” Kutarna told CNA. She described the mentoring that takes place between students and teachers at the school.

Newman was ordained a Catholic priest in 1847 and made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879. He was a member of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. He died on Aug. 11, 1890, and was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2019. In his encyclical Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis spoke of Newman’s choice of his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur” — “Heart speaks to heart.” 

Francis wrote: “This realization led him, the distinguished intellectual, to recognize that his deepest encounter with himself and with the Lord came not from his reading or reflection but from his prayerful dialogue, heart to heart, with Christ, alive and present. It was in the Eucharist that Newman encountered the living heart of Jesus, capable of setting us free, giving meaning to each moment of our lives, and bestowing true peace.”

Kutarna said Cathedral High School’s mission is to teach its students “to love God above all things.”

“This is the most important thing,” she said.

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

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 09:15 am (CNA).

English saint and convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism John Henry Newman was approved for the title “doctor of the Church” on July 31 — one of the highest honors a Catholic can receive from the Holy See.

Theologians, historians, priests, and other Catholic scholars expressed excitement about the announcement, citing Newman’s contributions to theology, philosophy, and education in the 19th century when the Church was combating the rise of modernism and Enlightenment-era rationalism.

Michael Sirilla, a professor of theology at Franciscan University, explained that “the broad sense of doctor in Latin — it just means ‘teacher,’” noting that the Holy See bestows the title on the “great and notable teachers in the Church.”

Newman, he noted, “did not write pure theology” in the sense of authoring theological treatises but provided significant contributions “refuting theological errors” of his time. The English saint, he said, “is a suitable doctor for the modern period of the Church.”

“Without question, Newman is either the best or the second-best writer of theology in the English language — second only perhaps to St. Thomas More,” Sirilla told CNA.

“He’s a champion,” Sirilla added. “He’s one of the heroes against early forms of modernism.”

Patrick Reilly, the founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, expressed joy in the announcement. His organization promotes strong and faithful Catholic education, a major priority of Newman’s during his life, highlighted in the saint’s book “The Idea of a University.”

“He is truly a most important saint for modern times: his fight against relativism and weak faith, his response to persecution of Catholics, and especially his vision for faithful Catholic education championed by The Cardinal Newman Society,” Reilly said in a post on LinkedIn.

Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), noted that Newman’s writings and his conversion had a major impact on the English-speaking world in the 1800s. His conversion marked “a major cultural event in the Protestant English-speaking world,” she told CNA.

“It launched waves of English Protestant conversions to the Roman Catholic Church that have come to [be] called the second and third spring of English Catholicism,” she said. “This steady stream of Protestants coming ‘home’ to Rome continues to this day.”

Father Dwight Longenecker, a former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism, echoed that sentiment.

“His progress through Anglicanism to the Catholic faith was an adventure that blazed the trail for many to follow,” he told CNA. “As such, his status as a doctor of the Church will advance his influence for non-Catholic Christians who are seeking the fullness of the faith in the Catholic Church.”

Scott Hahn, a former Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism and works as a theologian, told CNA that Newman “has always been an inspiration to me” as well.

“He was a convert who told his story — a transparent account of the process of his struggles and discoveries,” Hahn said. “Newman was tireless in the apostolate at a time when most media were limited in range. He carried on correspondence with hundreds of people struggling along the way to Rome. He wrote with sympathy and understanding, but also with clarity and firmness.”

“When you do this work faithfully, as he did, you will be misunderstood,” he added. “People will question your motives. You will suffer. Newman chose to continue doing it anyway. He stands as a model and intercessor for anyone working in the apostolate, and presumably that means all of us! And he is still evangelizing. His books still change lives, as they did in the 19th century, when he inspired thousands of conversions.”

Jennifer Bryson — a fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center who recently translated German Catholic author Ida Friederike Görres’ book “John Henry Newman: A Life Sacrificed” — noted that Newman’s reach also extended substantially beyond the English-speaking world and in the aftermath of World War II was a particular source of inspiration for German Catholics.

Germans like Görres, who Bryson said were “coming out of a horror and breakdown of society,” saw Newman as “somebody who had understood the challenges of the modern world and remained Catholic and saw a Catholic way forward in the modern world.”

Noting Newman’s writings that challenged anti-Catholic philosophies of his day, Bryson said Newman was an example of what it meant “to be Catholic and remain Catholic in a world that was driving off ideological cliffs.”

Newman, who was born in London in 1801, spent his early adult life as an evangelical Anglican priest before shifting to a more traditional high-church Anglicanism. As an Anglican, he helped combat Enlightenment-era philosophies and liberalizing trends within Protestantism. He was a well-respected figure among Anglicans during that time.

As Newman delved deeper into the history of Christianity, he finally converted to Catholicism in 1845. In the year he converted, he wrote, “to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.”

Newman was ordained a Catholic priest in 1847 and Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal in 1879. He continued his theological writings throughout his life. During his time as an Anglican and a Catholic, Newman wrote about 40 books and more than 20,000 letters.

Sirilla said one of Newman’s most important contributions in his arguments with Protestants was his explanation of the development of doctrine in Catholicism. Sirilla said doctrinal development understood properly “preserves [tradition] and builds upon it” rather than adheres to the warped view that “the Church can teach something contrary to what it has taught in the past.”

“[It’s a] development of doctrine based on what has been revealed by God,” Sirilla said.

In the same year he converted, Newman published a nearly 450-page book titled “An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.” In it, he defended Catholic doctrines against Protestant attacks, including purgatory and original sin.

“Modern Catholicism is nothing else but simply the legitimate growth and complement, that is, the natural and necessary development, of the doctrine of the early Church, and … its divine authority is included in the divinity of Christianity,” Newman wrote.

Tom Nash, a staff apologist at Catholic Answers, told CNA that Newman’s “great contributions to our understanding of development of doctrine” is one of the first things that comes to his mind when thinking about the saint.

“Newman shows that authentic doctrinal development necessarily must be organic,” Nash said. “That is, if a change occurs, the basic structure of an organism or system remains.”

Another major contribution from Newman was his refutation of Enlightenment-era rationalism, which Sirilla described as a “view that man’s reason is a higher authority than God’s revelation.”

“Man’s reason must be … informed by God’s revelation,” Sirilla said.

Newman wrote numerous works against Enlightenment-era concepts, particularly the writings of Scottish philosopher David Hume, who died 25 years before Newman was born. In one letter, Newman wrote critically of Hume’s assertion that the belief in miracles is irrational.

“[Miracles] are presented to us, not as unconnected and unmeaning occurrences, but as holding a place in an extensive plan of divine government, completing the moral system, connecting man and his maker, and introducing him to the means of securing his happiness in another and eternal state of being,” he wrote. “That such is the professed object of the body of Christian miracles can hardly be denied.”

Pope Francis canonized Newman in 2019. Pope Leo XIV’s July 31 announcement will make Newman the 38th doctor of the Church.

This story was updated Aug. 1, 2025, at 11:44 a.m. ET with the comments from Scott Hahn.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, in St. Peter’s Square, a day before the canonization Mass of St. John Henry Newman, Oct. 12, 2019. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 31, 2025 / 17:18 pm (CNA).

Catholic bishops across the nation are reacting to the “joyful” news that Pope Leo XIV has approved St. John Henry Newman to be declared the 38th doctor of the universal Church.

The July 31 decision to give the title to the 19th-century Catholic convert and English saint was confirmed during Leo’s morning meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

“Six years ago, Pope Francis canonized English cardinal John Henry Newman,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in a post on X. “Now, he will join the other 37 men and women who have received the title of doctor of the Church.”

A doctor of the Church is someone who has significantly “advanced the knowledge of God through their writing on theology, spirituality, mysticism, or through their defense of the faith in the face of heresy and schism,” the USCCB explained. 

In recent years, the country’s bishops have shown strong support for extending this recognition to Newman. In 2023, America’s bishops voted overwhelmingly to endorse a petition brought by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales asking the Vatican to name Newman a doctor of the Church. 

Now, with the news that Newman’s elevation to doctor of the Church has officially been approved, bishops across the nation are sharing their enthusiasm for the designation.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, called Newman his “favorite saint,” saying that “I even chose his motto as my own. ‘Heart speaks to heart.’”

“Terrific news out of the Vatican this morning!” Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, wrote immediately following the announcement, subsequently adding: “St. John Henry Newman was many things — apologist, theologian, educator, poet — but through it all, he was a lover of the truth.” Barron invited the faithful to learn about the saint’s “extraordinary life and witness.”

“The announcement that Pope Leo XIV will declare St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church is truly joyful news,” Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, also wrote in a post to social media. 

St. John Henry Newman’s “courageous pursuit of truth led him to enter the Catholic Church and helped deepen the Church’s understanding of how doctrine develops while remaining faithful to the Gospel handed on by the apostles and their successors, the bishops,” Burbidge said. “His witness of pastoral service and charity now serves as a beacon for all those seeking Christ and his peace in their hearts and lives.”

“In his Apologia Pro Vita Sua, he writes: ‘I am not ashamed to be a seeker after truth and to have changed my mind when I found that I was in error.’”

Burbidge added: “May we all follow his example of humility in pursuit of the God who wishes only our eternal happiness.”

Credit: J.J. Gouin/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 31, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating potential “unfair or deceptive trade practices” regarding transgender surgeries and drugs.

The launch of the federal inquiry is designed to “gauge the harms consumers may be experiencing” from “false or unsupported claims” about transgender treatment, according to a press release. The inquiry focuses on affected minors but is also open to adults who have been affected.

The agency’s investigation comes after President Donald Trump pledged to end federal support for transition drugs and surgeries in an executive order he issued at the outset of his administration this year.

The Federal Trade Commission, a federal agency that promotes marketplace competition and consumer education, will investigate whether practitioners have violated a long-standing law against deception in the marketplace.

The investigation falls under the purview of the agency as the primary enforcer of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, a federal law that, among other things, prohibits deception and false advertising in the marketplace. The agency will investigate if practitioners have gone against Sections 5 and 12 of the act, which ban “unfair or deceptive acts” and false advertising, respectively. 

The commission “is uniquely positioned to investigate this potentially unlawful activity,” the agency stated, noting that the organization “has a long history of bringing enforcement actions” in health care. 

The agency “encourages members of the public to comment on any issues or concerns that are relevant to the FTC’s consideration of this topic, including by submitting any written data, advertisements, social media posts, disclosures, or empirical research,” the press release read. 

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, commended the agency “for investigating the horrific scheme to target minors with barbaric gender procedures.” 

“Everyone involved — including the ‘doctors’ — should face massive liability for the damage they did to vulnerable children,” Cotton said in a post on X.

This is not the commission’s first look at the transgender issue. Earlier this month, the agency hosted a workshop in Washington, D.C., to investigate “unfair or deceptive trade practices” within transgender treatment. 

The workshop brought in doctors, medical ethicists, detransitioners and their parents, and whistleblowers to share their testimonies. 

Andrew Ferguson, a Catholic Virginian who chairs the commission, told detransitioners and survivors that the agency “hears you, we hear all of you, and we want to understand how the law is being broken,” according to a report by Daily Wire. 

At the workshop, the U.S. Justice Department’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle announced that the department had issued more than 20 subpoenas against medical clinics as part of an investigation for fraud and false statements, National Review reported. 

The deadline for the public to submit comments is Sept. 26. Comments will be posted to Regulations.gov, while another forum is available for confidential comments.