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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 14:59 pm (CNA).

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley is requesting prayers from the faithful after an archdiocesan priest died after falling through the sacristy ceiling of his parish late last week.

Father Linh Bui, the pastor at St. Ann Catholic Church in Elgin, Oklahoma, died after suffering a severe brain injury caused by the fall, according to a Sept. 19 announcement by the archbishop posted to Facebook. Bui was 56 years old.

"It is with great sadness that I announce that Father Linh Bui passed away this morning from his injuries," Coakley wrote.

Before his death, Bui received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and the apostolic pardon, which grants an indulgence for the remission of temporal punishment for a person who dies in the state of grace.

According to the archbishop, Bui "was surrounded by the family who loved him dearly" when he succumbed to his injuries.

"Please pray for the repose of his soul," Coakley wrote. "Funeral arrangements will be provided in the near future."

"May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen," the archbishop prayed.

According to a Facebook post from the parish, Bui was MedFlight evacuated to the Oklahoma University trauma center after the fall and immediately received surgery. Although "the medical teams did everything they could," the parish stated "the severity of his brain injury from the fall was too great and no neurological interventions could be done."

In addition to the brain injury, Bui also suffered chest trauma, a collapsed lung, and arterial bleeding. Doctors stabilized his body so his family could arrive to say their goodbyes and then halted the medical interventions.

One parishioner posted to Facebook that Bui was "one of the holiest people we were blessed to know," adding: "We got to know him personally and he was the kindest, most humble and loving priest. May his soul rest in peace."

"One of his last messages to me was to invite others to adoration, because he didn't just want us to spend time with the Lord but also to bring others to him," another parishioner wrote.

"That is exactly how he lived and what he taught," she wrote. "He meant everything to my husband and me, and we will forever carry him in our hearts and in the way we walk with Jesus."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 09:35 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Erika Kirk, and more than a dozen others gave speeches to honor the late Charlie Kirk at Sunday's memorial service, highlighting his efforts to promote conservative values to young people and promote the Gospel on campus.

Some 90,000 people gathered for the memorial service at State Farm Stadium and an adjacent venue in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21. Bishop Robert Barron, who had scheduled Kirk to come on his show, was among those in attendance.

Kirk, an evangelical Christian, was assassinated on Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University while debating students on campus. At the time, Kirk was conversing with a young ideological opponent about transgenderism and gun violence. Prior to the question, he had been discussing his Christian faith with another questioner, something he often included in his conservative campus activism.

"What was even more important to Charlie than politics and service was the choice he made in the fifth grade — which he called the most important decision of his life — to become a Christian and a follower of his Savior Jesus Christ," Trump, a self-identified nondenominational Christian, said during his speech.

Trump praised Kirk's legacy of evangelizing the message of Christ and his activism to promote conservative values on campus, saying Kirk was "inspired by faith and his love of freedom" to establish the conservative campus organization Turning Point USA when he was just 18 years old.

"Charlie Kirk started with an idea only to change minds on college campuses and instead he ended up with a far greater achievement: changing history," the president said. "... Today Charlie Kirk rests in heaven for all eternity. He has gone from speaking on campuses in Wisconsin to kneeling at the throne of God."

Vance, a Catholic who often discussed theology with Kirk, spoke about Kirk's devotion to honest debate in his campus activism, saying his "unshakable belief in the Gospel led him to see differences in opinion, not as battlefields to conquer but as waystations in the pursuit of truth."

"He knew it was right to love others, your neighbor, your interlocutor, your enemy," Vance said.
"But he also understood his duty to say what is right and what is wrong, to distinguish what is false from what is true."

The vice president noted that even after death, Kirk's message to defend life, to get married and start a family, and to follow Christ, continue to reach people. Vance said his own public appearances have been particularly influenced by Kirk after the assassination.

"I was telling somebody backstage that I always felt a little uncomfortable talking about my faith in public, as much as I love the Lord, as much as it was an important part of my life," Vance told the crowd. "I've talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life. And that is the undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk. You know, he loved God and because he wanted to understand God's creation and the men and women made in his image."

Kirk's widow forgives assassin

Kirk's wife, Erika, said her husband's devotion to Christ has influenced many Americans in the aftermath of the assassination.

"This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade, we saw people pray for the first time since they were children, we saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives," Erika Kirk said.

"Pray again, read the Bible again, go to Church next Sunday and the Sunday after that, and break free from the temptations and shackles of this world," she urged the audience.

"Being a follower of Christ is not easy," she continued. "It's not supposed to be easy. Jesus said 'if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.' He said he would be persecuted, he said we would be persecuted, and Charlie knew that and happily carried his cross all the way to the end."

Erika Kirk said he had gone onto Utah Valley University's campus to show people, especially young men, "a better path and a better life that was right there for the taking." She added: "He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life."

Appealing to the Gospel message, Erika Kirk also extended forgiveness to the man who shot her husband. 

"On the cross, our Savior said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,'" she said. "That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us."

'I want to be remembered for courage for my faith'

Other speakers also highlighted Kirk's emphasis on Christ in his campus activism. 

Donald Trump Jr. reminded the crowd that Kirk said just months before his death that if he were to die, "I want to be remembered for my courage for my faith." 

"Those were not empty words," Trump Jr. said. "Last week, Charlie joined a long line of courageous men and women who were martyred for what they believe."

The country's Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Catholic, said Kirk's devotion to God modeled St. Francis of Assisi's instruction to try to live one's life in imitation of Christ.

"Charlie understood the great paradox: That it's only by surrender to God that God's power can flow into our lives and make us effective human beings," Kennedy said. "Christ died at 33 years old, but he changed the trajectory of history. Charlie died at 31 years old, but because he had surrendered, he also now has changed the trajectory of history." 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth similarly noted that Kirk "was a true believer," one who understood that "Only Christ is King, our Lord and Savior." 

"Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus," Hegseth said. "Fear God and fear no man. That was Charlie Kirk." 

Political commentator Tucker Carlson said Kirk was essentially "a Christian evangelist" who "was bringing the Gospel to the country." 

"He also knew that politics wasn't the final answer," Carlson said. "It can't answer the deepest questions, actually. That the only real solution is Jesus."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A recent study found that traditional liturgical experiences, including receiving the Eucharist by tongue, indicate a stronger belief among Catholics in the Real Presence.

Last year, Natalie A. Lindemann published a journal article on Catholics' belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist. Lindemann, a professor in the department of psychology at William Paterson University, recently published a follow-up peer-reviewed article that uses a larger sample size and examines additional information.

Belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is central to the Catholic faith, but only about 57% of U.S. Catholics believe with certainty the Eucharist is Jesus' body, according to  Lindemann's report.

The new study, published in the Catholic Social Science Review, found receiving the Eucharist on the tongue, attending a parish that rings consecration bells, and attending a parish that offers the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) have an effect on one's belief in the Real Presence. 

The research is from a survey of 860 U.S. Catholic English-speaking adults. The group closely reflects the ratio of men to women in the U.S. adult Catholic population. The ethnicity demographic was biased toward the overrepresentation of some ethnic groups, so a corrective weight was applied.

Participants' Eucharistic beliefs varied with 31% reporting they are certain of the Real Presence, 23.6% being certain that the Eucharist is a symbol without Jesus being present, 10.5% said Jesus is probably present, 19.2% were not sure, and 15.8% said the Eucharist is probably a symbol. 

How 'bodily and related social liturgical practices' predict beliefs

The survey asked participants to answer questions on a scale of 1 to 5. One represented the belief that "bread and wine are symbols of Jesus; I am certain that Jesus is not really present." Five indicated that person is "certain that Jesus is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist." Belief in the Real Presence on the five-point rating scale was found to have an average mean (M) of 3.10.

Participants who have received the Eucharist on the tongue at some point (M=3.27) believe more in the Real Presence than those who have never received the Eucharist by tongue (M=2.79). People who often receive on the tongue, and often see others receive on the tongue, also reported a stronger belief in the Real Presence. 

Those who always receive on the tongue (M=3.69) showed a moderately higher belief in the Real Presence than those who always receive in the hand (M=3). The report noted that since most participants consistently receive the Eucharist via one method, treating the reception method as a scale variable is questionable.

Catholics who said people should receive the Eucharist on the tongue had a significantly stronger belief in the Real Presence (M=4.32) than those who said one should receive in the hand (M=2.62). Those who reported they value personal choice regarding how one receives fell in between (M=3.37).

The report noted that 33 participants mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an effect by prompting more reception in the hand. 

Factoring in the Traditional Latin Mass

"The TLM liturgy prescribes Eucharistic-reverent behavior … therefore, [Lindemann] expected that Catholics who attend the TLM would on average have stronger Real Presence beliefs." The study found this to be true as participants whose parishes offer a TLM (M=3.63), whether or not the participant has ever attended it, showed a slightly stronger belief in the Real Presence than those whose parishes do not offer one (M=3.04). 

The effect of the Latin Mass was slightly higher among those who both attend a parish that celebrates TLM and have attended it before (M=3.83), compared with Catholics with no exposure to a Latin Mass (M=3.07). 

There was also a trend toward stronger Real Presence belief among people who have a positive perception of TLM (M=3.74) than those with a negative perception (M=2.44). Those with neutral feelings toward TLM were found to have a mean of 3.60.

"Since consecration bells signal the importance of the consecration," Lindemann said she "predicted that participants whose parishes more often ring consecration bells would report a stronger belief in the Real Presence." This prediction was found to be true. Specifically, there was a substantially higher belief among Catholics who have always heard consecration bells at Mass (M=3.43) than those who have never heard them before (M=2.53). 

Other factors that tended to result in a higher belief in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist included more frequent Mass attendance and politically conservative viewpoints. 

The participants were also asked about the location of the tabernacle at the altar, but the study found there was no relationship between where it is placed and Eucharistic belief. Sex, age, and ethnicity were also found to have no effect.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 22, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) announced the 20th edition of its One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign, whose purpose this year is to pray "for peace and unity in a world wounded by division, conflict, and suffering."

On Oct. 18, 2005, a group of laypeople organized children and young people to pray the rosary in the city squares of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. At one point, it seemed like glitter appeared on the children's hands while they were praying, which the laypeople said was a sign from heaven asking them to spread their apostolate.

Following the event, they presented their idea to Venezuela's National Conference of Laity, where "the campaign was given a format and organized so that it would reach all the country's schools and parishes, through ecclesiastical bodies," according to Ayeila Bello, general coordinator of the program.

Since then, she added, the initiative seeks to "evangelize children and young people through Christian values ??and the devotions of the Catholic Church."

With the support of ACN, the campaign has since spread worldwide. Father Anton Lässer, ecclesiastical assistant for the pontifical foundation, called on the faithful around the world to join in prayer during the first week of October, especially on Tuesday, Oct. 7, the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The priest called for unleashing "a tide of prayer throughout the world, springing from the hearts of children and praying with childlike trust."

"Children's prayer has a special power before God, a power that can break down walls, heal wounds, and bring light to darkness," Lässer said.

For his part, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, international president of ACN, underscored the importance of the campaign, pointing out that the world's desire for peace and unity is increasingly urgent.

"In a time when the silence of prayer is too often drowned out by the noise of the world, the rosary offers an oasis of contemplation. It is not a dry or repetitive practice but a gentle and powerful path that leads us to the heart of the Gospel," the president said.

"Let us pray together that the bonds of ecclesial communion, both affective and effective, may be strengthened and that the Holy Spirit may awaken in the hearts of young people a sincere desire for holiness," he added.

Participants can register on the campaign website. ACN encouraged groups to complete the registration process so they can "get an idea of ??how many children are officially participating in the event." Additionally, several useful resources in different languages ??can be downloaded from the site.

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

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Vatican City, Sep 21, 2025 / 14:24 pm (CNA).

United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., spoke about the role that mercy can play in the legal system during an event at the Vatican on Saturday.

The Sept. 20 discussion at the Vatican's judicial headquarters was organized by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, the U.S. bishops' conference, and the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization. The event was part of the Jubilee of Justice, part of the Church's yearlong Jubilee of Hope.

Earlier in the day, Alito, a Catholic, greeted Pope Leo XIV following an audience for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice in St. Peter's Square.

During a one-hour afternoon conversation with Msgr. Laurence Spiteri, an American priest and retired judge on the Vatican's appeals court for marriage cases, Alito shared his perspective on how a legal system can provide for mercy.

"Justice is what everyone has a right to, it is what they are due … Mercy is something that we don't necessarily merit," Alito said. "The complete reconciliation of those two things, I think, is a mystery that we can only dimly, perhaps, perceive in this world."

The 75-year-old Alito, who has served on the Supreme Court since 2006, said, "Mercy should be built into the laws … the authority to make the laws rests with Congress and Congress should build in mercy when it enacts laws."

"The responsibility of the executive [branch], headed by the president, is to enforce the law," he continued. "But the enforcement of the law often involves a measure of discretion and someone who has discretion to enforce the law should enforce the law with mercy. Judges have to follow the law. Sometimes the law is framed in a way that allows the judge to exercise mercy," for example, in criminal sentencing.

"A legal system, of course, is supposed to promote justice, and in human terms, completely reconciling mercy with justice is probably impossible. I think probably only God can do that," he said.

The audience at Alito's talk included Vatican officials, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, former prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Legislative Texts.

Catholic lawyers on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Justice were also in attendance for the discussion, held in a chamber of the Cancelleria, a 16th-century building in the center of Rome that is home to the Holy See's three tribunals: The Apostolic Penitentiary, the Apostolic Signatura, and the Roman Rota.

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Vatican City, Sep 21, 2025 / 10:34 am (CNA).

Those who really love the people living on the Gaza Strip will work to achieve peace in the Holy Land, Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday in his Angelus message.

The pontiff expressed his closeness to all those "suffering in that tormented land," after leading the Marian prayer from a window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square Sept. 21.

Leo also thanked the Catholic associations who are helping the people of the Gaza Strip: "Together with you and with the pastors of the Churches in the Holy Land, I repeat: there is no future based on violence, forced exile, or revenge. The people need peace; those who truly love them work for peace," he said.

Sunday Angelus

In his message before the Angelus, which he leads weekly on Sundays, Pope Leo reflected on the use of material goods, and "how we administer the most previous good of all, our very life."

In a parable in the Gospel of Luke, a steward who has only sought his own profit must give a report to his master of how he has managed his master's property.

The Holy Father explained that, like the steward in the parable, "we are not the masters of our lives or of the goods we enjoy; everything has been given to us as a gift by the Lord, who has entrusted this to our care, our freedom, and our responsibility."

"One day," he continued, "we will be called to give an account of how we have managed ourselves, our possessions and the earth's resources — before both God and humankind, before society, and especially before those who will come after us."

In the parable, the steward realizes his mistake, so before he loses his job, he renounces the part of people's debts that would go to him — giving up the profit, but gaining friendships instead.

"The parable invites us to ask ourselves: how are we managing the material goods, the resources of the earth and our very lives that God has entrusted to us?" Leo said. 

We can choose selfishness, putting wealth and ourselves before all else, becoming isolated and spreading "the poison of competition," he said, or "we can recognize everything we have as a gift from God, to be managed and used as an instrument for sharing — to create networks of friendship and solidarity, to work for the common good, and to build a world that is more just, equitable and fraternal."

Mass at the Parish Church of St. Anne in the Vatican

In the morning, Pope Leo celebrated a Mass at the Parish Church of St. Anne in the Vatican, which, he pointed out in his homily, is in a special location "on the border" of the Vatican.

"Almost all those entering and leaving Vatican City pass by St. Anne's," he said. "Some pass for work, some as guests or pilgrims, some in a hurry, some with trepidation or serenity. May everyone experience that here are doors and hearts open to prayer, to listening, and to charity."

He pointed out that the Gospel of the Day challenges us to examine our relationship with the Lord and with others.

"Jesus presents a stark alternative between God and wealth, asking us to take a clear and consistent position," he said, because, "'No servant can serve two masters,' therefore 'you cannot serve both God and wealth.'"

"This is not a contingent choice," Leo underlined. "We need to decide on a true lifestyle. It's about choosing where to place our heart, clarifying whom we sincerely love, whom we serve with dedication, and what is truly our good."

The pope also spoke about nations and wealth, and said, "the Church prays that leaders of nations may be freed from the temptation to use wealth against humanity, transforming it into weapons that destroy peoples and monopolies that humiliate workers."

"Those who serve God become free from wealth, but those who serve wealth remain its slaves," the Holy Father emphasized. "Those who seek justice transform wealth into the common good; those who seek domination transform the common good into the prey of their own greed.

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Vatican City, Sep 20, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Forgiveness is fundamental to the virtue of justice, Pope Leo XIV said to thousands of legal professionals gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice on Saturday.

"It is the power of forgiveness, which is proper to the commandment of love, that emerges as a constitutive element of a justice capable of combining the supernatural with the human," the pope said in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 20.

Leo, who has a doctorate in Church law, explained that the evangelical virtue of justice is not a distraction from human justice, but "questions and redesigns it: It provokes it to go even further, because it pushes it towards the search for reconciliation."

"Evil, in fact, must not only be punished, but also repaired, and to this end, a profound gaze toward the good of individuals and the common good is necessary," he urged Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment.

"This is an arduous task, but not impossible for those who, aware that they are performing a more demanding service than others, are committed to leading an irreproachable life," the pope added.

An estimated 20,000 people from 100 countries took part in the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, including a large number of pilgrims from the United States and Canada. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was also in attendance.

Joshua McCaig, a lawyer and founding president of the Catholic Bar Association, traveled to Rome for the jubilee with a delegation of over 50 legal professionals from the U.S.

He told EWTN News he hopes the event "will be an opportunity for us all to reflect on what more we can do for the common good."

"The Catholic Church brings resources, brings hope, brings community, brings values that are instilled in the teachings of Jesus Christ to help all individuals — but also those in the legal profession — further develop an understanding of how this world should be and the role we should play in it," he said.

Before the audience with the pope, Archbishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, gave a lecture on the theme of "Iustitia Imago Dei: the operator of justice, instrument of hope."

"Those who administer justice in the Church must also be pastors. … They must respect justice, but they are pastors who must also watch over the good of souls," Arrieta told EWTN News this week.

In his message, Pope Leo emphasized that the function of justice "is indispensable both for the orderly development of society and as a cardinal virtue that inspires and guides the conscience of every man and woman."

"Striving for justice, therefore, requires being able to love it as a reality that can only be achieved through constant attention, radical disinterest, and assiduous discernment," he said.

He noted that the Jubilee of Workers of Justice is a chance to also reflect on an overlooked aspect of justice, the reality that many countries and people "hunger and thirst for justice" because their living conditions are gravely unjust and inhuman.

The pontiff cited St. Augustine, calling the saint's words "timeless truths" to apply to the current international situation.

"'Without justice,'" the pope quoted, "'the state cannot be administered; it is impossible to have law in a state where there is no true justice. An act performed according to law is certainly performed according to justice, and it is impossible to perform an act according to law that is performed against justice [...] A state where there is no justice is not a state. Justice is, in fact, the virtue that distributes to each his due. Therefore, it is not human justice that takes man away from the true God.'"

"May the challenging words of St. Augustine inspire each of us to always express the exercise of justice in the service of the people to the best of our ability, with our gaze turned to God, so as to fully respect justice, law, and the dignity of persons," Leo said.

Matteo Ciofi, EWTN News Nightly Vatican producer, and Victoria Cardiel, Vatican Correspondent for ACI Prensa/EWTN News, contributed to this report.

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CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In 2023, Minnesota passed a law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz, that prohibits clinical mental health counselors from practicing "conversion therapy" with minors, effectively barring them from offering any guidance that does not affirm a child's struggles with sexual orientation or gender identity. 

This ban, enacted under House File 16 and effective Aug. 1, 2023, complicates access to tailored mental health resources for minors struggling with these issues, especially when a minor seeks to change his or her identity. 

David Kirby, a clinical mental health counselor in Minnesota, told CNA that the law created a new minority: young people with same-sex attraction (SSA) who do not want it.

"There are people who find their gay attraction ego dystonic," Kirby said. "They don't want it. Maybe some were born with a propensity to SSA, but they know it's not how they were created to be."

The American Psychological Association (APA) opposes conversion therapy, or what it refers to as "sexual orientation change efforts," because it says such efforts do not meet its definition of therapy, which is a "remediation of a physical, mental, or behavioral disorder or disease." 

"Same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality regardless of sexual orientation identity," according to the APA, and "efforts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be successful and involve risk of harm."

Opponents of conversion therapy often cite the use of shock therapy, which was a derivative of behavioral techniques popular in the mid-20th century. The practice has not been used in the U.S. for decades, however, according to the APA. Shock therapy peaked between the 1940s and 1970s, aligning with the APA's classification of homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance in 1952 until its declassification as a mental disorder in 1973.

The APA acknowledges that over the last several decades, however, conversion therapy in the U.S. entails only cognitive behavioral and other forms of psychotherapy. 

Ban discourages therapists from addressing other issues, opponents say

Numerous studies, including those from the APA and the National Institute of Mental Health, indicate that struggles with sexual orientation and gender identity often co-occur with other mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder.

According to the Minnesota law's opponents, the ban on psychotherapy that does not affirm sexual orientation and gender identity can discourage therapists, fearing legal or licensing repercussions, from addressing other underlying psychological issues — such as trauma or other mental health conditions — that could contribute to someone not wanting to be gay or transgender.

Kirby said he and others who testified in the state Legislature against the bill in 2018 and again in 2023 have been "heckled," and some faced "extreme verbal abuse."

Kirby said the law has had a chilling effect on Christian counselors, some of whom are afraid that if they say anything in therapy sessions that is not gay- or transgender-affirming, they could face some kind of consequence.

He said he and other counselors also have a "fear that people are coming into therapy posing as clients to spy out the therapist."

So far, however, he said he has not run into any consequences or "pseudo-clients" himself, nor has he heard of anyone else having done so.

The fear and anxiety remain, nevertheless.

"The bill was superfluous," Kirby said.

Two of the negative consequences of the law, in Kirby's opinion, are that it locks people with SSA or gender identity issues into thinking "I can't change who I am" even if they might want to. It also creates a false presumption of homophobia or transphobia. The idea that "anyone who disagrees with me is afraid of me" is just not accurate, he said.

These things are "really, really deceptive and sad for" people with SSA or gender dysphoria, he said.

"What are therapists for, anyway?" he asked. "We're here to listen to what the client wants. We're not here to further our agenda. We all learned that in graduate school. We listen to what the client wants, and if we feel we cannot help them, we tell them so."

The District of Columbia and 23 states have laws that prohibit mental health counselors from practicing conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBT think tank. Four other states and Puerto Rico restrict but do not prohibit the practice.

'I know I am not a woman, but I definitely don't feel like a man'

The journal of Robin Westman, the 23-year-old man who killed two children and injured at least 20 people at a Catholic school in Minneapolis in August, showed in a video on YouTube before the attack that he wrote: "I know I am not a woman but I definitely don't feel like a man." 

"Westman wasn't clear on who he was," Kirby observed. "He said he regretted his 'brainwashing,'" referring to his transgender identity.

When asked how he or other Christian counselors would have responded if Westman had come to them for help, Kirby said: "He would have found people who are nonjudgmental; people who would have loved him, met him where he was at."

He would have received "loving attention, to hear his story; hear his confusion; walk with him," Kirby continued.

No one would have "hoisted any agenda on him," he said. "He would have been met by people who were full of compassion, to help him find the pain."

"In the end, it's not about changing our gender. It's not the solution," Kirby said. "It is to find the deepest pain. At the core of our identity, who we are in God's eyes, in our own eyes. People resort to turning to gender but it's not the solution. It's just a distraction from the deepest pain in the heart."

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CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A documentary on Father Marko Rupnik's alleged abuse of consecrated women, the personal fallout for two of his alleged victims, and what happened when the claims became public decades later premiered at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month.

"Nuns vs. The Vatican" includes the detailed stories of Gloria Branciani, Mirjam Kovac, and Klara (identified only by her first name), three former members of the Loyola Community in Slovenia in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Rupnik, a co-founder of the community, is accused of having committed sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against dozens of women religious.

Through the stories of Branciani and Klara, the film, which premiered Sept. 6, argues that Rupnik's alleged abuse was inextricably linked to his religious art. It also claims he was protected in the Catholic Church, in which he shot to stardom in the 1990s, and interviews experts who say the Vatican's response has been inadequate.

Branciani was part of the Ignatius Loyola Community in Slovenia, which was co-founded by Rupnik in the 1980s. In the documentary, she recalls how Rupnik allegedly groomed and then sexually and psychologically abused her in the early '90s and how the abuse was intricately connected with the creation of his art. 

According to Branciani, her complaints about Rupnik went unanswered, she was punished by the community's mother superior at the time, Ivanka Hosta, and forced out of religious life by Father Tomáš Špidlík, a Czech cardinal and Jesuit who died in 2010. Špidlík, who was close to Rupnik and the priest's art and spirituality center in Rome, the Centro Aletti, allegedly wrote the resignation letter on her behalf.

In addition to testimony from the alleged victims and their lawyer, it includes the voices of journalists, psychologists, and other abuse experts, including Barbara Dorris, a former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), who was sexually abused by a priest between the ages of 6 and 13.

Dorris and Laura Sgrò, a lawyer for some of Rupnik's alleged victims, are highly critical of the Church hierarchy's response to clerical sexual abuse throughout the documentary.

No one from the Vatican participated in the documentary. The film said requests for comment from Rupnik and the former head of the Loyola Community, Hosta, were ignored.

Sarah Pearson, a spokesperson for SNAP, said in a statement to CNA that "SNAP is proud of the legacy of Barbara Dorris, a longtime leader and tireless advocate for the 1 in 3 nuns who experience sexual abuse by priests."

Pearson continued: "The case of Jesuit priest Father Marko Rupnik illustrates this catastrophe with tragic clarity. Despite overwhelming reports of abuse, Rupnik was shielded for years — kept in ministry through the Vatican's intervention under Pope Francis. Only after prolonged public outrage was he finally subjected to a canonical process."

Italian Lorena Luciano directed the film. It was produced by Filippo Piscopo. "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" star Mariska Hargitay is among the documentary's executive producers.

A spokesperson for "Nuns vs. The Vatican" told CNA the documentary will continue to be shown at film festivals in North America, and they are working on getting a screening at the Vatican.

"We are also waiting to see whether Pope Leo will push for the ecclesiastical trial against Rupnik to happen in the fall," a spokesperson for the production company added.

Earlier this year, the Vatican removed artwork by Rupnik from its official websites. Digital images of the Slovenian priest's sacred art, which were frequently used by Vatican News to illustrate articles of the Church's liturgical feast days, are no longer found on the digital news service.

The changes to the Vatican News and the Dicastery for Communication websites came soon after Pope Leo XIV met with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on June 5.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan has unveiled a 25-foot-tall mural honoring migrants to New York City. 

Housed in the entryway of the iconic New York church, the mural, "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding," portrays the apparition of Mary, Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist to the Irish village of Knock as well as immigrants from all over the world, including well-known figures such as Dorothy Day, Pierre Toussaint, and Alfred E. Smith. 

The mural also shows the first Native American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is set to bless the mural this coming Sunday, said at a press briefing on Thursday: "This became not only an ode to Jesus and Mary and Joseph and St. John and the faith of the Irish people who were so instrumental in this archdiocese, it also became an ode to those who followed them and found in this city, this country, and yes, in this Holy Mother Church, an embrace of welcome." 

Dolan, who will be joined for the official dedication by the rector of the Knock Shrine in Ireland, said he had intended the mural to go up with the last renovations at St. Patrick's in 2012 but was advised to wait. 

"I'm kind of glad now, because it matured — it was like a Crock-Pot," he said. 

Adam Cvijanovic, the mural's painter, said: "I thought when I started making this painting that the important thing to do was to make it about people and portraits. So, everybody in this painting is an actual person. They're all portraits. Even the angels."

Dolan's late mother, Shirley, was the model for one of the immigrants Cvijanovic portrayed. First responders are also depicted in the mural.

"That seemed to me to be a really, really important thing to do," Cvijanovic continued, "to talk about the people of the city, all of them, and to have it in some place that people could go in New York and feel themselves recognized in the context of respect and hope."

Major benefactors covered the cost of the mural, according to Dolan.

The cathedral's rector, Father Enrique Salvo, an immigrant from Nicaragua, weighed in on the mural, saying: "If you would have told me that I was going to be the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral when I came to this country, I would have never believed it. But with God, all things are possible, and hopefully it's an inspiration for everyone that walks in, that we're not only welcome, but we're also invited to make a difference and to let God shine through us."

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