Pope Leo XIV laughs during his dialogue with young people on Nov. 21, 2025, at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/National Catholic Register

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2025 / 09:10 am (CNA).

The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference will feature prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis. Follow CNA’s live coverage of the event below.

Watch the historic discussion with Pope Leo XIV on EWTN YouTube:

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hilderbrand from Columbus, Georgia tour exhibits during the first night of NCYC 2025 on Nov. 20, 2025, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini / CNA

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Teenagers piled into the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday in Indianapolis to start the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). 

Young Catholics from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to take part in NCYC for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service. The 2025 theme is “I Am,” and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and form discipleship. 

On the evening of Nov. 20 exhibits opened to help students gain a deeper understanding of the sacraments and to encourage them to interact with one another. Teens with themed hats packed into the convention center and began to exchange the caps as a way to meet new people at the start of the weekend.

Exhibits open

The interactive exhibits opened Thursday night with themes based on the seven sacraments. Aaron Frazita, the director of the interactive exhibits for NCYC, shared with CNA how they wanted to help the teens “think in a new way, and in a very practical way.”

“About a year and a half out from every NCYC, we have a small group of folks that have gotten together for the better part of 20 years. And we brainstormed some ideas with themes, and this year we really wanted to connect what was going on in the interactive exhibit with the whole of what was going on with the main stage,” he said.

“This year we decided to really focus on the sacraments,” Frazita said. “So we added a few of our own sacraments, like being joyful with games and things like that.”

“The whole idea with all the interactive places we put together is to create crafts and games and conversation and catecheses, really trying to help young people engage with them and meet them where they are,” he continued.

“We have so many young people who maybe just started faith journeys, who are really deep in their experience,” he said. The team created games, service projects, and exhibits on ideas including discernment and vocations to “really engage” the students. 

Teens anticipate NCYC activities

As teens began to play the games with one another, look at exhibits, and meet with students from other cities, they shared with CNA what they are looking forward to most during the NCYC experience. 

Miriam Stebel, Catherine Downer, and Addi Kandel from the Diocese of Cincinnati told CNA they are looking forward to growing in their faith. Stebel said she hopes to “get a better understanding of the Church and the Catholic faith.” 

She added: “I also think it’s pretty cool that the pope is deciding to connect with the youth more and I think it’s a good opportunity to get everyone engaged.”

“I am hoping to meet new people and just be able to talk to other young people,” Downer said. “I’m excited to learn more about Catholicism and to understand it on a deeper level.”

She said she is also looking forward to the daily breakout sessions. “There’s a few about missions and learning your faith plan,” Downer said. “So I’m excited to go and learn more about what I’m being called to do.”

Kandel, meanwhile, said she hopes to learn what she can work on in her own life.

"One big thing I also want to do is learn more about Scripture and how to interpret it and understand it, and just how I can deepen my relationship with the Lord," she said.

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hildenbrand are all high school students from Columbus, Georgia. Snipes told CNA she came to NCYC to “meet new people and see how Catholicism has changed and inspired people.” 

She is looking forward to “seeing everyone all together, doing concerts, and praising together.”

“Adoration here is also always the best thing ever,” said Snipes, who is returning for her second time to NCYC. “It’s always so nice to be around a lot of other people that are feeling the same things as you.”

Young added she’s looking forward to the daily Masses for the same reason.

Hildenbrand said she is looking forward to being around other teens while they get to hear Pope Leo XIV speak. “I think it’s really cool to hear from the pope, especially since he’s the first American pope and he’ll talk in English.”

Amelia Horner and Maeve Wendiger showed up in their Indianapolis 500 race car hats to represent the famed racing city.

“It is really nice just being with so many young Catholics that are here,” Wendiger said. “And it has been really nice to reconnect with a lot of people from my middle school.”

Horner has never been to NCYC but said she’s “heard a lot of talk about it, and people who have so much in common can come together and just be who they are.” She said she is very excited to lean into the 2025 theme of “I Am.” 

The girls said they were “shocked” the event was going to be in their own backyard. While sometimes they feel big events don’t come to their hometown, they said: “Indiana is special.”

The ordination of Jonathan Goodall (former Anglican bishop) to the Catholic priesthood in Westminster Cathedral, London, March 12, 2022. / Credit: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk

London, England, Nov 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The U.K. has seen a significant rise in Anglican clergy, including bishops, converting to Catholicism, according to a new report released Nov. 20.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV urged U.S. high school students to be "intentional" with their screen time, their prayer time and their involvement in a local parish.

"One of my own personal heroes, one of my favorite saints, is St. Augustine of Hippo," the pope told 16,000 young Catholics meeting in Indianapolis. "He searched everywhere for happiness, but nothing satisfied him until he opened his heart to God. That is why he wrote, 'You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

With a livestream connection, Pope Leo spoke for close to an hour Nov. 21 with participants at the National Catholic Youth Conference meeting at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The pope responded to questions from five high school students: Mia Smothers from the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Ezequiel Ponce from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Christopher Pantelakis from the Archdiocese of Las Vegas; Micah Alcisto from the Diocese of Honolulu; and Elise Wing from the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa.

The questions were developed in meetings with other students and adults and were sent to the pope in advance. 

Pope Leo did respond to a question and comment posed by Katie Prejean McGrady, who was moderating the event. She mentioned that she had given the pope a pair of socks some time ago and said she wanted to know what he used as an opening word when he played Wordle each day.

"I just want to say I only wear white socks, and I use a different word for Wordle every day, so there's no set starting word," the pope said, before turning to the young people's questions.

Pantelakis asked for the pope's advice on balancing the use of smartphones and social media with "making faith connections outside of technology."

Pope Leo, using technology to address the students, listed many good things technology does. For example, "it lets us stay connected with people who are far away," he said, and there are "amazing tools for prayer, for reading the Bible, for learning more about what we believe, and it allows us to share the Gospel with people we may never meet in person."

"But even with all that, technology can never replace real, in-person relationships; simple things (like) a hug, a handshake, a smile -- all those things are essential to being human and to have those things in a real way, not through a screen," is important.

Pope Leo encouraged the students to follow the example of St. Carlo Acutis, who used technology to spread devotion to the Eucharistic but limited his time online and made sure he went to Mass, spent time in Eucharistic adoration and served the poor.

"Be intentional with your screen time," the pope told the young people. "Make sure technology serves your life and not the other way around."

Alciso asked for advice about using ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence. 

While Pope Leo has continued to push AI developers and governments to formulate ethical guidelines and include controls to protect young people, he told the high school students that "safety is not only about rules; it is about education, and it is about personal responsibility. Filters and guidelines can help you, but they cannot make choices for you; only you can do that."

"Using AI responsibly means using it in ways that help you grow, never in ways that distract you from your dignity or your call to holiness," the pope said. "AI can process information quickly, but it cannot replace human intelligence -- and don't ask it to do your homework for you."

AI, he said, "will not judge between what is truly right and wrong. And it won't stand in wonder, in authentic wonder, before the beauty, the beauty of God's creation. So be prudent. Be wise. Be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth."

"Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships," the pope said. And "remember, AI can never replace the unique gift that you are to the world."

Responding to Wing, who asked about the future of the church, Pope Leo told the young people they are an important part of its present. "Your voices, your ideas, your faith matter right now, and the church needs you," he said.

But, looking ahead, he asked them to ask themselves: "What can I offer the church for the future? How can I help others come to know Christ? How can I build peace and friendship around me?"

Smothers asked the pope if he ever finds it difficult to accept God's mercy.

"All of us struggle with this at times," the pope said. "The truth is that none of us is perfect."

But, he added, it also is true that God always forgives.

"We may struggle to forgive, but God's heart is different," Pope Leo told the teens. "God never stops inviting us back. We experience this mercy of God in a special way in the sacrament of reconciliation; in confession, Jesus meets us through the priest. When we honestly confess our sins and accept our penance, the priest gives absolution, and we know with certainty that we are forgiven."

"Do not focus only on your sins. Look to Jesus, trust his mercy and go to him with confidence; he will always welcome you home," the pope said to applause.
 

Pope Leo’s advice for using AI, smartphones

During a livestreamed conversation with young people at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianaopolis Nov. 21, Pope Leo gave advice for using artificial intelligence and smartphones responsibly.

Alessandro Allori, “The Presentation of Mary,” 1598. / Credit: Public domain

National Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

It’s easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke’s Gospel tells of the Holy Family’s journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified.

There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary’s heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.

The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary’s presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the “Protoevangelium of James,” which has been dated by historians before the year A.D. 200.

The “Protoevangelium of James” was ostensibly written by the apostle of the same name. It gives a detailed account in which Mary’s father, Joachim, tells his wife, Anna, that he wishes to bring their daughter to the Temple and consecrate her to God. Anna responds that they should wait until Mary is 3 years old so that she will not need her parents as much. 

On the agreed day for Mary to be taken to the Temple, Hebrew virgins accompanied the family with burning lamps. The Temple priest received Mary, kissed her, and blessed her. According to James’ writing, the priest then proclaimed: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest his redemption to the sons of Israel.” 

After that, Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and danced with joy. All the House of Israel loved Mary, and she was nurtured from then on in the Temple while her parents returned to their Nazareth home, glorifying God.

The celebration of the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew slowly over the years. 

On Nov. 21, 543, Emperor Justinian dedicated a church to Mary in the Temple area of Jerusalem. Many of the early Church Fathers celebrated this feast day, such as St. Germanus and St. John Damascene. In 1373, it was formally celebrated in Avignon, France, and in 1472, Pope Sixtus IV extended it to the universal Church. The Byzantine Church considers Mary’s Presentation one of the 12 great feasts of the liturgical year.

In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about this feast in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, saying: “Despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern Churches.”

The memorial of the Presentation of Mary has been noted in the Church since its early years and yet is easily forgotten or misunderstood. 

Since it’s classified as a memorial and not a solemnity or holy day of obligation, it doesn’t draw much attention to itself other than a special opening prayer in the Mass. With this memorial, we celebrate the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a unique way. In response, she placed her whole self at his service. By our baptism, God invites us, too, into his service.

But there’s more to celebrating the presentation of Mary. 

This feast gives us cause for great joy since Mary is truly our mother, given to us by Christ as he hung dying on the cross. Because we are part of her Son’s body, she loves us with as much devotion and tenderness as she loves Jesus. When we celebrate Mary’s presentation, we are giving Mary the honor she deserves and witnessing to her perfect purity as the virgin of Nazareth, the mother of God, and our mother.

Sts. Joachim and Anne surrendered their only daughter to God so that she would be completely free to follow his holy will. Although they loved her dearly, they knew that in the Temple Mary would always be near the Holy of Holies, surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness and grace. She would be instructed in Scripture and the history of the Jewish people. She would be under the guardianship and tutelage of the holy women of the Temple who had given their lives to God. One of them, Scripture scholars believe, was Anna — the woman who prophesied at the presentation of Our Lord. In the Temple, Mary would be completely focused on God and well prepared for becoming the mother of the Savior and mother of the body of Christ.

When we celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we remember the tremendous sacrifice Sts. Joachim and Anne made for our sakes. We give honor and respect to the Virgin, who is an example for all of us in our struggle for holiness. It is a privilege and an opportunity to express our gratitude for the gift of a pure, tender, and always-loving mother.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, on Nov. 21, 2023, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.

This photo taken on Jan. 15, 2024, shows a Chinese flag fluttering below a cross on a Christian church in Pingtan, in China’s southeast Fujian province. / Credit: Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The Chinese Communist Party’s “ongoing assault against religious freedom” has national security implications for the U.S., according to co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).

Former Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, who served as ambassador at large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration, told the commission Nov. 20 that the United States needs to treat China’s religious freedom violations as a national security threat. 

Brownback cited a report listing 10 Catholic bishops detained by the Chinese government. “Ten Catholic bishops,” he said with emphasis, adding: “Do people even know they’re in prison?” Brownback called for China to be sanctioned by the Trump administration, pointing out the regime “has not paid a dime” for its religious freedom violations despite having been designated a country of particular concern (CPC).

Bob Fu, ChinaAid founder and president, told the panel about his experience advocating for religious freedom in China since immigrating to the U.S, revealing that in 2020 his home in Texas was surrounded by Chinese Communist Party agents who threatened his family and children, threatening him to stop his ministry with ChinaAid.

Grace Jin Drexel, the daughter of Pastor Ezra Jin, who was arrested at an underground church last month, recalled her father’s detention, expressing concern for her father’s health and calling on the Chinese government to release him and fellow detainees immediately and unconditionally. 

Since 2018, Drexel’s father has been under an exit ban from China, separated from family in the U.S. for more than seven years, she said, noting his church grew to the largest it has ever been, reaching tens of thousands of people per year who are under persecution prior to his arrest. 

A bipartisan group of senators, including Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, are urging the Trump administration to act on behalf of Pastor Jin.

Adherents to underground churches in China are not trying to subvert the state, Drexel said, but rather are “merely asking to be free from the Communist Party” in the context of worship, where God is at the center. 

Drexel also recalled her own experience of transnational harassment for her advocacy on behalf of her father, saying she received a threatening phone call from someone pretending to be a U.S. federal agent and has been followed and harassed by the CCP throughout Washington, D.C. 

Visibly emotional, she said: “Do not signal defeat of this trampling of human rights with your silence.”

Testifying before the commission led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, other witnesses included Ismail “Ma Ju” Juma, a Hui Muslim human rights advocate, and Bhuchung Tsering, who leads the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Research and Monitoring Unit.

Protecting U.S. religious freedom

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, a member of the commission, emphasized the constitutional importance of religious freedom and the need for the U.S. to protect it. McGovern, who is Catholic, said the U.S. needs to protect religious freedom at home first for its position to carry real weight. 

He cited the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and its effect on the migrant community in the U.S. Catholic Church. He further cited the bishop of San Bernardino, who this past summer granted a Sunday Mass dispensation to migrants in his diocese who feared deportation. “

“Our voice would have more effect,” he said, “if the U.S. protected the religious freedom of people living in the U.S.”

Reem Alsalem (right), the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, opposes surrogacy at an Oct. 9, 2025, U.N. event hosted by the Italian government. / Credit: ADF International

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The European Parliament and the United Nations have officially condemned the practice of surrogacy following reports of human rights violations against women and babies. 

Experts gathered on Nov. 19 for a meeting at the European Parliament that included U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International’s Carmen Correas, who discussed the harms of surrogacy on women and children, according to an ADF press release.

The event, “Surrogacy: An Ethical and Political Challenge for Europe,” followed the release of a landmark report by Alsalem that highlighted widespread human rights violations globally as a result of surrogacy. The event also came after a resolution that stated the EU “condemns the practice of surrogacy … [and] calls on the [EU] Commission to take measures to support ending this phenomenon.”

Italian European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party Member of the EU Parliament Paolo Inselvini said at the event it has become clear that “a determined European front exists, committed to stopping reproductive exploitation across the globe.” He further emphasized the EU’s commitment to “abandon all ambiguity” and designate surrogacy as “a universal crime.” 

“Surrogacy treats women and children as commodities,” Correas said. “The European Union has taken an important step in acknowledging its inherent harms. We urge policymakers to move swiftly toward a clear, coordinated legal prohibition that protects the dignity and rights of all involved.”

Alsalem’s report was based on nearly 120 submissions in addition to video consultations with 78 people including commissioning parents, surrogacy agencies, and surrogate mothers. Alsalem called for member states to establish a universal ban on surrogacy, criminalizing the practice in all its forms.

Through her consultative process, the U.N. expert found surrogate mothers, who are most often from low-income and vulnerable backgrounds, and their children increasingly endure physical, emotional, and financial exploitation as well as violence and human trafficking.

The report further highlighted the experience of surrogate mothers being pressured into abortions by commissioning parents, including beyond 12 weeks of gestation, “through coercive tactics such as financial incentives, threats of legal action, or the withdrawal of support to both the mother and baby.” This often occurs when the child is found to have a disability, the report said.

In cases where the surrogate becomes pregnant with multiple children at once, commissioning parents may “also enforce a selective reduction,” or the killing of one or more of the undesired babies in utero.

Mary Help of Christians Basilica on the campus of Belmont Abbey College. / Credit: Rnrivas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:

Retired Army general, Notre Dame professor to serve as president of Belmont Abbey College

Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina announced that Jeffrey Talley, a retired three-star lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and former tenured professor at the University of Notre Dame, will serve as its new president.

In a Nov. 18 press release announcing the appointment, Talley said the school has a “unique opportunity” to “help young men and women get a rigorous academic experience in a faith-filled environment that’s strong in its Catholic identity so they can go forth in a world that’s become so challenging, so complex, so difficult.”

Talley will assume the position of the college’s 21st president on Jan. 2, 2026. The chair of Belmont Abbey College’s board of trustees, Charles Cornelio, said in the release that the appointment comes after a seven-month search. 

Talley “is a person of deep Catholic faith who understands the mission of the college and will live it,” Cornelio said, highlighting the general’s decades-long history as a Benedictine oblate. 

“Leaders who are balanced both morally and professionally are in greater need than ever before. For this purpose, Belmont Abbey College exists,” Talley said. “I thank God for the opportunity to become part of the Belmont Abbey College family, where together we can bear the light of Christ in the world today.”

Notre Dame professor attempts to distribute contraceptives, Plan B on campus

A professor of gender studies at the University of Notre Dame attempted to use university space to facilitate the distribution of contraceptives and Plan B, according to a Nov. 19 report published by the student-run paper the Irish Rover.

Pamela Butler, who is the director of undergraduate studies for the school’s gender studies department, has reportedly been reserving rooms in violation of university code for the group “Irish 4 Reproductive Health,” according to the Rover.

School guidelines grant the use of university buildings and grounds for “recognized student groups.” The “reproductive health” group — which stated in the report it was “not affiliated with the university in any official capacity” — has been distributing free “resource bags” with condoms, Plan B, and information on abortion services for students in the university’s DeBartolo Hall.

The group also openly advertises the distribution of contraception on Instagram as well as “workshops” hosted on campus on “exploring the principles of pro-choice Catholicism, how Catholic teaching supports reproductive justice, and how these ideas inform advocacy.”

Minnesota Catholic institutions, including schools and universities, hit by pension deficit

The pension fund covering multiple Catholic schools and universities across Minnesota has been hit by an $800 million deficit, threatening retirement resources for thousands of current and former workers.

The pension manager, Christian Brothers Services, is asking employers to make increased contributions to compensate for the massive shortfall, according to a report in the Minnesota Star Tribune, which cited “a big loss in a hedge fund that cratered a few years ago” in 2020 as reason for the deficit.

Christian Brothers Services is a nonprofit organization that operates a church pension plan, one that is not bound by federal pension regulations, meaning pensioners are not eligible for federal payouts if their plans fail, according to the IRS.

The Chicago-based organization manages the pensions of over 40 schools across the Dioceses of New Ulm, Crookston, and St. Cloud, as well as lay workers, and workers at St. Mary’s University in Winona and Minneapolis.

Two schools have since pulled from the plan, according to the local report, while two others are planning to do so.

Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered at his general audience on Oct.25, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will hold a historic live digital conversation with American teenagers at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) on Friday. The faithful across the globe can also tune in to watch the encounter.

The Holy Father will hold the digital discussion with young Catholics amid the Nov. 20–22 NCYC, hosted by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.

The pope will speak at 10:15 a.m. ET on Nov. 21 and enter into dialogue with a group of high school students.

People attending NCYC in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium can watch the encounter at the event, but others across the world are able to join online from homes, schools, and parishes.

The exchange will be broadcast via a livestream available on EWTN YouTube. Viewers can also watch through the EWTN app or on EWTN’s cable channel.

This marks the first time that a pope will directly engage with U.S. youth in a live digital encounter at NCYC. More than 40 teens have participated in the dialogue planning process, and five of them will get the chance to speak directly with the Holy Father.

For other news about the pope’s discussion and NCYC, the faithful can stay informed on CNA’s live updates page.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance participates in a fireside chat with Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Nov. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance called border security “humanitarian” in response to comments from Pope Leo XIV about immigration policy in the United States.

“Border security is not just good for American citizens,” Vance said in an interview with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle on Nov. 20. “It is the humanitarian thing to do for the entire world.”

Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 18 asked Americans to listen to U.S. bishops’ message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and urged humane treatment of migrants.

“No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” the pope said.

Vance said he has followed the Holy Father’s comments closely as “a devout Catholic.”

“You may not know it, judging purely from the comments of some people on social media, but the Catholic Church’s views on this are actually quite clear,” Vance said.

“It’s that, yes, you must treat immigrants humanely,” Vance said. “On the other hand, every nation has the right to control its borders. And obviously, how you strike that balance is very important, but there’s a lot of room there to actually control your own borders for the sake of your own people.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) special message affirmed that countries have a “responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “the more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner.” 

U.S. bishops said they lamented the conditions in detention centers and lack of access to pastoral care. Bishops also said they “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.”

Vance said “open borders” do not promote “[human] dignity, even of the illegal migrants themselves,” and cited drug and sex trafficking.

“When you empower the cartels and when you empower the human traffickers, whether in the United States or anywhere else, you’re empowering the very worst people in the world,” Vance said.

“My priority, my charge is to look after the people of the United States of America, and you cannot do that if you’re flooding the country with a ton of illegal immigrants and the drugs and the crime that they bring,” Vance said.

According to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem this year, as of October 2025, nearly half a million immigrants without legal status in the country had been arrested. “70% of those individuals have criminal charges against them or have been convicted of those criminal charges,” Noem said.

The administration provides regular updates on “the worst of the worst” criminals they apprehend among the immigrant population without legal status in the country.

Meanwhile, multiple research studies have shown that overall, immigrants do not commit more crimes than U.S.-born people and are actually less likely to commit crimes. Stanford University economist Ran Abramitzky found that since the 1960s, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people.

A study by the libertarian Cato Institute that reviewed more than a decade of data found that immigrants, including those who enter the country illegally, have a lower crime rate than the native-born population.

For example, in 2023, the incarceration rate for native-born Americans was 1,221 for every 100,000 people. For legal immigrants, it was 319 for every 100,000, and for immigrants in the country illegally, it was 613 for every 100,000.

“Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation,” the U.S. bishops said.