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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2025 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Father Tad Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), discussed on EWTN this week the moral concerns and risks of in vitro fertilization (IVF) following the Trump administration executive order promoting access to the treatment.

In a Feb. 20 interview on EWTN's "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo," Pacholczyk said IVF is "called a pro-life, pro-family technology, but at its core, it's not."

"I think it's good to start out and emphasize that it's good to hear the president seeing the importance of family formation," Pacholczyk said. However, he continued, "there are a number of concerns that arise in the wake of this technology … that has just galloped forward largely driven by commercial concerns."

IVF concerns

Pacholczyk detailed numerous moral concerns with IVF that do not align with Catholic teaching.

"There is this propensity to produce extra embryos, many of whom will either be discarded or frozen. Sometimes they get caught in stasis for literally decades or forever," he said. "They're never rescued out of that freezing situation."

"You've certainly heard of the situations when people are implanted with three or four embryos," Pacholczyk continued.

"What happens if they all take? Well, then you have to have what's called selective reduction, and they go in and destroy one or two of the growing babies in that case to help with the pregnancy for the remaining two babies," he said.

Pacholczyk has previously addressed this concern in his NCBC column "Making Sense of Bioethics," where he referred to discarded or frozen embryos as the "collateral damage" of IVF.

In the interview, Packolczyk also highlighted the moral issues involved when families opt for sex selection of embryos during the IVF process.

"Do you want a boy? Do you want a girl? There's this quality control, which is, of course, just a fancy word for eugenics that is part and parcel of this entire technology."

The priest called IVF a "two-edged sword." He said: "There's a death-dealing edge to the sword that pops up throughout the entire practice of in vitro fertilization."

Pacholczyk also said there are risks to surviving embryos. 

"There is known to be a higher risk of birth defects in the babies that are born this way," he said.

Pacholczyk said that even in cases where women adopt embryos from other couples and implant them in their own wombs, it is still morally wrong. He explained that embryo adoption contributes to the commercialization of human life by creating a demand for embryos.

"So you actually feed into the cycle of cooperation in evil by promoting something like this," he said. 

Pacholczyk added that the Alabama Supreme Court law that ruled embryos created via IVF are children under state law brought "some coherence to this issue."

"We've been in this situation where we're calling the embryo different things depending on what it is we want. I think the Alabama decision cut through that and said: 'No, we can't do that. We've got to be consistent and coherent here,'" he said.

Suggested regulations

Pacholczyk told Arroyo that if he were advising the Trump administration on IVF policies he would urge "regulation" rather than "cooperation or encouragement of this practice."

He suggested drafting regulations that limit the number of embryos that can be created and require that all of them must be implanted in the mother. He said he would urge the administration to set up a system similar to the Human Fetal Tissue Ethics Advisory Board that was in effect during Trump's first term.  

Pacholczyk, who was a member of the board, said: "We made decisions about funding for experiments that used fetal tissue. It was amazing the work that they did. We need some more advisory commissions like that."

Pacholczyk emphasized funding and developing treatments for infertility must take priority over IVF to figure out the "underlying causes" of why couples are unable to have babies. 

"That whole approach gets sidelined. As soon as you offer the IVF industry to couples, they go down that road almost immediately," Pacholczyk said. 

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Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 06:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis, the Vatican said. On Tuesday he was diagnosed with double pneumonia but on Wednesday and Thursday showed "slight improvement," according to the Vatican. However, the Vatican confirmed it is likely Pope Francis will not recite the Sunday Angelus this weekend.

Follow here for the latest news on Pope Francis' health and hospitalization:

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ACI Africa, Feb 21, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) has called for "racial reconciliation" in response to ongoing land reform disputes causing tension between South Africa and the United States government.

In early February, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly signed the Expropriation Act into law, permitting the government there to seize land without compensation. This policy aims to address historical land disparities favoring the country's white minority.

President Donald Trump criticized the move, stating: "South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly." In response, he issued an executive order suspending all aid to South Africa, citing concerns over alleged discrimination against white Afrikaners.

In an interview with the SACBC communication office, the director of the SACBC Justice and Peace Commission, Father Stan Muyebe, OP, said the recent dispute between the two governments has reopened the wounds of land injustices during the apartheid era in the southern African nation.

He said that South Africa is still trying to recover from its "painful past of apartheid, painful history for a lot of people."

The development in South Africa concerning land, he said, "is a very complex and very sensitive issue that calls for genuine reconciliation."

"Racial reconciliation in South Africa cannot be comprehensive if the land matter is not handled properly," Muyebe said in a Feb. 17 interview. He decried what he described as the "manufacturing of facts and misrepresentation" surrounding South Africa's post-apartheid land reform, calling it a highly sensitive issue that has been "unfortunately exploited by recent developments in global geopolitics."

"Hearing what has been presented by the United States, but also in the media, there are some aspects that are facts, but there's also manufacturing of facts, misrepresentation," he said.

Muyebe made reference to the country's constitution and explained that any land restitution should not undermine food security or economic productivity.

He said further in reference to the constitution: "Although the government has introduced new legislation to accelerate land redistribution, controversy remains regarding the extent and manner of compensation."

"We are confident that this matter will be addressed when the legislation is taken for review at the constitutional court, which will most likely happen," the priest said.

Muyebe expressed optimism that the planned national dialogue on land reforms in South Africa would provide a collective solution to land issues and other areas of contention in the country.

According to a Reuters report, the U.S. administration's disapproval of South Africa's land reform policies has jeopardized the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade agreement allowing South African agricultural products tariff-free access to U.S. markets.

According to the report, the potential revocation of AGOA benefits could adversely affect South African industries, including wine and citrus producers. Some U.S. lawmakers advocate for terminating AGOA benefits due to South Africa's land policies, arguing that the reforms discriminate against white farmers.

In the Feb. 17 interview with the SACBC communications office, Muyebe also weighed in on the suspension of U.S. foreign aid to South Africa, describing the move as a wake-up call to African leaders to address "dependency" and "find a way in which critical programs that we have in Africa should be funded internally."

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Feb 21, 2025 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

A federal judge has denied a request from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to block a federal funding freeze that the bishops say will greatly harm refugee aid efforts in the United States. 

The USCCB sued the Trump administration earlier this week over what the bishops said was an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee resettlement and aid programs. The suspension came via one of several executive orders President Donald Trump issued shortly after taking office. 

The results of the suspension have been "devastating," the bishops said, with the prelates reporting "millions of dollars in pending, unpaid reimbursements for services already rendered to refugees" along with "millions more each week."

In their suit the bishops had asked for a temporary restraining order against the White House. In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden denied that request.

McFadden in the decision said restraining orders are "an extraordinary remedy." Courts only grant them, he said, when plaintiffs show "likely success on the merits, likely irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, a balance of the equities in its favor, and accord with the public interest."

"The court finds that plaintiff has not made the requisite showing and will thus deny plaintiff's motion to the extent that it requests a temporary restraining order," McFadden ruled.  

The bishops had requested a "preliminary injunction" in addition to the restraining order. In his ruling McFadden said the court would set "an expedited schedule for additional briefing" to consider the injunction request, though the order did not say when the next briefing would occur. 

The U.S. bishops have been warning for several weeks on the potential fallout surrounding the Trump funding freeze, which has impacted numerous programs both domestically and internationally. 

In January they asked Catholics to reach out to their members of Congress and request the resumption of foreign aid funding following the White House's freeze. 

The pause "will be detrimental to millions of our sisters and brothers who need access to lifesaving humanitarian, health, and development assistance," the bishops said at the time.

Earlier this week, following the filing of the lawsuit, USCCB spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the bishops have for years partnered with the U.S. government and "helped nearly a million individuals find safety and build their lives in the United States."

"We are urging the government to uphold its legal and moral obligations to refugees and to restore the necessary funding to ensure that faith-based and community organizations can continue this vital work that reflects our nation's values of compassion, justice, and hospitality," she said. 

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CNA Newsroom, Feb 21, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

As German voters prepare for federal elections on Feb. 23, the country's Catholics find themselves navigating unprecedented divisions on issues that cut to the heart of Church teaching, from migration policy to gender ideology and the protection of life.

The elections come at a time when traditional party allegiances are being questioned and multiple Catholic voices are speaking with markedly different emphasis on key moral and social issues.

What do the current polls show?

Recent polls place the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) at around 30%, followed by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) at approximately 20%. The Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens are polling around 15% each, with the SPD holding a slight advantage. Other parties, including the FDP, the Left Party, and BSW face uncertainty about clearing the 5% threshold required for parliamentary representation.

How have Catholic organizations responded to party positions?

The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) — the country's most prominent lay Catholic organization — has strongly criticized the CDU's recent "paradigm shift" on migration policy.

According to an analysis by the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost using artificial intelligence tools, the ZdK's political expectations show the strongest alignment with Green Party positions, particularly on "climate protection" and "social justice."

While taking a more nuanced view, the ZdK's positioning has drawn sharp criticism from prominent Catholic politician and former defense minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU), who left the ZdK over its approach to migration policy and its tone in debates about the CDU's proposed changes.

"One holds one's own position as the only correct one," Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, criticizing what she called an "apodictic and condemnatory" tone taken by the ZdK.

"When our society becomes increasingly polarized until people face each other irreconcilably, extremist forces have an easy game," she warned.

What is the bishops' position?

In an ecumenical statement released this month, Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, along with Protestant and Orthodox leaders called on voters to support parties "committed to our democracy." The statement explicitly warned that "extremism and especially ethnic nationalism are incompatible with Christianity," reported CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner.

The German bishops' conference has previously declared the AfD "unelectable" for Christians, citing the party's "ethnic nationalism" ideology — a finding the party has categorically rejected, according to CNA Deutsch.

What are the key issues for Catholic voters?

Three major areas have emerged as particularly contentious:

Migration: CDU leader Friedrich Merz advocates for stronger border controls, while the bishops' conference warns against compromising humanitarian obligations. A motion Merz introduced with AfD support has been called an "unforgivable mistake" by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of SPD. Meanwhile, the AfD calls for mass deportation of migrants.

Life issues: The CDU maintains support for Germany's current abortion regulations as a "hard-won societal compromise," while the SPD and Greens advocate for legalization. Germany currently permits abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with mandatory counseling at a state-approved center. The AfD calls for a "welcoming culture for children" while criticizing current policies.

Gender policy: Addressing a conference in Germany this week, just before the election, the Vatican's doctrine chief delivered a pointed critique of gender ideology at a theological conference in Germany. The SPD and Greens support "gender mainstreaming" and changing family law to give various living arrangements and partnerships equal status. The CDU states it supports "diversity of sexual orientations" but rejects "gender as an ideological concept."

The AfD says it wants to stop all subsidies for "research based on gender ideology."

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CNA Staff, Feb 21, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

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

Planned Parenthood offers abortions in Missouri

Planned Parenthood is once again offering abortions in Missouri following the passage of a referendum in November that enshrined a right to abortion in the Missouri Constitution.

Voters passed Amendment 3 in November establishing a right to "reproductive freedom," but Planned Parenthood initially held off on offering abortions in the state. Abortion became illegal in the state, except in cases of emergency, after the state's 2019 "trigger law" went into effect following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The decision to resume offering abortions comes after Jackson County circuit judge Jerri Zhang temporarily blocked abortion restrictions on Feb. 14. Zhang wrote in the three-page ruling that the regulations were unnecessary and the licensing requirement for abortion clinics was discriminatory. 

Planned Parenthood CEO Margot Riphagen celebrated the decision, calling the state licensing requirements "another politically motivated barrier to prevent patients seeking abortion from getting the care they need."

But Susan Klein, executive director of Missouri Right to Life, called the decision a "tragic day for Missouri mothers and unborn children" in a Feb. 17 statement, where she highlighted the potential dangers of limited regulations.

The regulations that were ruled unconstitutional under Amendment 3 include a requirement that only doctors perform abortions as well as an examination requirement to determine the unborn child's gestational age and any preexisting conditions. Regulations requiring the sterilization of surgical instruments and the ready availability of emergency equipment during the procedure were also ruled unconstitutional. 

Pro-life group criticizes Trump plans for IVF expansion 

A pro-life group criticized the Trump administration's expansion of access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), saying the cost of life is higher than abortion. 

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 the mother's womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos.

The pro-life group American Life League (ALL) voiced opposition to the IVF expansion, saying in a Wednesday statement that "it is not a pro-life decision."

"The reality is that more babies die from IVF than abortion. This fact is continuously ignored by our lawmakers, who obliviously call IVF a pro-life action, or celebrate 'more babies,'" said ALL National Director Katie Brown. "This blatant ignorance will cost millions of innocent lives."

Brown urged President Donald Trump "to take time to fully understand what IVF is" and to reverse the decision.

Delaware pregnancy centers defend free speech 

A nonprofit religious network of pregnancy care centers filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Delaware last week challenging a recent state Senate bill requiring pregnancy centers to post disclaimers in their facilities and advertising.

The bill requires pregnancy centers to post disclaimers stating that they don't have a licensed medical provider directly overseeing services and are not licensed as medical facilities. 

In the lawsuit, argued by law firms Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Simms Showers, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) maintained that the disclaimers are unnecessary and misleading — and that they constitute compelled speech. 

Anne O'Connor, vice president of legal affairs at NIFLA, said in a Feb. 13 statement that the bill "is clearly unconstitutional as it destroys the free speech of pregnancy centers solely because they are pro-life and help women who are facing unplanned pregnancies."

ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot cited Roe v. Wade's overturn as a starting point after which "state attorneys general have ramped up their efforts to silence, censor, and shut down pregnancy care centers across the country." 

Lawsuit against abortion time off revived 

A U.S. appeals court reopened a lawsuit by 17 states that challenged a federal rule requiring employers to give employees who have abortions the same benefits as mothers who are pregnant or recently gave birth.

The three-judge panel found that the states led by Tennessee had legal standing to sue because they are employers who must comply with it.

This decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a judge's dismissal of the lawsuit last year after the rule was enacted last April by the Biden administration.

The 2024 rule — enacted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — required employers to grant sick leave or time off for employees who had abortions.

The rule was designed to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a law passed in 2022 with bipartisan support. The PWFA was enacted to accommodate workers who were pregnant or had pregnancy-related conditions by granting them sick leave or time off to see doctors, but the EEOC rule extended those related conditions to include getting an abortion or using contraception.

The states argued that the rule went beyond the purview of the PWFA and violated the First Amendment, according to court documents.

The rule applies to all public and private employers with 15 or more workers and is contingent on the accommodations not presenting an "undue hardship on the operation of the business of the covered entity."

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Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis is "not out of danger" due to his age and fragile health, his medical team told journalists on Friday. 

During a Vatican press conference at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, both Dr. Sergio Alfieri, head of Gemelli Hospital's medical team, and Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope's referring doctor at the Vatican, said the 88-year-old Holy Father must remain in the hospital for "enhanced" treatment.

"The hospitalization will be as long as it takes for him to return safely to Santa Marta [his Vatican residence]," Alfieri told journalists on Friday. "He will stay here at least all next week. He is better, but the situation may change. Here at Gemelli, he is a very good patient." 

The Holy Father, according to Alfieri, asked him "to say that he is an old man with chronic diseases with the mind of a 50-year-old man" who wishes to continue his work caring for the universal Church.

"At 88 he is leading the Church and not sparing himself; he has become fatigued," Alfieri said. "It has been possible to isolate microorganisms; there are viruses, myocytes, and bacteria [and] there are chronic diseases that can be contained."

The Gemelli medical team head confirmed that the pope continues to read, work, and sign documents while at the hospital.

Elaborating on the specific details of the Holy Father's medical condition, Alfieri said: "He had pus with a respiratory tract infection … At first there was no pneumonia [but] in the following days we noticed with a CT scan a bilateral pneumonia that is still there." 

Though the pope is "not attached to machines," he occasionally uses oxygen support to assist his breathing. Alfieri added: "He knows he is in danger, the risk can be that of sepsis, that is, germs passing into the blood. But today there is no such situation." 

At Gemelli, the pope's medical reports are written by Alfieri, Carbone, and a team of infectiologists, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, and pulmonologists.

Carbone, the pope's doctor at the Vatican, told journalists on Friday that the Holy Father "is fragile and not out of danger [as] it takes very little to have imbalances." 

"The pope has chronicities, such as asthmatic bronchitis, that can flare up," he said. "The pope responds to the therapies that have been enhanced and not changed."

"The pope is not a quitter," Carbone told journalists toward the end of the press conference. 

Since Feb. 14, the Holy Father has undergone a series of daily diagnostic tests and complex cortisone antibiotic therapies to treat his respiratory infections and pneumonia alongside his other chronic illnesses.

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Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

Local Catholics and jubilee pilgrims in Rome are praying for Pope Francis' recovery as he marks one week in the hospital for treatment for pneumonia.

Pilgrim groups and individuals from around the world continue to travel to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year, and though they won't catch a glimpse of the pontiff, he is close to their hearts.

As they prepared to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, a group of about 50 pilgrims from Our Lady of Nantes Parish in France told CNA they are praying for the pope's full recovery.

The group was planning to attend the Angelus with the pope on Feb. 23, but now, "we pray for him and we hope that everything will be OK," seminarian Aymeric Dor said.

Dor recalled that one of the conditions to receive the Holy Door plenary indulgence is to pray for the pope's intentions, which he said they are doing: "We are praying for his health too."

Agata Eccli, who is part of a pilgrimage of 57 people from different parishes and towns in Poland, said her group is not only praying for Pope Francis during their visit to St. Peter's Basilica but also at each of the stops they make on an Italy-wide pilgrimage, including the tomb of St. Anthony in Padua, St. Francis in Assisi, St. Peter in Rome, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Families are also keeping the ailing pontiff in their prayers, including Italian couple Andrea Paradisi and Chiara Costa, who brought their 4-month-old baby Margherita on a pilgrimage to Rome over the weekend for the jubilee. 

Marcin Bogacki of Warsaw, Poland, told CNA he has fond memories of visiting Rome as a child during the Jubilee Year in 2000 and wanted to have the same experience with his own young family. 

Though his wife is expecting their second child and was unable to fly at this time, Bogacki brought his mother and his 4-year-old son. He said they are praying for Pope Francis, for the Church, for a private family intention, and for his wife and their unborn baby.

Rome prays

Across Rome, local Catholics are offering Masses and special prayers for Pope Francis' health. 

The chaplain of Gemelli Hospital — where the pontiff is receiving treatment — is offering Mass for Francis every day at 1 p.m. in the hospital's chapel.

On Feb. 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter — a day that commemorates the authority Jesus gave to the pope — a group of Catholics will gather outside Gemelli Hospital to pray a rosary for the pope's health.

At the Basilica of St. Mary Major, every Mass is being offered for the pope, the basilica's communications director told CNA, including Masses celebrated in the chapel of the ancient Salus Populi Romani image of Mary — a favorite of Francis, who spends time in prayer in the chapel before and after every international trip.

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Vatican City, Feb 21, 2025 / 06:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis, the Vatican said. On Tuesday he was diagnosed with double pneumonia but on Wednesday showed "slight improvement," according to the Vatican.

Follow here for the latest news on Pope Francis' health and hospitalization:

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 20, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

U.S. Vice President JD Vance advocated for government policies and cultural values that encourage Americans to "choose life" and "start families" during an interview on the main stage of the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 20 in National Harbor, Maryland.

"[People need to] stop thinking about babies as inconveniences to be discarded," Vance said in a Thursday morning interview with Mercedes Schlapp, a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Foundation and the wife of ACU chairman and CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp.

"We've got to start thinking of them as blessings to cherish," Vance said.

During the interview, Vance noted that the United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade completely changed the abortion debate in the country by allowing the "will of the people to speak on the life issue" and removing it from "unelected bureaucrats" and "unelected judges."

Vance suggested advancing a culture of life by supporting pro-life pregnancy centers, enacting policies to bring costs down so people can afford to raise families, changing perceptions about abortion, and encouraging people to choose life.

"Maybe they'll start thinking of babies as the blessings that we all know that they are," Vance said.

Vance referred to President Donald Trump as the "most pro-life president in American history" for nominating three of the justices who joined the majority opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, he did not address the concerns pro-life advocates have raised with Trump's recent executive order to expand and reduce the costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment in which human embryos are routinely destroyed.

Discussing his faith, the vice president, who is a convert to Catholicism, described himself as "very pro-life" and "a devout Christian."

"We put our faith in God above, we put our faith in the grace of God, and we try our best to do his will," Vance said.

Vance discusses immigration, the economy, and energy

During the interview, Vance said the 2024 election gave Trump a "historic mandate on a few issues," specifically on his efforts to deport immigrants who entered the country illegally, his plans to expand domestic energy and improve the economy, and his actions to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse within the government.

"The American people gave us a window to save the country and that's exactly what we're going to do," the vice president said.

Vance spoke about Trump's deportation efforts, his restrictions on border crossings, and his decision to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. He said his message to drug traffickers is for them to "get the hell out of our country."

"Your free ride is over because President Trump is back in the Oval Office," Vance added. 

The vice president said Trump intends to "unleash American energy" with policies such as more drilling for oil on American land. This, he said, will "do more than anything" to help the economy because high costs of fuel increase costs for other things. 

He also said Trump will ensure "other countries stop taking advantage of us," extend his tax cuts, and end taxes on tips. He praised the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to stop "wasting [taxpayer money] on garbage." 

"We want your children and grandchildren to be able to raise a family in security and comfort in the country we all love," Vance said. 

Schlapp's interview with the vice president kicked off CPAC's three-day conference. Other figures scheduled to speak at the annual event include Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Republican lawmakers and administration officials, foreign leaders, and various conservative media personalities.

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