A sign at the "popes' hospital," Gemelli Hospital in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Mar 6, 2025 / 06:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. Follow here for the latest news on his health and hospitalization:
A sign at the "popes' hospital," Gemelli Hospital in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, Mar 6, 2025 / 06:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis.
Follow here for the latest news on his health and hospitalization:
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis sprinkles ashes during the celebration of Mass on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at the Basilica of Santa Sabina located on Rome's Aventine Hill. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).Pope Francis said the Lenten journey reminds the Church that hope in Jesus Christ ultimately overcomes fears of fragility, weakness, and the brevity of life."Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty, and the hardships that can suddenly befall us and our families," the pope said in his homily prepared for Ash Wednesday. "Lent, however, is also an invitation to rekindle our hope," he said. "We are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life."The pope is continuing his medical treatment at Gemelli Hospital and was unable to attend the Mass held inside the Basilica of Santa Sabina located on Rome's Av...
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis sprinkles ashes during the celebration of Mass on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at the Basilica of Santa Sabina located on Rome's Aventine Hill. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis said the Lenten journey reminds the Church that hope in Jesus Christ ultimately overcomes fears of fragility, weakness, and the brevity of life.
"Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty, and the hardships that can suddenly befall us and our families," the pope said in his homily prepared for Ash Wednesday.
"Lent, however, is also an invitation to rekindle our hope," he said. "We are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life."
The pope is continuing his medical treatment at Gemelli Hospital and was unable to attend the Mass held inside the Basilica of Santa Sabina located on Rome's Aventine Hill.
"The ashes remind us that we are dust, but they also set us on a journey toward the hope to which we are called," Cardinal Angelo De Donatis said, reading the papal text. "Jesus descended to the dust of the earth and, by his resurrection, has drawn us with himself into the Father's heart."
Focusing on Easter as the reason for undertaking the journey of Lent, the pope in his homily told the congregation of cardinals, bishops, and religious brothers and sisters of Benedictine and Dominican orders that the risen Lord is waiting for us "at the end of the road."
"The hope of Easter that we journey toward reassures us of God's forgiveness," the Holy Father said, quoting his predecessor Benedict XVI. "Even while submerged in the ashes of sin, hope opens us up to the joyful acknowledgment of life."
Acknowledging the "social and political realities of our time" — including war, ideological opposition, abuse of power, and exploitation — the 88-year-old head of the Church said the world's problems should spur people to walk together, be open with one another, and turn to our God who wants peace and reconciliation.
"Let us turn back to God, let us return to him with all our hearts," the pope said. "Let us learn from almsgiving to go beyond ourselves, sharing each other's needs and nurturing the hope of a fairer world."
In his homily, the Holy Father also said accepting the fragility of our human condition "is good for us" as it reminds us who we really are "despite the masks we wear" and of our need for God.
"It reshapes us, reduces the severity of our narcissism, brings us back to reality, and makes us more humble and open to one another: None of us is God; we are all on a journey," he said.
"With this hope in our hearts, let us begin our journey. Let us be reconciled with God," the pope reiterated at the end of his March 5 homily.
Pope Francis administers confirmation during the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, April 4, 2015. / Credit: Martha Calderon/CNACNA Staff, Mar 5, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore has decided to lower the age of confirmation to 9 in a move designed to increase family involvement in the formation of youth. Amid growing disaffiliation from the Church, Catholic leaders across the country are striving to better catechize young people by lowering confirmation age requirements. The Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Diocese of Salt Lake City both lowered confirmation age requirements in December 2024. Other archdioceses including Seattle, Boston, and Denver have lowered their confirmation ages in recent years as well. For Lori, who has led the Archdiocese of Baltimore for nearly 13 years, the crux of the catechesis crisis is a lack of family engagement. After a "broad consultation" of Catholic theology, developmenta...
Pope Francis administers confirmation during the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, April 4, 2015. / Credit: Martha Calderon/CNA
CNA Staff, Mar 5, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).
Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore has decided to lower the age of confirmation to 9 in a move designed to increase family involvement in the formation of youth.
Amid growing disaffiliation from the Church, Catholic leaders across the country are striving to better catechize young people by lowering confirmation age requirements. The Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Diocese of Salt Lake City both lowered confirmation age requirements in December 2024. Other archdioceses including Seattle, Boston, and Denver have lowered their confirmation ages in recent years as well.
For Lori, who has led the Archdiocese of Baltimore for nearly 13 years, the crux of the catechesis crisis is a lack of family engagement.
After a "broad consultation" of Catholic theology, developmental psychology, and other dioceses' experiences, Lori said he found "the decisive factor" for young people remaining in the faith was family involvement.
"Purposeful engagement of families in the formation of their children is essential in our formation efforts," Lori wrote in a Jan. 22 pastoral letter. "Therefore, it is my sincere hope that, by more actively engaging parents in the preparation of their children's confirmation, the graces of the sacrament will take root in these young people's lives — sealing their missionary identity in the Spirit and sending them forth."
Disaffiliation has been a growing problem in the Catholic Church in the United States.
Recent studies have found increased numbers of people who don't identify with any religion, who check "none" when surveyed about their religious affiliation. A 2024 study by Survey Center on American Life found that nearly 4 in 10 Generation Z women say they are "unaffiliated." Meanwhile, young people are leaving the Church as early as age 13, according to a 2018 study.
Lori noted, however, that "changing the standard age of confirmation, cannot, in isolation, remedy the complex realities that have led to the disaffiliation from the Church in such great measure."
"To be sure — strengthened by the Holy Spirit — these young disciples will be better equipped to face the challenges of adolescence today, but they will demand no less care, support, and intentional accompaniment," Lori said. "For this reason, parishes must redouble their youth ministry efforts in a manner that is richly mystagogical and supports their growth in the Christian state of life."
While many Catholics in the U.S. are accustomed to confirmation occurring in high school or late middle school, the archdiocese noted that 9-year-olds are perfectly capable of receiving the sacrament at a young age.
"We often underestimate the zeal and readiness of the youngest of our disciples," Lori noted.
The archdiocese's formation webpage noted that confirmation "is truly about one's openness to the work of the Holy Spirit, not about how much one knows about the faith. Nine-year-olds are not just capable of this openness but are often particularly receptive."
Though many have come to associate confirmation with "becoming an adult in the faith," or as a "coming of age" sacrament, this is not accurate. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, confirmation "completes" baptism, increasing and deepening baptismal grace (Nos. 1303, 1305). confirmation is a sacrament of initiation, meant to mark and assist the faithful at the beginning of their Christian journey, not a "graduation" or completion of faith formation.
While the Latin rite typically confirms after the age of reason — usually defined as the age of 7 — Eastern rite Catholic churches typically baptize, confirm, and administer holy Communion in infancy.
The Baltimore Archdiocese's transition will begin in the 2025-2026 liturgical year in three phases, according to the archbishop's letter. Each parish will implement the change over the course of one to three years, depending on demographics, leadership capacity, and other factors.
Several parishes in the archdiocese have already piloted early-age confirmation programs, with good results including "fruitful engagement of parents and family," Lori noted.
"Let us together pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit among our young people, their families, and those who … minister to and with them," Lori said.
José Antonio Satué, bishop of Teruel and Albarracín in Spain. / Credit: Diocese of Teruel and AlbarracínMadrid, Spain, Mar 5, 2025 / 15:10 pm (CNA).A former teacher at an Opus Dei school in Spain has been asked to leave the personal prelature after being found guilty following a second Vatican investigation of alleged sexual abuse that occurred at the school more than 15 years ago.In what is know as the "Gaztelueta case" or the "Cuatrecasas case," a complaint was filed against José María Martínez, a teacher at Gaztelueta School (an Opus Dei institution located in Lejona, Spain) for the alleged sexual abuse of student Juan Cuatrecasas between 2008 and 2010.There was a canonical investigation into the case and Martínez was exonerated in October 2015. A Spanish court sentenced him to two years in prison after a long process that lasted from June 2015 to November 2020.In June 2022, Cuatrecasas met Pope Francis at the recording of the Disney documentary "The Pope Answers," which air...
José Antonio Satué, bishop of Teruel and Albarracín in Spain. / Credit: Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín
Madrid, Spain, Mar 5, 2025 / 15:10 pm (CNA).
A former teacher at an Opus Dei school in Spain has been asked to leave the personal prelature after being found guilty following a second Vatican investigation of alleged sexual abuse that occurred at the school more than 15 years ago.
In what is know as the "Gaztelueta case" or the "Cuatrecasas case," a complaint was filed against José María Martínez, a teacher at Gaztelueta School (an Opus Dei institution located in Lejona, Spain) for the alleged sexual abuse of student Juan Cuatrecasas between 2008 and 2010.
There was a canonical investigation into the case and Martínez was exonerated in October 2015. A Spanish court sentenced him to two years in prison after a long process that lasted from June 2015 to November 2020.
In June 2022, Cuatrecasas met Pope Francis at the recording of the Disney documentary "The Pope Answers," which aired in April 2023. The pontiff then decided to reopen the case and appointed Bishop José Antonio Satué of the Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín in Spain as delegate (judge).
Satué informed Martínez, who maintains his innocence, on Monday, March 3, of his conviction in the sexual abuse case that calls for his departure from Opus Dei.
As Martínez recounted on his blog, he was notified on March 3 of the sentence — which was signed Dec. 17, 2024 — with a note stating that he could not have been informed earlier because the bishop could not "free himself from other non-delegable and non-postponable obligations."
Martínez also emphasized the fact that Satué announced the sentence on the day the prelate was summoned to appear before a judge in Pamplona to defend himself against a suit filed by Martínez for violating his right to a good reputation.
According to Martínez, the court appearance was postponed because the bishop "has not provided the documentation that was requested and other requested material is missing that the Church has never made public."
According to a document dated Feb. 25 submitted to the court in charge of the case to which ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, has had access, the postponement of the hearing was made at the request of Martínez's defense.
The request for postponement was made because the notary José Luis Perucha, who had in his possession the documentation provided by Satué, claimed "to not have the requested documents as documentary evidence."
In addition, it is alleged that "the documentation requested from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has not been received" and that, at the time of submitting the document requesting postponement, Martínez had not been notified of the "conclusive decree of the administrative criminal process," i.e., the sentence communicated on Monday.
Martínez announced that he is considering appealing the decision to the Apostolic Signatura, the only Vatican judicial body that, in his opinion, "can stop this nonsense."
According to sources familiar with the case consulted by ACI Prensa, when the Vatican rejected Martínez's defense's request that Satué recuse himself from the case, they were told that when the sentence is eventually issued, if they contest it, they could turn to the Apostolic Signatura.
The same sources specified that the deadline to appeal to this court is 60 days from March 3, when the decree with the sentence was communicated.
Martínez reiterated his innocence and insisted on denouncing what he considers "irregularities of the canonical process": being tried twice for the same crime "because the initial acquittal did not please the person who put together the ecclesiastical court"; that "legislation approved after the alleged events" was applied; that Satué would urge him to plead guilty in his first communication to him; or that "legislation that has not been applied to any layperson" was used.
"The whole process has been a shameful farce. There has never been the slightest possibility of defending myself," Martínez said, having already written a letter expressing "great regret" in which he requested his departure from the institution founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá.
"I prefer to leave rather than be a problem," he explained, while thanking the support received "from many people in Opus Dei, who know perfectly well that I am innocent" and emphasizing his adherence to the apostolate's prelature: "In my conscience, [Opus Dei] will always be my spiritual family."
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2025, as Vice Preseident JD Vance (back left) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (back right) look on. / Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 5, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).President Donald Trump urged members of Congress to pass laws that build on his executive orders to curtail gender ideology in public life during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night."I want Congress to pass a bill banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body," Trump told members of Congress, which drew loud applause from Republican lawmakers and silence from Democrats. "This is a big lie and our message to every child in America is that you are perfect exactly the way God made you," Trump added. "... We're getting wokeness out of our scho...
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2025, as Vice Preseident JD Vance (back left) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (back right) look on. / Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 5, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).
President Donald Trump urged members of Congress to pass laws that build on his executive orders to curtail gender ideology in public life during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
"I want Congress to pass a bill banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body," Trump told members of Congress, which drew loud applause from Republican lawmakers and silence from Democrats.
"This is a big lie and our message to every child in America is that you are perfect exactly the way God made you," Trump added. "... We're getting wokeness out of our schools and out of our military and it's already out — it's out of our society. We don't want it."
Trump's March 4 address, which began shortly after 9 p.m., was contentious with Democrats at times. The president focused his first address to Congress in his second term on the executive orders he has signed and his desire for Congress to codify those policies into federal law.
Some issues he focused on included gender ideology, illegal immigration, affordability and the economy, domestic energy expansion, and efforts to reform the government and cut spending.
"My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future because the golden age of America has only just begun." Trump said. "It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before."
When the president noted that he won the popular vote during the beginning of his speech, he received loud applause from Republicans and jeers from Democrats.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a warning to Democrats after some of the jeers interrupted the president's speech, which ultimately led to him ordering the removal of Democratic Rep. Al Green following repeated violations. Many Democrats held signs that read "Save Medicaid" in protest of the House Republican spending plan.
"It's very sad and it just shouldn't be this way," Trump said in response to jeers from Democrats.
"For the good of our nation, let's work together and let's truly make America great again," he added.
During his speech, Trump spoke about several executive orders he signed to curtail gender ideology. This includes an order to deny federal funding for K–12 schools that "socially transition" a child's gender as well as an order that rescinds federal funds for health care providers that perform gender transition surgeries on children and offer them gender transition drugs.
During his speech, Trump commended one of the White House's guests, January Littlejohn, who sued the Leon County School Board in Florida after school officials socially transitioned her middle school daughter without Littlejohn's knowledge or permission. Trump called her a "courageous advocate against this form of child abuse."
"Stories like this are why shortly after taking office, I signed an executive order banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology," the president said. "I also signed an order to cut off all taxpayer funding to any institution that engages in the sexual mutilation of our youth."
Trump also highlighted his executive order to deny federal funds for K–12 schools and colleges that allow men to play in women's sports and praised former student athlete Payton McNabb for her advocacy against men competing against women.
"Three years ago, Payton McNabb was an all star high school athlete, one of the best, preparing for a future in college sports," Trump said. "But when her girls' volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton's face [that he caused] traumatic brain injury, partially paralyzing her right side and ending her athletic career. It was a shot like she's never seen before. She's never seen anything like it."
"From now on, schools will kick the men off the girls' team or they will lose all federal funding," Trump said, calling the practice of allowing men to play in women's leagues "demeaning for women" and "very bad for our country. We're not going to put up with it any longer."
The House of Representatives in January passed a bill that would have codified the ban on men in women's sports. However, this week, Democratic lawmakers blocked a similar bill in the Senate.
A woman receives ashes on the observance of Ash Wednesday at a church in Manila, Philippines, on March 5, 2025. The 40-day period of Lent begins for Catholics around the world on Ash Wednesday. / Credit: TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty ImagesVatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis asked Christians on Ash Wednesday to set out in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, full of hope, throughout the season of Lent.In his prepared March 5 catechesis, the Holy Father, who remains in Rome's Gemelli Hospital for treatment of double pneumonia, spoke about the 12-year-old Jesus' desire to live his mission as the Son of God."Jesus wants to live his vocation as the son of the Father who is at his service and lives immersed in his word," he said. "Jesus' first words [in the Bible] recognize that this paternity traces his origins from that of his heavenly Father, whose undisputed primacy he acknowledges." In his catechesis, the Holy Father also reflected on how Jesus' parents, Mary and ...
A woman receives ashes on the observance of Ash Wednesday at a church in Manila, Philippines, on March 5, 2025. The 40-day period of Lent begins for Catholics around the world on Ash Wednesday. / Credit: TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images
Vatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis asked Christians on Ash Wednesday to set out in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, full of hope, throughout the season of Lent.
In his prepared March 5 catechesis, the Holy Father, who remains in Rome's Gemelli Hospital for treatment of double pneumonia, spoke about the 12-year-old Jesus' desire to live his mission as the Son of God.
"Jesus wants to live his vocation as the son of the Father who is at his service and lives immersed in his word," he said. "Jesus' first words [in the Bible] recognize that this paternity traces his origins from that of his heavenly Father, whose undisputed primacy he acknowledges."
In his catechesis, the Holy Father also reflected on how Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph, had to mature in their own understanding of their growing son's vocation and mission.
Reflecting on St. Luke's Gospel account when the 12-year-old Jesus stayed back at the Temple of Jerusalem, the pope said Mary and Joseph felt the pain of parents with a missing child.
"Upon returning to the Temple," the pope said, "they discover that he who, in their eyes, until a short time before, was still a child to protect, suddenly seems grown up, capable now of getting involved in discussions on the Scriptures, of holding his own with the teachers of the law."
While having a "unique communion with the Word of God" as the mother of God, the Holy Father said Mary was not spared a demanding "apprenticeship" in learning God's will at each moment of her life.
"Throughout this journey, the Virgin is a pilgrim of hope, in the strong sense that she becomes the 'daughter of her Son,' the first of his disciples," the pope shared in his catechesis.
"Mary brought into the world Jesus, hope of humanity," he continued. "She nourished him, made him grow, followed him, letting herself be the first to be shaped by the Word of God."
By allowing themselves to be led by Jesus, the pope said Christians can imitate the "response of love" of Mary and Joseph during the season of Lent.
"Let us also set out in the footsteps of the Lord," the pope said in his Ash Wednesday catechesis.
Ashes at Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino in Rome. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 5, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).Ash Wednesday begins the holy season of Lent, which is structured to spiritually prepare to walk with the Lord through his passion and celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Below are 10 important things to know about Ash Wednesday and its significance.1. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days in which the Church calls the faithful to conversion and to truly prepare to live the mysteries of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.The Roman Missal, which prescribes the ritual for Ash Wednesday, explains that at Mass the ashes made from the palms blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year are blessed and placed on the foreheads of the faithful.2. The use of ashes developed over the years.The tradition of placing ashes on penitents dates back to the early Church. Back then people placed the ashes on their heads and a...
Ashes at Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino in Rome. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 5, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Ash Wednesday begins the holy season of Lent, which is structured to spiritually prepare to walk with the Lord through his passion and celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Below are 10 important things to know about Ash Wednesday and its significance.
Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days in which the Church calls the faithful to conversion and to truly prepare to live the mysteries of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Roman Missal, which prescribes the ritual for Ash Wednesday, explains that at Mass the ashes made from the palms blessed on Palm Sunday of the previous year are blessed and placed on the foreheads of the faithful.
The tradition of placing ashes on penitents dates back to the early Church. Back then people placed the ashes on their heads and appeared before the community with a "penitential habit" to receive the sacrament of reconciliation on Holy Thursday. Starting in the 11th century, the Church of Rome placed ashes on all the faithful who would come forward at the beginning of this time.
Ashes are a symbol. Their function is described in No. 125 of the Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy, a document published by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments:
"In the Roman rite, the beginning of the 40 days of penance is marked with the austere symbol of ashes, which are used in the liturgy of Ash Wednesday. The use of ashes is a survival from an ancient rite according to which converted sinners submitted themselves to canonical penance. The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent. The faithful who come to receive ashes should be assisted in perceiving the implicit internal significance of this act, which disposes them toward conversion and renewed Easter commitment."
The word "ashes" represents the product of the combustion of something by fire. This takes on a symbolic connotation of death, the fleeting quality of temporal things, but also of humility and penitence.
Ashes, as a sign of humility, remind the Christian of his origin and his end: "the Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground" (Gn 2:7); "until you return to the ground, from which you were taken" (Gn 3:19).
Per the instructions of the Roman Missal, ashes are typically supposed to be made from last year's Palm Sunday palm branches.
These branches are then burned down into a fine powder and, in the United States, are mixed with holy water or chrism oil to create a light paste.
The distribution of ashes takes place at Mass at the end of the homily, and laypeople are allowed to assist the priest. The ashes are placed on the forehead making the sign of the cross while the minister says: "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return" or "Repent and believe in the Gospel."
The person receiving the ashes then goes back to his or her pew in silence, meditating on the words that were spoken.
When there is no priest, the faithful can receive ashes without a Mass, but this is not the norm. However, in such a case it is recommended that the distribution of ashes be preceded by a Liturgy of the Word.
It is important to remember that like all sacramentals, ashes can only be blessed by a priest or deacon.
Anyone can receive this sacramental, even non-Catholics. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states in No. 1670: "Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it."
Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation and therefore receiving ashes is not obligatory. However, it is always recommended to attend Mass.
On Ash Wednesday, fasting and abstinence are mandatory — as on Good Friday — for those 18–59 years of age. Outside of those limits it is optional. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explains that "fasting on these days means we can have only one full, meatless meal. Some food can be taken at the other regular mealtimes if necessary but combined they should be less than a full meal. Liquids are allowed at any time, but no solid food should be consumed between meals."
Abstinence from eating meat is mandatory from the age of 14. All Fridays of Lent are also required days of abstinence. This also applies to the other Fridays of the year, although depending on the country it can be replaced by another type of mortification or offering such as praying the rosary.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
A statue of St. John Paul II stands outside Gemelli Hospital in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 06:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. Follow here for the latest news on his health and hospitalization:
A statue of St. John Paul II stands outside Gemelli Hospital in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 06:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis.
Follow here for the latest news on his health and hospitalization:
Anna Halpine, CEO of FEMM Foundation, at SEEK 2025 in Salt Lake City on Jan. 3, 2025. / Credit: Kate Quiñones/CNACNA Staff, Mar 4, 2025 / 15:40 pm (CNA).As in vitro fertilization (IVF) rises in popularity, discussion continues surrounding its ethics as well as about how to respond to the plight of couples struggling with infertility. One group addressing that need is FEMM (Fertility Education and Medical Management), which focuses on the root causes of women's reproductive health issues, offering various kinds of support for infertility.Anna Halpine, CEO of FEMM, founded the organization in 2012 to expand options for women's health care. FEMM provides women from puberty to menopause with health support and information, offering telehealth resources as well as an app to track cycles and symptoms. FEMM serves a lot of women who struggle with fertility issues, offering them alternatives to IVF, which is often an arduous and expensive process. IVF is a fertility trea...
Anna Halpine, CEO of FEMM Foundation, at SEEK 2025 in Salt Lake City on Jan. 3, 2025. / Credit: Kate Quiñones/CNA
CNA Staff, Mar 4, 2025 / 15:40 pm (CNA).
As in vitro fertilization (IVF) rises in popularity, discussion continues surrounding its ethics as well as about how to respond to the plight of couples struggling with infertility. One group addressing that need is FEMM (Fertility Education and Medical Management), which focuses on the root causes of women's reproductive health issues, offering various kinds of support for infertility.
Anna Halpine, CEO of FEMM, founded the organization in 2012 to expand options for women's health care. FEMM provides women from puberty to menopause with health support and information, offering telehealth resources as well as an app to track cycles and symptoms.
FEMM serves a lot of women who struggle with fertility issues, offering them alternatives to IVF, which is often an arduous and expensive process.
IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in a woman's uterus until birth. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos. An estimated 600,000 frozen embryos are in storage in the U.S. alone, with some estimates at upwards of a million.
The Trump-Vance administration recently initiated an executive order expanding IVF access — a move widely opposed by the U.S. Catholic bishops, who urged restorative reproductive medicine as an ethical alternative to infertility.
FEMM, which takes insurance, offers an alternative to IVF that looks at women's health from a holistic perspective.
"We have a lot of patients who've struggled with fertility. Some of them have even failed multiple IVF attempts," Halpine said. "We love taking care of these patients."
Halpine noted that going through infertility is always "a very sensitive, private, and personal time."
"It's a very painful phase for couples to go through infertility. It's very difficult to want to go through your medical history with a lot of providers," Halpine said. "We understand that, [and] we do think that based on the patient outcomes we're seeing, we have a lot to offer many women."
FEMM begins by looking at how much it can help to "restore health," Halpine explained. "Infertility itself is not a diagnosis. We want to know what the underlying diagnosis is."
While in select cases — such as a case where a woman doesn't have her fallopian tubes — FEMM physicians don't have the resources to help, in many cases Halpine has seen successes.
"If necessary surgeries have removed organs that are necessary to a natural conception, we won't be able to help," Halpine said. "But in many other instances, we can, because so much [of] the scarring or inflammation that impedes pregnancy, so much of the untreated or undiagnosed endometriosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome that women are left with, which then create pregnancy challenges — a lot of that can still be addressed even later on."
The FEMM app, which is free, helps users develop baseline knowledge of their menstrual cycles and reproductive health. If they are struggling with various hormonal or reproductive health problems, FEMM provides a way for them to track and chart symptoms, and connects them to a global network of FEMM doctors and educators to help with treatment.
"FEMM really started because we saw that despite all of the discussion about women's health, very little women's health care is actually available," Halpine told EWTN News president Montse Alvarado on "EWTN Pro-Life Weekly" on Feb. 27.
"We also saw that we really have the science, the knowledge, and the clinical care to be able to bring this information to women, empower them to understand their own bodies, to know what's healthy and normal, and to have the freedom and access to health care and information that they need to make the choices they want," she continued.
"We know that it's time to change the standard of care," Halpine said. "Women deserve to be able to receive a diagnosis and treatment of the root cause instead of just Band-Aids for ongoing symptoms."
FEMM is dedicated to addressing the whole person so women don't have to go back and forth between a variety of specialists.
"Women have this feeling that their body is a whole, and they want health care that addresses that," Halpine told EWTN.
The secret to holistic women's health care "is really reproductive endocrinology," Halpine explained.
"Reproductive endocrinology is just the science of hormones, which serve as a conduit through our whole bodies," she continued. "The brain sends hormones as signals to every system of our body to tell it what to do. Understanding that as a unifying principle really allows us to provide health care to women that answers their whole variety of needs."
FEMM's research arm, the Reproductive Health Research Institute (RHRI), develops medical protocol, trains doctors, and approaches women's health from the perspective that ovulation is a sign of health.
"Health care cannot be just reduced to women's issues or specific reproductive or sexual issues," Halpine continued. "It needs to address the whole range of a woman's body. And reproductive endocrinology or the knowledge of hormones allows us to help her and her provider to understand what's going on and understand what's needed."
FEMM provides an alternative to the standard, blanket prescribing of contraceptives for various medical issues such as polycystic ovarian syndrome and other symptoms such as acne, hirsutism, weight gain, and heavy bleeding.
"Contraception is the standard of care for most women for most symptoms," Halpine told CNA. "It is true that those symptoms will often feel better. But what we want to let young women know is that we can also do more."
For Halpine, it's about getting to the root of the problem.
"We want, where we can, to get to the root cause of what's going on and really restore and correct that. Most women want that as well," Halpine said.
The good news, Halpine said, is that "the science has advanced."
"We can do more than we were able to do for women in the past, and that's a really important and powerful message that women love to receive," Halpine said. "They're eager to get this care and support. And the better they feel, the happier they are."
FEMM also works with couples using natural family planning (NFP), a method that involves monitoring signs of fertility to determine when a woman is most likely to conceive.
"FEMM works very well for natural family planning purposes," Halpine said. "We have guidelines, and we work with couples on a regular basis to help them understand their fertility and how they can use this knowledge to achieve or avoid pregnancy."
FEMM can help women with fertility awareness "whether it's spacing her children or whether it's conceiving and managing and maintaining a healthy pregnancy," Halpine noted.
This begins by making sure a woman has a healthy cycle, Halpine explained.
"That provides the groundwork to make sure she has that healthy conception, healthy pregnancy, maintains that pregnancy," Halpine explained. "So she and the baby are both having those healthy outcomes now and setting up good outcomes for life. So that's a huge part of the population we love to serve."
The flag of the European Union. / Credit: U. J. Alexander/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Mar 4, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).In the context of the growing geopolitical complexity and uncertainty surrounding peace in Ukraine, the presidency of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) issued a statement on Tuesday, March 4, expressing strong support for Ukraine.The European Catholic bishops stated that "Ukraine's struggle for peace will also be decisive for the fate of Europe and the world." They also emphasized that "Ukraine's struggle for peace and the defense of its territorial integrity is not only a fight for its own future. Its outcome will also be decisive for the fate of the entire European continent and of a free and democratic world." In a geopolitical landscape that the bishops of the European Union described as "complex" and marked by "the unpredictability of the actions taken by some members of the international community," the COM...
The flag of the European Union. / Credit: U. J. Alexander/Shutterstock
ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 4, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
In the context of the growing geopolitical complexity and uncertainty surrounding peace in Ukraine, the presidency of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) issued a statement on Tuesday, March 4, expressing strong support for Ukraine.
The European Catholic bishops stated that "Ukraine's struggle for peace will also be decisive for the fate of Europe and the world."
They also emphasized that "Ukraine's struggle for peace and the defense of its territorial integrity is not only a fight for its own future. Its outcome will also be decisive for the fate of the entire European continent and of a free and democratic world."
In a geopolitical landscape that the bishops of the European Union described as "complex" and marked by "the unpredictability of the actions taken by some members of the international community," the COMECE presidency urged the European Union and its member states "to remain united in their commitment to support Ukraine and its people."
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law. The use of force to alter national borders and the atrocious acts committed against the civilian population are not only unjustifiable but demand a consequent pursuit of justice and accountability," the bishops said.
The prelates also pointed out in their press release that a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine can only be achieved through negotiations, which must be supported by strong transatlantic and global solidarity, and include Ukraine.
They noted that "in order to be sustainable and just, a future peace accord must fully respect international law and be underpinned by effective security guarantees to prevent the conflict from re-erupting."
In addition, COMECE urged the international community to "continue to assist Ukraine in the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure" and specified that Russia "must adequately participate in this effort."
The European bishops also emphasized that Ukraine is "the victim in this war and Russia the aggressor," stressing that any attempt to distort the reality of this aggression must be "firmly rejected."
Regarding Ukraine's application to join the European Union and the internal reforms undertaken to achieve this goal, the European bishops urged the EU to "advance with the enlargement process in a timely and fair manner alongside other candidate countries."
The statement concluded by expressing the hope that the European Union "will remain faithful to its vocation to be a promise of peace and an anchor of stability to its neighborhood and to the world," particularly at a time when the contours of a new global security architecture are being redrawn.
The president of COMECE, Bishop Mariano Crociata of Italy, insisted on the need for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and warned against "a shameful spectacle" that falsely portrays the victim as the aggressor.
The response of the European bishops comes in the wake of the tense meeting on Feb. 28 between U.S. President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the Oval Office. During the televised meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance reproached Zelenskyy for his alleged refusal to cooperate in the efforts for peace and for even "playing with World War III." Trump warned Zelenskyy that he would withdraw U.S. military support for Ukraine and on Tuesday the Trump administration put a temporary pause on the aid.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
