Police gather at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, 2025, following a mass shooting that killed two children and injured 17 others, 14 of them children. / Credit: Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2025 / 17:17 pm (CNA).

At a town hall meeting in Plymouth, Minnesota, over the weekend, three mothers whose children survived the school shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in August advocated for stricter gun laws. 

Two children were killed and 21 people were injured after Robin Westman, 23, a man who identified as a woman, shot through the stained-glass windows of the church during a school Mass on Aug. 27. 

Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed in the attack. 

Carla Maldonado, who has two children at Annunciation Catholic School, said “taking action” by tightening gun laws would honor the deaths of the two children and “all lives taken by gun violence.”

“We cannot accept a world where civilians have access to weapons designed for battlefields,” she said, referring to assault weapons and calling for their prohibition.

Another mother, Malia Kimbrell, who also supports an assault weapons ban, asked: “If the next mass shooting happens at your child’s school, what type of weapon are you comfortable with the shooter being armed with?”

Kimbrell, whose daughter Vivian, 9, is recovering after she was shot multiple times, advocated for “more mental health resources and safer gun storage and better background checks and detecting potential threats online and improved security measures.” 

Stephanie Moscetti said her son “was an honorary pallbearer at his friend’s [Merkel’s] funeral; how is this our reality?” 

“Our kids deserve safe schools, they deserve safe childhoods where they can play and learn,” she said.

Rep. Kelly Morrison, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, organized the town hall meeting, which focused on the prevention of gun violence. 

Several of the mothers at the town hall also testified last week before a working group of state lawmakers who deliberated over proposed reforms dealing with gun violence.

At the hearing, Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, asked lawmakers to strengthen the law surrounding mental health resources access, pointing out that none of the proposals put forward would have prevented the shooting because Westman legally purchased the weapons. 

Westman used three firearms during the August attack: a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, all of which were purchased legally under existing state law. The rifle was likely an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, which is considered an assault weapon. 

Laws limiting those with mental health disorders from gun possession

Though Westman struggled with his gender identity, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed “gender identity disorder” from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and replaced it with “gender dysphoria” in the revised version, known as the DSM-5, published in 2013. 

This change marked a significant shift in how struggles with a person’s sexual identity are classified, with health care professionals no longer calling it a mental illness.

The new classification of gender dysphoria, though it is still in the APA’s manual of mental disorders, addresses the symptoms, or the distress, associated with gender incongruence and not the incongruence itself. 

Minnesota, along with 29 other states, bars people with mental health issues who have been involuntarily committed or found to be a danger to self or others from possessing a gun. 

This law did not come into play in the August shooting, however.

Gov. Tim Walz in early September called for a special session, which has yet to take place, that will focus on gun safety. He proposed banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips as well as more safety regulations concerning storage and a stronger red flag law.

Minnesota’s current red flag law allows family or local and state officials to ask for an extreme risk protection order, or ERPO, which allows them to petition the court to have an at-risk person’s guns removed or to temporarily prohibit that person from buying a gun.

“We passed a red flag law. It was passed in 2023 and it was supposed to deal with a situation like this,” Minnesota House Republican leader Harry Niska said in early September after Walz proposed the special session. “So I hope everyone is asking serious questions about why — why did this incident not trigger either a background check flag or a red flag?”

Walz will need the support of Republican lawmakers in the special session, and they have different proposals. They want to make private school security eligible for state funding, something the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of Minnesota’s six Catholic dioceses, has asked for multiple times.

Republicans also want to allow doctors more discretion concerning transgender medical procedures, more funds for mental health facilities, and harsher penalties for certain gun crimes. 

Ten states ban assault weapons, but the proposal in Minnesota failed to come up for a vote in 2023. Just over half of rural residents opposed an assault weapons ban in a 2022 MinnPost poll, while 69% of urban dwellers supported it. Overall, the poll found that nearly 54% supported it.

Minnesota already has one of the nation’s stronger gun regulation frameworks, according to Everytown Research, which ranks the state 14th in the country for gun safety policies.

The state requires universal background checks for all firearm sales, including private transfers, and domestic violence protections prohibit access for those under restraining orders or with misdemeanor convictions, among many other regulations.

Father Linh Bui celebrating Mass. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

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.”

Erika Kirk embraces U.S. President Donald Trump at the conclusion of the memorial service held for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21, 2025. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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.”

The Eucharist is displayed in a monstrance in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City before a Eucharistic procession on Oct. 15, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

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.

The “Angels Unawares” sculpture depicting immigrants to America on The Catholic University of America’s campus in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Peter Pinedo/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 21, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in the United States is preparing to observe National Migration Week 2025, calling for “growing in appreciation of the challenges faced by migrants and refugees” and reiterating a call “for a more humane system of immigration.”

National Migration Week will take place Sept. 22–28. The event, in its 45th year, has served as a time for the Catholic Church in the U.S. to reflect “on its history as an immigrant Church and the ways in which the country has been enriched by generations of immigrants, including the many Catholics who have adopted this land as their own,” the bishops said in a Sept. 18 statement.

“It is also an opportunity to grow in appreciation of the challenges faced by migrants and refugees, both in the United States and beyond, and to express solidarity through prayer, accompaniment, and advocacy,” they added.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recalled that Pope Francis chose the theme “Migrants, Missionaries of Hope” for the 2025 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, an event to be held Oct. 4–5 to commemorate the Jubilee of Migrants rather than on the usual last Sunday in September.

This theme, the bishops said, recognizes “the courage and resilience of migrants and refugees who bear daily witness to hope despite hardship.”

This year, National Migration Week takes place amid the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation operations against unauthorized immigrants, which have created controversy in various sectors of society.

The USCCB noted: “The U.S. bishops have consistently expressed solidarity with immigrants amid the fear and anxiety prompted by current immigration enforcement efforts.”

“The bishops have called for, and continue to press for, ‘a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all.’ This includes encouraging bipartisan collaboration among policymakers,” the statement noted.

The American prelates also pointed out that in his message for the 2025 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, “Pope Leo XIV has continued to emphasize the dignity of migrants.”

“In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes,” reads the passage from the pope’s message, quoted by the USCCB.

Therefore, the bishops of the United States asked the faithful to use National Migration Week as a time “to reflect on how hope can shape and inform our collective response to migration.”

In this regard, they encouraged dioceses, parishes, schools, and Catholic organizations throughout the country to observe the week “with prayer services, educational programs, community outreach, and support for migration-related ministries.”

The bishops are inviting Catholics to visit the conference’s Justice for Immigrants website, which “offers a comprehensive 2025 National Migration Week toolkit, including resources to help communities prepare spiritually and pastorally.”

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

St. Januarius and the miracle of the liquefaction of his blood contained in a relic. / Credit: Louis Finson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Photo2023, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Stampa, Sep 19, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).

“We are delighted to announce that the relic has been found completely liquid,” said Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, abbot of the Treasury Chapel of the Naples Cathedral.

“[Kirk] gave his life in following his Lord, as a sacrifice for the truth that man is made in God’s image, male and female, and in opposition to the lies and self-mutilation promoted by so-called ‘trans ideology’" said Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller / Alan Koppschall/EWTN

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2025 / 16:57 pm (CNA).

German Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Müller referred to Charlie Kirk as “a martyr for Jesus Christ” and condemned the “satanic celebration” of his death.

Three Augustinian nuns (pictured on Sept. 16, 2025) fled their nursing home and returned to their convent in Austria. / Credit: Photo courtesy Nonnen_Goldenstein

CNA Deutsch, Sep 18, 2025 / 16:33 pm (CNA).

Three elderly nuns have made international headlines and gained Instagram followers after fleeing a nursing home and returning to their convent in Austria.

Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 16, 2025, expelled from the clerical state an Italian deacon who was convicted of sexual offenses against minors. / Credit: Freedom Studio/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 16:19 pm (CNA).

Italian permanent deacon Alessandro Frateschi, who was convicted of sexual offenses against minors, has been expelled from the clerical state by Pope Leo XIV.

Reem Alsalem is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. / Credit: ADF International

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 16, 2025 / 16:44 pm (CNA).

U.N. Expert on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem has urged governments to support parents who seek to protect their children from “gender transition.”