Livia Tossici-Bolt is awaiting a verdict in her case in which she was charged with violating a “buffer zone” that restricts pro-life speech near abortion clinics. / Credit: Photo courtesy of ADF International

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 17:56 pm (CNA).

A bureau of the United States Department of State announced it is “monitoring” an arrest of a pro-life advocate in the United Kingdom who was charged with violating a “buffer zone” that restricts pro-life speech near abortion clinics.

In a post on X, the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor confirmed that Senior Adviser Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, a pro-life advocate charged with breaching a buffer zone by standing near an abortion clinic and holding a sign that read, “Here to talk, if you want.”

The verdict for Tossici-Bolt, who was charged with breaching a public spaces protection order, is expected to be handed down on Friday by District Judge Orla Austin — the same judge who delivered a guilty verdict to pro-life advocate Adam Smith-Connor for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in October 2024.

“We are monitoring her case,” the bureau’s post on X read. “It is important that the U.K. respect and protect freedom of expression.”

The post referenced comments made by U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Munich earlier this year in which he chastised the deterioration of free speech and religious freedom within Europe. Vance specifically criticized the British enforcement of “buffer zone” laws and the conviction of Smith-Connor.

“U.S.-U.K. relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the post read. “However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”

Tossici-Bolt said in a statement that she is “grateful” the State Department is interested in her case, adding that “Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation.”

Her statement was sent out by Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is representing her in court.

“Peaceful expression is a fundamental right — no one should be criminalized for harmless offers to converse,” she added. “It is tragic to see that the increase of censorship in this country has made the U.S. feel it has to remind us of our shared values and basic civil liberties.”

Tossici-Bolt expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump’s administration “for prioritizing the preservation and promotion of freedom of expression and for engaging in robust diplomacy to that end.”

“It deeply saddens me that the U.K. is seen as an international embarrassment when it comes to free speech,” she continued. “My case, involving only a mere invitation to speak, is but one example of the extreme and undeniable state of censorship in Great Britain today. It is important that the government actually does respect freedom of expression, as it claims to.”

“Today we run the risk that our organizations, so dependent on the welfare state ... could be easily confused with a very bureaucratic NGO [nongovernmental organization],” said Archbishop Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. / Credit: Spanish Bishops’ Conference

Madrid, Spain, Apr 1, 2025 / 17:24 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Luis Argüello opened the Spanish Bishops’ Conference’s 127th plenary assembly this week with a deep analysis of Spain’s growing secularization.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves to the crowd at the 2025 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. / Credit: EWTN News/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 16:49 pm (CNA).

U.S. Vice President JD Vance intends to visit Rome during Easter weekend, although the planned trip has not yet been finalized, according to Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the vice president plans to arrive in Rome on Good Friday, April 18, and depart from the city on Easter Sunday, April 20. The news outlet stated that it had viewed correspondence confirming the intended visit but that an official informed them the plans could change.

According to the article, diplomats for the United States sought to coordinate a meeting between Vance and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but no meeting had been scheduled by the time of publication.

It’s unclear whether the potential visit is intended to correspond with Easter weekend or whether that is coincidental. It’s also not known whether Vance, who is a convert to Catholicism, plans to visit the Holy See or other holy sites in the area if the three-day trip takes place.

Vance last traveled to Europe in mid-February to address the Munich Security Conference in Germany. 

During his previous visit to the region, the vice president chastised leaders of the continent’s countries for policies that permit mass migration waves as well as laws that restrict free speech and religious freedom.

Vance was critical of arrests in the United Kingdom for silent prayer near abortion clinics and the Scottish “safe access zones” law that bans religious preaching within 200 meters (about 650 feet) of an abortion clinic.

The vice president subsequently faced public criticism from numerous European politicians but received a more favorable response from Meloni, who last week told the Financial Times that the criticism was directed at Europe’s “ruling class” and not its people.

“I have to say I agree [with Vance],” Meloni said, according to the article. “I’ve been saying this for years ... Europe has a bit lost itself.”

Vance’s prospective visit to Europe would come shortly after President Donald Trump’s new tariffs will go into effect against the European Union, of which Italy is a member. Trump imposed tariffs on products from Europe and other parts of the world in March, but more tariffs are set to go into effect on April 2.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said this week that she has a “strong plan to retaliate” against the U.S. tariffs if it becomes necessary.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks to attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. / Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:34 pm (CNA).

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt this week signed an executive order instructing state officials to ensure Oklahoma’s laws are “the most robust” in the nation at protecting religious freedom, with the governor also criticizing the state attorney general for attempting to block a proposed Catholic charter school there.

The order, announced on Monday, initiates a review of various state laws and policies to ensure they comply with religious freedom protections enshrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.

The directive explicitly targets several state laws, including one requiring charter schools to be “nonsectarian” in their operations.

The order comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court began considering a proposed Oklahoma school that could be the nation’s first publicly-funded religious charter school. 

Oklahoma’s St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was approved by the state charter school board to open in 2023, but state Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the charter school board, arguing the charter school’s existence would constitute state support of a religion.

The ongoing litigation has since reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the landmark decision could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S.

Drummond criticized the governor’s religious freedom order this week, citing concerns that taxpayers could be forced to support other religious institutions. 

“Gov. Stitt has been clear that he supports our tax dollars funding radical Muslim schools teaching sharia law, and I couldn’t disagree with him more,” Drummond said in a March 31 statement. 

“If a taxpayer-funded religious charter school is allowed to open in Oklahoma, it will only be a matter of time before taxpayers are funding schools dedicated to sharia law, Wicca indoctrination, scientology instruction — even the Church of Satan,” he alleged. 

“As a devoted Christian and a strong supporter of religious liberty, I can tell you that the only way to protect religious liberty is for the state not to sponsor any religion at all — just like our Founding Fathers intended,” Drummond continued.

Stitt in his executive order explicitly criticized what he calls Drummond’s “apparent hostility to religious liberty.”

“By filing lawsuits seeking to prevent the nation’s first religious charter school [from] opening its doors, Oklahoma’s attorney general has fought against Oklahomans’ religious liberty with a zeal and aggressiveness that suggests animosity towards religion and religious liberty,” Stitt wrote.

Stitt’s executive order further requires that state officials not restrict access to public programs on the basis of a person’s or entity’s religious nature.

The executive order instructs “that no individual or entity shall be excluded from participation in, or denied access to, any public benefit, program, or funding solely on the basis of their religious character or affiliation or intended religious use of such benefits.”

“Religious freedom is foundational to our way of life in Oklahoma,” Stitt said this week. “It’s not a privilege handed out by the government — it’s a God-given right that the government must protect.”

“We will not stand by while faith-based organizations — including faith-based schools — are pushed to the sidelines by activist bureaucrats or hostile politicians,” he said.

An EF2 tornado in the early hours of March 31, 2025, in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, tore off the roof of the St. Peter Parish catechism building. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Debbie LaFleur

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

A Louisiana parish suffered major damage to its property after a tornado passed through during the early hours of Monday morning.

Debbie LaFleur, secretary of St. Peter Catholic Church in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, told CNA the roof of the parish catechism building was torn off and that several fallen tree limbs fell onto the rectory, causing the above-ground structure to shift on its pillars. The rectory and catechism building were built in 1950 and 1970, respectively. 

The catwalk between the rectory and the church, a carport, and the awning over a handicap ramp will all need to be replaced, LaFleur said. She also noted that several of the parish’s “very old” oak trees had been damaged or fallen down and that several headstones in its cemetery had been knocked down as well.

The only building that did not suffer any damage on account of the category EF2 tornado was the church itself. 

“The church was not touched,” LaFleur stated. “Father Jude [Halphen] says that our saints, our relics, helped protect us.” 

St. Peter’s church houses numerous relics, including those of Blessed Carlos Acutis, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Acutis is set to be canonized at the end of this month. 

Originally built in 1950, the church was renovated last year. Among repairs, the parish brought in a new altar from Belgium. The parish is also currently working to put up altar rails, which LaFleur said came from a now-shuttered church in Harlem. 

“Pray for us that we can rebuild and get through this with little stress,” LaFleur said.

“Our parishioners are great parishioners,” she added. “They came out and they cleaned up the mess, so that by 4 o’clock [Monday] afternoon, it was clean.” 

The parish is currently waiting on structural engineers to assess the full damage to the property and the potential cost for needed repairs.

null / Credit: ElenaR/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 11:35 am (CNA).

A former bookkeeper at two New Jersey Catholic parishes has been accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from the two churches over the course of several years. 

Morris County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Robert Carroll’s office said in a Friday press release that Melissa Rivera had been charged with “theft in connection to her former role as bookkeeper” in the parishes of Our Lady of the Mountain and Our Lady of Good Counsel, both located in Morris County. 

Rivera was accused of stealing $292,728 from both parishes, the prosecutor’s office said. She was allegedly creating fake checks at both parishes and then depositing them to her bank accounts. 

The alleged thefts occurred between May 2018 and May 2024, the press release said. Rivera was charged with multiple counts of theft and forgery. 

After being charged she was “released pending future court proceedings,” according to the press release. The county financial crimes unit contributed to the case, the prosecutor said. 

Several Catholic officials have faced prosecution and jail time in recent years over thefts from their respective parishes. 

A bookkeeper at a Florida Catholic parish was sentenced in November 2024 to more than two years of federal prison after stealing nearly $900,000 from the church at which she managed financial records. 

In July 2024, meanwhile, a priest in Missouri pleaded guilty to stealing $300,000 from a church at which he was pastor for nearly a decade.

That same month, a former Catholic parish employee in Alabama pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her church in order to send money to TikTok content creators. 

And in May 2024 a former employee at a Tampa, Florida, Catholic church pleaded guilty to stealing more than three-quarters of a million dollars from the parish while employed there.

On April 2, 2025, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis. / Credit: The Augustine Institute

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On April 2, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its “Based on a True Saint” series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, “The Boy from Milan,” focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis.

The film aims to help viewers get to know the Church’s first millennial saint better and show how an ordinary teenager with a deep love for God and other people can became a saint. 

The documentary includes interviews with three individuals who knew Acutis personally: his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis; his high school religion teacher at Leone XIII Institute in Milan, Fabrizio Zaggia; and Dr. Mercedes Arguello, Acutis’ pediatric oncologist at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.

Emily Mentock, executive producer of “The Boy from Milan” and co-founder of Digital Continent — the production company that worked in partnership with the Augustine Institute — spoke to CNA about the inspiration behind the film and why she believes Acutis is resonating with so many people around the world.

She explained that Acutis was the inspiration behind the “Based on a True Saint” series in the first place. The first documentary in the series was about Blessed Solanus Casey. In each film in the series, the goal is to answer the question “Is holiness possible today?”

“I was thinking of Carlo and the way he is presented to the world when we came up with the idea for the series as a whole because I just kept hearing how I should care about the saint because he’s a millennial like me and played video games, but that doesn’t tell me anything about the path to holiness,” Mentock shared. “So, I was really just grateful for the opportunity to dive deeper into his story and hear from people who really knew him, not just about him, what he was really like on a daily basis.”

Mentock said she believes Acutis’ popularity stems from the fact that “he’s relevant, he lived in our time,” and this gives people “hope for believing that we can also maybe achieve holiness.”

“Sometimes you look around at our world today and wonder, is this [holiness] really possible? And Carlo shows us that it is, absolutely,” she added.

While filming and getting to know Acutis better, Mentock came to admire his love for life and how “he looked at life as his field to put into practice the teachings of Jesus.”

She also pointed out how all of the individuals shown in the film were greatly impacted by knowing Acutis personally, especially Arguello, his pediatric oncologist, who found strength in Acutis’ testimony when she herself received a cancer diagnosis. 

“It never ceases to amaze me that it was so evident how they were living differently and in a different relationship with God because of how Carlo had helped them turn toward God,” she said.

Mentock said she hopes the film will leave viewers inspired by Acutis’ “daily holiness.”

“I think that Carlo can inspire anyone, but I do think that he especially is a gift for young, young people today to look around and say, it doesn’t matter if you’re 10 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old — you can go out and make a difference, live your life boldly for the Lord, and Carlo’s a great example for that,” she said.

EWTN has also released a documentary on Acutis titled “I Am With You,” which can be seen on EWTN On Demand.

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices across ideological lines during oral arguments Monday morning expressed concerns about a Wisconsin agency’s refusal to legally recognize a Catholic charity — run by the Diocese of Superior — as a religious organization.

The dispute between Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) and the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC) will determine whether the charity is required to pay taxes into the state’s unemployment system or whether the organization can enroll workers in the Church-run unemployment system and avoid the tax.

State law allows organizations “operated primarily for religious purposes” to qualify for the tax exemption if it provides its own unemployment system. Yet, the LIRC asserts that CCB is not operated primarily for a religious purpose because it offers charitable services to people of all faiths and does not focus its efforts on converting the people it serves to Catholicism.

Religious freedom advocates have warned that the denial of CCB’s recognition as a religious entity could have a ripple effect that leads to the denial of other legal rights afforded to religious organizations, such as exemptions from mandates that conflict with an organization’s religious beliefs.

Justices challenge Wisconsin’s position

Colin Roth, assistant attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, told the justices during the March 31 oral arguments that CCB functions similar to a secular charity because of the lack of proselytization — a position that was challenged by justices who were appointed by both major political parties.

When justices repeatedly pressed Roth to give examples of what sort of “proselytization” would qualify CCB for an exemption, he suggested that asking patrons to “please repent” or “please join our religion” while delivering services would likely be sufficient.

In a more specific example, Roth said instructing a patron to say the Lord’s Prayer with a worker or volunteer while receiving food at a soup kitchen would add the proselytization component.

“That type of job function is tethered to religious doctrine,” Roth said.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Catholic, asked Roth why expressing the statement “we believe deeply in the corporal works of mercy” wouldn’t be sufficient, adding: “Why is there a difference?”

Roth acknowledged that charity is essential to the Catholic faith but said the corporal works of mercy are “not expressing or inculcating religious doctrine.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is Catholic, and Justice Elena Kagan, who is Jewish, both emphasized that proselytization is not a component of all religious acts and not even part of some religions.

Barrett noted that many sects of Judaism do not “have that as a component” and the standard supported by Wisconsin “will inevitably exclude certain religions.” Kagan agreed, saying it is “fundamental” that the government does not “treat some religions better than other religions” but that Wisconsin’s standard “puts the state on the side of some religions.”

“Why are we treating some religions better than others based on that element of religious doctrine?” Kagan asked.

Roth defended Wisconsin’s position, arguing that it is not just “proselytization” that would make an organization eligible for a tax exemption here, but also if it engages in “worship” or “religious education.” 

“These are ‘ors,’” Roth said. “These are not ‘ands.’”

However, Roth emphasized that simply showing that an act is motivated by religion “does not render you eligible for the exemption.”

Eric Rassbach, a vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, represented CCB at the Supreme Court. 

“Wisconsin draws distinctions along theological lines — something that this court has repeatedly forbidden,” he argued.

Rassbach said the standard supported by Wisconsin would force CCB to operate its charity in an “almost coercive way” by “using [food and services] to influence people, to take advantage of people, and to exploit them.” He argued the religious exemption was denied because “they serve non-Catholics, they hire non-Catholics, and because they do not proselytize.”

“Mother Teresa might not qualify,” Rassbach said.

Where does the line get drawn?

Although the justices appeared unified in their concerns about Wisconsin’s narrow interpretation for what qualifies as a “religious purpose,” they also raised numerous questions about where the line should be drawn on what does qualify as a “religious purpose.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a nondenominational Protestant, raised the question of whether such exemptions would extend to a for-profit vegan restaurant launched by a minister in a religion that opposes the consumption of meat.

Barrett similarly raised the possibility of a religious institution requesting tax exemptions for the creation of a for-profit business to raise money to benefit its members or other people, asserting it “is essential to its religious mission.”

Some of the justices also expressed a need to differentiate between a religious motivation and a philosophical motivation and to have an understanding of what constitutes religion and religious belief.

Rassbach expressed some sympathy for those concerns, saying that his position was not for “limitless exemptions” without any standards. He suggested that the test should be for courts to determine whether something is motivated by a “duty that we owe and the means of discharging it.”

Barrett stated that one of the problems for the court is “figuring out what the line is.”

Mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik are displayed throughout the shrine in Lourdes, France. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 11:03 am (CNA).

Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes called the decision a “second step” after his initial decision in July 2024 to no longer light up the mosaics at night.

Pope Francis on March 31, 2025, appointed Bishop Michael McGovern of Belleville, Illinois, to lead the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska. / Credit: Archdiocese of Omaha

Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2025 / 10:03 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Monday appointed Bishop Michael McGovern of Belleville, Illinois, to lead the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, after he accepted the resignation of Omaha Archbishop George Lucas.

McGovern, 60, has led the Diocese of Belleville since April 2020. The Chicago native will be installed as archbishop of Omaha in the Cathedral of St. Cecilia on May 7.

He succeeds Lucas, who submitted his resignation when he turned 75 in June 2024 as required by canon law. Lucas has led the Archdiocese of Omaha since 2009.

McGovern is the youngest child of a large Catholic family. He grew up in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, where he attended Christ the King Parish and grammar school and was an altar server.

He was ordained a priest in 1994, and in 2020 he was named bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

The archbishop-designate of Omaha is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Since 2021, he has served as the state chaplain for the Illinois Knights of Columbus.

In 2022, the Diocese of Belleville announced it would sell the historic mansion that had served as the bishop’s residence for over 70 years, with the majority of the proceeds being used for a diocesan maternity fund for expectant mothers.

“I hope to live more simply and, as a pastor, I believe the proceeds from the sale of the home can be better used in helping pregnant mothers in need, assisting families seeking a Catholic education, and providing programs for our youth,” McGovern said about the decision to sell the property.