The Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington D.C. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 21, 2025 / 18:18 pm (CNA).

Catholic churches that serve Spanish-speaking communities in the Archdiocese of Washington have reported anxiety as encounters with immigration enforcement continue to function as a major aspect of the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital. 

Sacred Heart Shrine in Columbia Heights reported that six of its parishioners were detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in recent weeks, including an usher who was on his way to evening Mass. Other parishes in the archdiocese have also expressed concern amid the current situation in the District.

This comes after the Trump administration announced Aug. 11 the deployment of federal agents and the National Guard in order to crack down on widespread crime in D.C.

Following an executive order from Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, D.C. police officers have been permitted to notify ICE agents of encounters with undocumented migrants, resulting in tight collaboration between the two law enforcement agencies in the city. 

Sacred Heart Shrine’s pastor, Father Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap, told Religion News Service that one of the parishioners detained by ICE was a man in marriage preparation, while another was in a confirmation class. 

Some of the detainees, the pastor noted, were stopped by immigration officials while on their way to the shrine for catechetical classes over the past several weeks. Bisoco estimated in the report that Mass attendance at his parish has dropped about 20% from 2,500 to less than 2,000 people.

The priest also said the parish WhatsApp chats “have been filled with immigration agent sightings and warnings to parish members.”

Biosca Agüero declined to comment to CNA on the story.

Last month, an ICE spokesperson told CNA: “While ICE is not subject to previous restrictions on immigration operations at sensitive locations, to include schools, churches, and courthouses, ICE does not indiscriminately take enforcement actions at these locations.”

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” the spokesperson noted, adding: “All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention, and, if found removable by final order, removed from the United States.”

According to the RNS report, attendance at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in the Petworth neighborhood of D.C. has also gone down. 

The communications director at Our Lady Queen of the Americas parish, Kevin Arevalo, told CNA that “the parishioners that we have had coming to Sunday Mass have expressed concerns and fears over the situation here in D.C.”

Arevalo said there have not been any detentions on church grounds and that he is not aware of any parishioners being detained on their way to attend Mass at the parish or nearby. 

However, he noted several detentions he has heard of have taken place in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant, and many parishioners of Our Lady Queen of the Americas “have to go through those areas to get to our parish.” 

As such, Arevalo and the parish’s administrator, Father James Morrison, are currently preparing alternative ways to reach the community amid rising fears regarding immigration enforcement. 

“I know that most of them live pretty far and go out of their way to come here for our Masses and activities,” he said, “so we’re looking at using digital media and our channels, our online channels, to reach out to them and serve them in whatever best way possible we can.”

He concluded: “We definitely won’t stay quiet about this because our parish, the majority, is Hispanic-Latino community. So you want to make sure that we’re listening to them and we’re attentive to what they’re going through.”

At the time of publication, the Archdiocese of Washington has not responded to requests for comment. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) declined to comment.

Syrian Minister of Culture Mohammed Saleh with Islamic chanter Al-Mu’tasim Billah Al-Assali inside St. Ananias Orthodix Church in Damascus, Syria. Billah Al-Assali performed an Islamic hymn with lyrics that directly contradict Christian beliefs. / Credit: Screenshot from Muhammad Moaz Zakaria’s Facebook page

CNA Staff, Aug 21, 2025 / 17:56 pm (CNA).

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

Syrian minister of culture sparks controversy with Islamic chant in Orthodox church

Syrian Culture Minister Mohammed Saleh was criticized this week after a video surfaced showing him at a historic Orthodox church with Islamic chanter Al-Mu’tasim Billah Al-Assali, who performed an Islamic hymn with lyrics that directly contradict Christian beliefs.

According to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, the video was filmed inside the Church of St. Ananias in Damascus, a Greek Orthodox landmark built in 1815. It shows Saleh with Billah Al-Assali, who performed a chant that calls Christ “a creation” and says that he came “bearing good news of Mohammad.”

The footage sparked a backlash on social media, drawing criticism from Christians as well as Muslims who voiced disapproval and described it as a “provocation.”

Desecrated church in Philippines reopens 

More than a thousand people participated in a Mass held at the newly reopened St. John the Baptist Church in the town of Jimenez in Misamis Occidental province in the Philippines on Aug. 16, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) news service reported.

The 19th-century church in the Philippines was temporarily closed after Christine Medalla, a 28-year-old vlogger, allegedly spat into the font, an action Ozamiz’s Archbishop Martin Jumoad described as a “grave act of sacrilege.” According to Crux, Medalla denied the allegation.

Jumoad presided at the Mass and the rite of reopening and reconciliation. “With hearts full of faith, the parishioners … gathered in thanksgiving as our beloved parish church was reopened and reconsecrated,” the church said in its statement.

Korean bishop remembered for humility, love for the poor dies at 63

An auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seoul, Korea, known for his humility, frugality, and love for the poor, died on Aug. 15 at 63 of bile duct cancer, UCA News reported.

As head of the archdiocesan social service ministry, Yu led the Church’s outreach to those in need and spent time on the front lines feeding the poor and ministering to their needs. He frequently visited the Church’s social welfare facilities, listening to stories of suffering, and visited Catholics who were homeless, bringing them the sacraments and praying the rosary with them on the streets. 

Before his death, Yu said: “There were many things I wanted to do for the poor, but I am heartbroken that I cannot be there.”

Yu, who wrote three books, was born in Seoul in 1962 and graduated from the Catholic University of Korea. After studying at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, and completing his military service, he was ordained a priest in 1992 in Seoul and earned a doctorate in theology from the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany. Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of the Seoul Archdiocese in 2013. Known for his modest lifestyle, Yu kept a low profile and reportedly drove the same small, old car for decades.

African press group calls for development of ethical guidelines for use of AI

A meeting of the Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP) ended with a call for media institutions in Africa to develop ethical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

According to ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, over 100 Catholic journalists, speakers, and content creators gathered at the UCAP congress in Accra, Ghana, Aug. 10–17 from more than 19 African nations to reflect on the theme “Balancing Technological Progress and the Preservation of Human Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI).”

A series of resolutions and recommendations were shared with ACI Africa on Aug. 20 in which UCAP members “emphasized that technological progress must never take precedence over the human person and that the Church and media professionals alike have a responsibility to ensure that AI serves the common good.”

Police called to Catholic college in Bangladesh due to fear of protesting teachers

Administrators of a Catholic college in the Mymensigh Diocese in Bangladesh sought police protection last week when teachers and students threatened a public demonstration on campus.

Father Thadius Hembram, head of Notre Dame College, run by the priests of Holy Cross Congregation, told UCA News on Aug. 18 that he wrote to the district police chief saying: “We fear harm to life and property of the college. Therefore, we are requesting you to help us maintain law and order until the situation normalizes.”

In July, a group of 11 teachers issued a statement announcing a boycott of classes until demands were met. The college reportedly promised to fulfill the demands but the issues have not been resolved. One college official has blamed “pro-Islamist” teachers who are targeting the institution. Bangladesh is a majority-Muslim country. 

Although protestors postponed their planned Aug. 17 event, Hembram said the ongoing situation has been “chaotic and tense” and was “disrupting the academic environment of the institute.” He also said a committee has been formed to investigate the situation and next steps will be decided based on the committee’s recommendations. 

Bishop: Attacks on Ireland’s Indian community are shameful, betray ‘true irish welcome’

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick in Ireland has called recent attacks on the Indian community in Ireland “shameful” and a “dreadful misrepresentation of the true Irish welcome.” 

Leahy made the comments at a recent retreat for the Syro-Malabar community in which hundreds of people traveled to Limerick from across the country, according to the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. 

The bishop also expressed his admiration for the Syro-Malabar Church in Ireland. “I always admire your wonderful commitment to gathering together for a time of prayer and reflection, supporting and encouraging one another in the company of your beautiful families and friends. And there are always so many of you,” he said.

James Dobson during an event marking the National Day of Prayer in the East Room of the White House on May 1, 2008, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 21, 2025 / 15:19 pm (CNA).

James Dobson, the evangelical Christian psychologist, author, and founder of Focus on the Family, an influential family counseling ministry, passed away on Aug. 21. He was 89 years old.

Dobson advised five U.S. presidents on family policy, most recently as a member of President Donald Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory board. He was considered a leading light in the American conservative movement’s fight for traditional family values, including a focus on defending the institution of marriage as between one man and one woman for life, biblical sexual ethics and gender roles, and innocent life through opposition to abortion.

“James Dobson was the indispensable man,” Peter Wolfgang, president of Family Institute of Connecticut Action, an affiliate of the Family Policy Councils that Dobson helped start, told CNA. “Just as I don’t think the Soviet Union would have collapsed without Pope John Paul II, I don’t think we’d be where we are in the culture wars without him. He was a builder of institutions.”

In 1977, after leaving nearly two decades in academia and private practice in California, Dobson began Focus on the Family, which produced a daily radio program that provided parenting advice as well as encouraged Christians to advocate for biblical values in schools and the wider culture. The radio program was carried by more than 7,000 radio stations around the world and had hundreds of millions of listeners.

“Focus on the Family is the mothership; it is where it all began,” Wolfgang noted. The organization, which by the 1990s had a budget that exceeded $100 million and produced, in addition to its radio programs, print publications, video projects, and camps, was the first of several ministries and organizations Dobson started. 

Key role in founding Alliance Defending Freedom

Dobson also helped found the Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defense Fund, now known as Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), in 1994, as well as the Washington-based political advocacy group Family Research Council. He was also involved in the founding of ecumenical, state-based Family Policy Councils, which exist in about 40 states. 

In 1986 Dobson served on the U.S. Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, where he met Alan Sears, who became CEO, president, and general counsel of ADF for 26 years. 

“I am sad to learn of the passing of my ally and friend, Dr. James Dobson,” Sears said in a press release. “He gave us the greatest gift any person can give: his name and reputation. It was an incredible trust and turned out to be a gift that changed the world.”

He continued: “It was through Focus on the Family that the ADF theme verse, John 15:5, was adopted, which acknowledges that ‘without Christ, we can do nothing.’ This has been the cornerstone of everything ADF has accomplished, and Dobson’s legacy will continue on through the many ministries he envisioned and led.”

Current ADF CEO and Chief Counsel Kristen Waggoner said: “Dobson’s bold leadership and commitment to the Gospel shaped the lives of so many and will continue to do so many years after his passing.”

Dobson’s leadership in the ‘culture wars’ 

According to Wolfgang, “James Dobson did more than any other single individual” to bring about the “turning of the tide” in the “culture wars,” as evidenced by the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the collapse of the transgender movement.

“He is the man who gave us the tools to do it,” Wolfgang said. 

In the beginning years of the contemporary pro-family movement in the U.S., “the larger movement was mostly evangelical,” Wolfgang said, noting, however, that “it was ecumenical. It was Catholic-friendly.”

“I’m just so grateful for what Dobson did,” Wolfgang continued. “I love the Catholic faith, we have the fullness of the truth, but in the late 20th century, we didn’t build the institutions to fight back like he did. We’re just now starting to do that. It was really Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council — all of that universe that began with Dobson — that really gave pro-life and pro-family Christians the tools.”

“The Protestant scene, like the Values Voter Summit, was the nuts and bolts on how to turn culture around. ‘How do we win on the state and federal level?’” Wolfgang continued.

He said it was not just Dobson’s advocacy for the family that helped but his ability to fight for it in the public realm.

“We’re living at a time now where a lot of our sturdy evangelical allies have started to go a little wobbly on the biggest cultural issues of the day,” he continued.

“Focus on the Family never lost its focus. It never strayed from the vision of its founder. It is like how religious orders in the Catholic Church who follow the vision of their founder flourished. They never lost their focus,” Wolfgang said.

Praise of the Catholic Church

In an historic moment in 2000, Dobson and Chuck Colson, another prominent evangelical leader, along with other Protestant and Catholic advocates for a Christian view of sexuality and the family, met with Pope John Paul II at a three-day conference in Rome.

Though the theological divides between Catholics and Protestants separated the Christian groups, they united over the “breakdown of the family and the deterioration of the respect for human life,” Russell Hittinger, a law professor at The Catholic University of America, said at the time.

Dobson himself said that “when it comes to the family, there is far more agreement than disagreement, and with regard to moral issues from abortion to premarital sex, safe-sex ideology and homosexuality, I find more in common with Catholics than with some of my evangelical brothers and sisters.”

Paul McCusker, who worked with Dobson at Focus on the Family for almost 20 years as a writer and director for the “Adventures in Odyssey” audio series, told CNA: “Dr. James Dobson was a man of Godly integrity, dedication, and immense love for the family. He was a help and guide to millions of people, offering wisdom and advice to couples, parents, and kids in all conditions.”  

A convert to Catholicism, McCusker is currently a senior content creator for the Augustine Institute. 

“He was a leading voice where families needed one. His creative vision allowed for efforts like ‘Adventures in Odyssey’ and so many other programs that have inspired the past couple of generations,” he continued. “Personally, I am grieved, even while celebrating Dr. Dobson’s greatest of homecomings.”

Early life and career

Born in 1936 in Louisiana, Dobson came from generations of Christian faith. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all pastors in the Church of the Nazarene. 

Dobson studied psychology as an undergraduate and received his doctorate in psychology in 1967 from the University of Southern California.

He worked as a professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine for 14 years and spent 17 years in the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics, leaving both positions in 1976.

He published his first book and most famous parenting tome, “Dare to Discipline,” in 1970 in response to the disintegration of the family he encountered in his clinical practice. In the book, he encouraged parents to assert their authority over their children, advocating for restrained but principled corporal punishment.

He went on to publish nearly 70 books on parenting, discipline, traditional values, and marriage.

Dobson is survived by his wife of nearly 65 years, Shirley, and two children, daughter Danae and son Ryan, along with daughter-in-law Laura and two grandchildren.

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, speaks with “EWTN News Nightly” on March 4, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 21, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and founder of the Catholic ministry Word on Fire recently warned about the proliferation of fake videos created with artificial intelligence (AI) circulating on social media impersonating him.

“The presence online of these videos generated by artificial intelligence that purport to be from me and that are not from me” is a problem that is becoming “increasingly difficult,” the prelate warned in a message posted Aug. 20 on his official social media.

Barron recounted that a few months ago, a woman told him that she felt so bad about an altercation he supposedly got into in a restaurant in Chicago, which was actually a fake video.

“I said I’ve not been in a restaurant in Chicago for about five years. Well, it was one of these AI-generated silly videos,” he explained.

He also recalled another case in which he was supposedly summoned to Rome by Pope Leo XIV for “high-level discussions.” The bishop clarified: “I’ve met Pope Leo once — it happened a couple of weeks ago in Rome; we put it up on our social media. I shook his hand and he smiled at me. That’s my one contact with him. I’m not being summoned to Rome for high-level discussions.”

A video even circulated in which he supposedly gave recommendations on how to “remove demons from your toilet.”

“My point,” Barron said, is “this is all ridiculous. And I think if you spend just a moment, you can tell the difference between an authentic video from me and one of these fakes.”

The bishop warned that this phenomenon is not harmless: “These are fraudsters. What they’re doing is making money off these things because they monetize them through ads … So it’s not just harmless fun people are having. It’s doing damage to my reputation, but it’s also doing damage to people who are being defrauded.”

In response, he urged the faithful not to be fooled: “Don’t take these silly things seriously. Don’t watch them. And what you look for is something on my YouTube channel, something on the official Word on Fire channel, and there’s a blue check you can see next to my name, the profile name. Look for that: That’s the sign that it’s a video from me.”

Finally, he called for common sense: “When you see these goofy images that are obviously generated by a computer and you hear me talking about some wild thing, I hope you have the sense to know ‘Look, that’s not really Bishop Barron speaking.’”

“It’s becoming increasingly a problem and I want you to know about it and do what you can to battle it. And God bless you,” he concluded.

Leo XIV’s concern for the ethical use of AI

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has expressed particular concern about the ethical use of AI. On June 7, the pontiff underscored the “urgent need” for “serious reflection and ongoing discussion on the inherently ethical dimension of AI as well as its responsible governance.”

A month later, in his message to participants at the AI ​​for Good 2025 summit held in Geneva, Switzerland, he recalled that “although responsibility for the ethical use of AI systems begins with those who develop, manage, and oversee them, those who use them also share in this responsibility.”

In his letter, the pope urged the promotion of “regulatory frameworks centered on the human person” and “proper ethical management” of AI technologies at both the local and global levels.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The Ten Commandments outside the Texas Capitol. / Credit: BLundin via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

CNA Staff, Aug 21, 2025 / 12:12 pm (CNA).

A federal judge has partially blocked the state of Texas from enforcing its law ordering the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools. 

In a colorful ruling replete with off-the-cuff observances on topics ranging from Greta Garbo to the speed of Earth’s orbit, District Judge Fred Biery said the Texas law — signed by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year — could pressure children into “religious observance” in violation of the U.S. Constitution. 

The state government did not establish a “compelling interest” in imposing such a burden on students, Biery said, and further it failed to make the law “narrowly tailored” enough to pass constitutional muster. 

“There are ways in which students could be taught any relevant history of the Ten Commandments without the state selecting an official version of Scripture, approving it in state law, and then displaying it in every classroom on a permanent basis,” he wrote. 

The judge suggested that the state Legislature could alternately require schools to display moral lessons not directly connected to religious practice, such as quotes from Unitarian minister Robert Fulghum’s book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” 

The ruling applies to nearly a dozen school districts, including the independent school districts of Houston and Fort Bend. The suit had been brought by a coalition of parents on behalf of their children. 

State Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement to media that his office will “absolutely be appealing this flawed decision.” 

“The Ten Commandments are a cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage, and their presence in classrooms serves as a reminder of the values that guide responsible citizenship,” he said. 

This is not the first setback over the past year for advocates of displaying the Ten Commandments in schools. 

In November 2024 a federal judge in Louisiana blocked that state’s Ten Commandments law, calling it “coercive” and “unconstitutional.” 

Elsewhere, in June 2024 the state of Oklahoma directed school districts to incorporate the Bible into middle school and high school curricula, with the state superintendent citing its historical and cultural significance in helping “contextualize” the present-day United States. 

One poll in June showed that a majority of U.S. adults support allowing Christian prayer in schools, though other polling showed a larger number believing the practice shouldn’t be mandatory, with more than half opposing teachers being allowed to lead classes in prayer.

A child who lost his left hand in the June 2025 Yelewata massacre is treated at Nigeria’s Benue State University Teaching Hospital. / Credit: Courtesy of Ekani Olikita/Truth Nigeria

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Nigeria is the deadliest country in the world for Christians, according to the new chair of the U.S. Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF).

Vicky Hartzler, a Republican who represented Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years, became chair of the commission in June. In an interview with CNA, she said of her new mission: “We want to make a difference. We want to save lives.”

Hartzler’s top priority is Nigeria. Citing statistics from Open Doors, an international organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians, Hartzler said 69% of Christians killed worldwide in 2023 died in Nigeria, with more than 50,000 killed since 2009. The violence includes mass killings of worshippers, such as the June attack on a Catholic mission where more than 200 people were slaughtered.

Hartzler is calling on the U.S. State Department to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and pressure its government to better protect citizens and prosecute those committing crimes against religion.

Iran and China remain major focuses. In Iran, Hartzler said more than 900 executions took place in 2024, and 96 Christians received sentences totaling more than 260 years in prison.

China, meanwhile, continues its so-called sinicization campaign, especially against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, requiring mosques and churches to display portraits of leader Xi Jinping and replace traditional worship with Chinese Communist Party propaganda. Hartzler said these examples not only represent repression but also are systematic attempts to erase authentic religious practice.

Stephen Schneck, who served as chair of the USCIRF under President Joe Biden and is a former director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America, equates USCIRF’s work within a Catholic tradition of defending religious liberty, tracing back to the Second Vatican Council’s declaration of religious freedom Dignitatis Humanae.

He warned of “a historic uptick in the persecution of religion around the world” and highlighted two genocides in Asia: against Uyghur Muslims in China and the Rohingya in Myanmar. For Schneck, it is vital not only to document these atrocities but also ensure they remain in international focus.

Fellow Commissioner Maureen Ferguson, a former senior fellow at The Catholic Association and EWTN radio host, wants to draw attention to Nicaragua, where President Daniel Ortega’s regime has targeted the Catholic Church by arresting priests, expelling nuns, and even monitoring homilies.

“When they kick out the nuns, what are the nuns doing?” Ferguson asked. “They take care of the street girls, the elderly poor who are dying. Who’s taking care of them now? The government is certainly not taking care of these people.”

Ferguson also pointed to Cuba’s ongoing repression of churches and independent religious voices as another regional priority for USCIRF. 

She framed international religious freedom as part of a broader defense of human dignity. “The right to practice your faith is one of the most fundamental human rights,” Ferguson said, linking it with conscience rights and the sanctity of life. 

Schneck said USCIRF’s bipartisan structure adds weight to its recommendations. But he cautioned that designations such as CPC or the Special Watch List are not enough without enforcement.

“Too often these designations come with no sanctions, or sanctions are waived,” he said.

Hartzler and her fellow commissioners also highlighted USCIRF’s Victims List, which features individuals imprisoned or tortured for their beliefs. By publicizing their names and stories, the commission seeks to pressure governments into releasing them and to remind the world that religious persecution is not abstract but lived by real people.

The commissioners all agree that Americans have a role to play. Hartzler urged people not just to pray but also to act: calling elected officials, pressing the White House and State Department, and demanding that religious freedom be a core element of U.S. foreign policy.

Ferguson called for the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, former Congressman Mark Walker, to strengthen U.S. diplomatic efforts.

The U.S. State Department is expected to release the annual International Religious Freedom report soon.

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, as amended. The commission monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad; makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress; and tracks the implementation of these recommendations.

Judge Frank Caprio served for decades as chief municipal judge in Providence, Rhode Island. / Credit: StephanieRPereira, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 19:14 pm (CNA).

Frank Caprio, who served as a Providence, Rhode Island, municipal court judge for nearly 40 years and came to be known as “America’s nicest judge,” passed away on Aug. 20 from pancreatic cancer.

“Beloved for his compassion, humility, and unwavering belief in the goodness of people, Judge Caprio touched the lives of millions through his work in the courtroom and beyond. His warmth, humor, and kindness left an indelible mark on all who knew him,” read a statement posted on his official Facebook page.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee ordered flags in the state to be flown at half staff at all state agencies and buildings until the day of Caprio’s internment, and he also asked Rhode Island residents to lower their flags out of respect.

Caprio gained worldwide fame for a lenient judicial style that blended justice, extreme empathy, and mercy when his courtroom was televised in a program called “Caught in Providence.” The program began in 1999 and went viral in 2017, achieving hundreds of millions of views since then. The show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 and has a YouTube channel with nearly 3 million subscribers.

When handing down judgments for low-level offenses like parking and speeding tickets, Caprio told EWTN News correspondent Colm Flynn on “EWTN News In Depth” in February that he always kept in mind something his father, a hardworking Italian immigrant with a fifth-grade education, had impressed upon him: “What might seem like a small fine to some was something that many couldn’t afford.”

“That’s why I would always inquire: ‘Tell me a little bit about what’s going on in your life,’” Caprio said.

“Your case is dismissed” became Caprio’s signature phrase.

When other judges asked him why he would be so lenient, he said: “I would just place myself in the shoes of the person before me.” 

Caprio dismissed the case of a 96-year-old man, Victor, who had an outstanding unpaid speeding ticket, the first one in his life, which he received while taking his disabled son to a doctor’s appointment. Four years later, Caprio celebrated the man’s 100th birthday with him.

“Watching my father, I learned how to treat people with respect and dignity,” Caprio said.

Early life and education

Caprio was born in 1936 in Providence, Rhode Island, the second of three sons of Italian immigrants Antonio Caprio and Filomena Caprio, who emigrated from Naples. 

Caprio attended Providence public schools, winning a state title in wrestling when he attended Central High School, and later graduating from Providence College in 1958. While teaching American government at Hope High School, he pursued a law degree at Suffolk University School of Law, attending night classes and passing the bar in 1965. He became a judge in 1985 and served until his retirement in 2023.

Caprio said that his father, a fruit peddler and milkman, used to wake him and his brothers at 4 a.m. to accompany him on his milk delivery rounds. 

“I had the most privileged childhood you could imagine,” Caprio told Flynn. “I had the privilege of being brought up poor.”

He described living in a “cold water flat,” an apartment that had no hot water. 

Caprio’s father told his sons if they “didn’t want to stay on this milk cart for the rest of your life, you better stay in school.” 

One day when he was around 12 years old, Caprio said, his father put his hand on his shoulder and said: “You’re going to be a lawyer someday, and you can’t charge poor people like us.”

The elder Caprio showed his sons how to be compassionate even as a poor milkman, refusing to stop milk deliveries when customers could not pay.

Caprio’s father continued to be a powerful presence in his life even after he became a judge. On his first day on the bench, Caprio required a belligerent, rude woman with multiple parking tickets to pay the full amount she owed and impounded her car. At the end of the day, he asked his father, who had been watching: “How’d I do?” 

His father told him he was too harsh with the woman, even if she did have a bad attitude. He told him she had three kids and might not be able to feed them that night.

“Because you’re in a position of power doesn’t mean you have to use it against people who don’t have power,” Caprio’s father said to him.

It was a lesson he would never forget.

“I was just trying to be decent with everyone. I never sat on the bench and thought I was better than anyone else or that I was superior to them in any way,” Caprio told Flynn.

Cancer diagnosis

Caprio was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2023. 

A devout Catholic, Caprio’s faith sustained him during a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in 2024, where he sang “Ave Maria” at the grotto, describing it as a profound spiritual moment.

He told Flynn he hoped his fans would pray for him after his cancer diagnosis because “I have a deep and abiding faith in the Catholic Church, in Jesus, in the power of prayer.” He said his faith in God and the prayer from all his fans kept him going.

He asked for prayers again on Aug. 19, posting a video on Facebook. He passed away the next day.

Career, legacy, and honors

Caprio, a Democrat, served on the Providence City Council for six years, from 1962 to 1968, and lost the general election for Rhode Island attorney general in 1970. He served as a delegate for five Democratic National Conventions. Caprio also served in the Rhode Island Army National Guard.

He was actively involved in several community organizations, including the Boys Town of Italy and the Rhode Island Food Bank. He co-chaired the Rhode Island Statue of Liberty Foundation, raising funds for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Additionally, he served on the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. Caprio was also a member of the President’s Council at Providence College.

At Suffolk University School of Law, Caprio established the Antonio “Tup” Caprio Scholarship Fund, named after his father, to support Rhode Island students dedicated to enhancing access to legal services in the state’s poor, urban neighborhoods. Caprio also created scholarships at Providence College, Suffolk Law School, and for Central High School graduates, all honoring his father’s legacy.

Caprio received two honorary doctorates and a Producer’s Circle Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival along with the Daytime Emmy nomination. His former municipal courtroom was renamed “The Chief Judge Frank Caprio Courtroom” in 2023. 

An avid Boston Red Sox fan, Caprio threw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park in 2019.

In 2025 he published his memoir, “Compassion in the Court: Life-Changing Stories from America’s Nicest Judge.”

Caprio is survived by his wife of 60 years, Joyce, with whom he had five children: Frank T. Caprio, David Caprio, Marissa Pesce, John Caprio, and Paul Caprio. The couple had seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A view of a marijuana plant on Aug. 11, 2025, in San Anselmo, California. Cannabis company stocks surged by up to 10% on reports that the Trump administration is considering rescheduling marijuana on the federal level, from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. The move would step toward the decriminalization of the drug nationwide. / Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 20, 2025 / 16:58 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump announced he might loosen the federal restrictions on marijuana, but moral and legal scholars who spoke with CNA this week expressed concern about the drug and its impact on American society.

The federal government considers marijuana — also referred to as cannabis, the name of the plant that contains psychoactive compounds called cannabinoids — a Schedule I substance. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), this is reserved for drugs with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Trump said in a news conference Aug. 11 that he is considering rescheduling it to Schedule III, which is a drug “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” and has abuse potential “less than Schedule I,” according to the DEA.

“We’re looking at reclassification and we’ll make a determination over the next … few weeks and that determination will hopefully be the right one,” the president said.

Trump called it a “very complicated subject” and said he hears good things about medical cannabis and bad things “with just about everything else.”

Federal law prohibits the sale of marijuana for recreational and medical use, but 40 states have medical cannabis programs and 24 states legalized recreational use. Both violate federal law, but the government has generally allowed states to regulate it as they see fit rather than enforce the prohibition.

Rescheduling marijuana would not lift the ban, but it could reduce criminal penalties, open the door for more medical research, and potentially be a step toward further deregulation.

Charles Nemeth, the director of the Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics at Franciscan University, told CNA that Schedule III is “generally for more minor things” and “the seriousness and the impact is supposed to be reflected in these schedules.”

“The [federal] ban would not exist in the same way [if Trump reschedules marijuana],” Nemeth said. “Right now, the drug is an illicit drug and it can be a felony, depending on how much you have or how much you’re selling.”

“It [would] have an enormous impact on the policymaking of law enforcement, decision-making, [and] what they concentrate on,” he added. “They [would] not look at the drug as much as they used to.”

Concerns about recreational use

The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not directly mention marijuana but broadly teaches “the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life.” It calls drug use a “grave offense” with the exception of drugs used on “strictly therapeutic grounds,” such as treatment for a condition.

Nemeth said “marijuana’s destructive impact” is clear in studies about mental acuity and brain development, calling it “destructive to intellectual formation.” He also pointed to concerns that it may harm fertility.

On top of this, Nemeth noted the immediate impact of the high, saying: “It shuts your mind down; it makes you less intellectually curious than you normally would be.”

“It’s so contrary to human flourishing,” Nemeth said. “There is nothing that comes from the perpetual smoking of marijuna that has a positive impact on the human person.”

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, also has concerns about rescheduling marijuana, telling CNA that labeling it a Schedule I drug has “sent a much-needed message to Americans and drawn a kind of moral line for many years.”

“Adults who smoke[d] marijuana regularly during adolescence have decreased neural connectivity (abnormal brain development and fewer fibers) in specific brain regions,” he said. “These notable effects of marijuana on brain development may help to explain the association between frequent marijuana use among adolescents and significant declines in IQ, as well as poor academic performance and an increased risk of dropping out of school.”

He said drug users “seek to escape or otherwise suppress their lived conscious experience and instead pursue chemically-altered states of mind, or drug-induced pseudo-experiences.”

“Any time we act in such a manner that we treat something objectively good as if it were an evil by acting directly against it, we act in an immoral and disordered fashion and make a poor and harmful choice,” Pacholczyk said.

Catholic Answers’ senior apologist Jimmy Akin echoed those concerns, noting that “all mind-altering substances — including both marijuana and alcohol — have the potential to be misused in sinful ways.”

“The classic Catholic moral analysis distinguishes imperfect intoxication, which does not rob one of the gift of reason, from perfect intoxication, which does and disposes one to commit grave sins,” he told CNA. “To deliberately engage in perfect intoxication is itself gravely sinful.”

Jared Staudt, a Catholic theologian who serves as director of content for Exodus 90, told CNA “a federal reclassification would only further the damage” of recreational marijuana.

“It’s time to acknowledge that legalization has proven to be a failed experiment,” he said.

What about medical cannabis?

Trump’s primary motivation for the potential rescheduling is his interest in research for medicinal uses of cannabis.

According to Akin, “Catholics may have different opinions on the best legal policy regarding marijuana.” He said learning about medicinal uses could have benefits but that Catholics should make informed decisions.

“Catholics contemplating using medical marijuana should consider whether the science actually supports its use as the best treatment for a condition or whether the science has been ‘cooked’ to make marijuana more available,” he said. “If marijuana really is the best treatment for a condition, it is licit to use it for that purpose. If there is a better treatment, then that should be used instead.”

Nemeth expressed concern about most purported uses of medical cannabis. He said there are almost always alternatives to marijuana, which is a “mind-altering … product.” For mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, he said it may mask symptoms “just because you’re high” but does not provide a cure and could exacerbate issues long-term.

“Most people who need to be high all the time are either anxious people or unhappy people or people in distress,” he said.

Alternatively, some Catholic hospitals have engaged in research about the use of medical cannabis as an alternative to opioids for pain management.

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 13:26 pm (CNA).

Pro-life activists in New York state were awarded $1 this month after a court found that a county abortion clinic rule violated their constitutional free speech rights. 

The Thomas More Society brought suit in federal district court in 2022 against New York’s Westchester County over its rule forbidding “interference” with abortion access there. 

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found in favor of pro-life sidewalk counselors Oksana Hulinsky and Regina Molinelli, with District Judge Philip Halpern ruling on Aug. 12 that the county ordinance violated the activists’ free speech and due process rights. 

The plaintiffs were only seeking “nominal damages” in the suit, the court noted, leading Halpern to order the $1 award. The county had already repealed the ordinance in question prior to the ruling.

Thomas More Society attorney Christopher Ferrara said in a press release that the ruling sends a “powerful message to municipalities nationwide” that “vague laws targeting pro-life speech will not stand.”

“Westchester County’s pro-life sidewalk counselors seek only to offer compassionate, life-affirming alternatives on public sidewalks — as is their First Amendment right,” he said. 

“Westchester’s arrogant overreach tried to silence their voices, but this decision helps reaffirm their constitutional freedom to share the pro-life message.”

The law firm, however, noted that it would appeal an earlier court ruling that upheld parts of the law that forbid so-called “following-and-harassing” behavior.

Rules regarding conduct outside of abortion clinics have become legal flashpoints in the abortion debate around the U.S. and internationally in recent years. 

The Supreme Court earlier this year refused to hear a case involving a “buffer zone” around abortion clinics in Carbondale, Illinois. That rule criminalizes approaching within eight feet of another person without his or her consent for purposes of protest, education, or counseling within 100 feet of a health care facility.

In 2023 a Washington state county judge ordered a pro-life group to pay nearly $1 million to Planned Parenthood for gathering and praying outside of one of its abortion clinics. 

Earlier this month, a 28-year-old man was found guilty of assaulting two elderly pro-life activists in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Baltimore, though the perpetrator was sentenced to just one year of home detention. 

Last year, meanwhile, a national “buffer zone” law went into effect across England and Wales barring protests outside abortion facilities. Officials stipulated that silently praying outside of abortion clinics is “not necessarily” a crime under the new rules.

Father Charles Gallagher, pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., with Auxiliary Bishop Juan R. Esposito-Garcia at the blessing of the Frassati Chapel on Aug. 9, 2025. / Credit: Steve and Bernadette Dalgetty

Washington D.C., Aug 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

After years of planning, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., officially opened its new Frassati Chapel earlier this month. Members of the parish say they hope it will help galvanize Catholics to make perpetual adoration possible in the city. 

The chapel was blessed on Aug. 9 by Bishop Juan R. Esposito-Garcia, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington.

Named after the soon-to-be canonized Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati — who was known to spend hours throughout the night in adoration — the Frassati Chapel will serve as a place for Catholics in the District to pray throughout the day and to attend Eucharistic adoration at designated times throughout the week. 

As of yet, no parish in Washington, D.C., offers perpetual adoration, but Immaculate Conception’s pastor, Father Charles Gallagher, said he hopes Catholics in the city will band together to change the tide. 

A place for people in the capital to pray before the Blessed Sacrament  

Located on the ground floor of a building one block from the church, the Frassati Chapel has just enough room for the tabernacle, a handful of chairs, and a kneeler. A portrait of Frassati hangs on the wall alongside a relic of his clothes.

“I thought it would be really cool to have a little chapel in the place with an outside-access door so that people could just come and go,” Gallagher said, noting the idea came to him while in conversation with some of the young adults in the parish. “Everyone was thrilled with the idea.”

“I think this really can fill what I believe is a real need in the capital city here, where there is no perpetual adoration,” he said, explaining that most churches in the archdiocese only offer a few hours per day.

Gallagher pointed out that while many Catholics, himself included, grew up with perpetual adoration chapels in their suburban communities, no such thing exists in D.C.

“[Adoration] has always been something very special to me,” he said. “I remember before I was in seminary, at my home parish in Hyattesville [Maryland], St. Mark’s, there was a perpetual adoration chapel.”

“When I was discerning more about whether to enter the seminary, I would go there sometimes to pray, and it just had a powerful impact on me,” he recalled. “And so that’s just been part of something just central to our own prayer life.” 

When Gallagher first arrived at Immaculate Conception eight years ago, the parish had one Holy Hour per month. He said he remembered thinking: “That’s awesome — but we can improve.” The parish has since grown its adoration times from one hour per month to three hours per week. “It’s not a ton, but it’s a significant increase, so that’s been the trajectory.” 

All adoration times at the parish are now located in the new Frassati Chapel, except for the parish’s exceedingly popular Holy Hour at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, which is regularly attended by 50 to 60 people, according to Gallagher.

“There’s a need not just to have Eucharistic exposition, which is a great blessing, but to have a place for people to pray before the Blessed Sacrament before and after work hours, basically, because there’s nothing like that,” he said.

Gallagher emphasized the particular need for such a place in D.C., where he said “there is a real temptation to worship power.”

“I think there’s just something about giving people access to just sitting before God and worshipping God has a way of just grounding people and giving them peace, but also giving them perspective,” he said. “When you walk around town, there’s these monuments that are just overwhelming; and the deals that are made here, the power brokers that live here, the major politicians. I don’t need to emphasize how crucial the city is in the world of prayers.”

‘Like an explosion of grace in the city’

Kevin J. Parker, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception since 2001, told CNA that the opening of the Frassati Chapel is “a wonderful move: both seemingly old fashioned but at the same time innovative.” A sacristan and lector at the parish, Parker has devoted the past year to researching the parish’s history from its founding in 1864 to the present.  

“Immaculate Conception,” he said, “is no stranger to innovation.” According to the retired fundraising consultant, “the first time a Mass was ever broadcast live on East Coast radio was from Immaculate Conception in 1930.” 

“It’s been a challenge getting to this point,” he said of the chapel, “but I think that a lot of us are thrilled that this is finally happening.” 

Parker added: “I think that our move to revive — or reinvigorate the practice of perpetual adoration — is something that is greatly needed, particularly in Washington where so many have seen their careers and livelihoods disappear overnight and where, I believe, we feel the weight of world events and suffering perhaps more than other places.”

“I think that the biggest challenges, frankly, are logistical and ensuring that access to the chapel is simple and safe at all hours,” he continued.

“The story of the parish is one of faith, resilience, and innovation, and the Frassati Chapel represents one more way in which our little Church is both responding to and a leader in facing some of the challenges that face us today,” he said.

Olivia Morris, 28, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception since January 2023 and a graduate student at George Washington University, has also been looking forward to the chapel opening, in particular due to her schedule. 

“I don’t operate on the 8-5 schedule like everyone else in the city so having a chapel open for me to go pray when I need it will bring untold blessings to my life,” she said. 

Morris stressed the importance of Immaculate Conception’s efforts to bring perpetual adoration to the city, declaring: “Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament being exposed perpetually will literally change the fabric of the city of Washington.” 

“The lifestyle in D.C. that tells young people to work harder and longer hours, earn more money and advance in their careers to be happy is not satisfying,” she said. “Young people are waking up to that lie and are very aware of their thirst for something deeper. That is why we are seeing so many young people convert to Catholicism or return to the Church after years of being away … I am convinced that we would see more peace in the city, more conversions of hearts, and just an all around better D.C. if we had perpetual adoration.” 

Echoing Morris, another parishioner, Taylor Dockery, 28, told CNA: “Perpetual adoration would serve a tremendous benefit to the spiritual health of our city. The collective sacrifice it would require, in a city where so many pack their schedule, would be a powerful and visible testament to the Catholic faith.”

An Immaculate Conception parishioner since 2023, Dockery expressed the importance of adoration in his life as “an intentional pause” outside Sunday Mass. “I am excited!” he said of the chapel’s opening. “I know there’s been years of prayer and work to bring it to completion.”