Browsing News Entries
What is the ‘ordo amoris’? JD Vance’s comments on Christian love spark debate
Posted on 02/4/2025 11:00 AM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)

CNA Staff, Feb 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
During a recent interview, Vice President JD Vance invoked the Catholic concept of “ordo amoris” — “rightly ordered love” — in the context of the ongoing societal debate over immigration policy, sparking a variety of reactions on social media.
Speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Vance opined, spurred by Hannity, that “the far left” in the United States tend to have “more compassion” for people residing in the country illegally — including those who have committed crimes — than they do for American citizens.
“[A]s an American leader, but also just as an American citizen, your compassion belongs first to your fellow citizens. It doesn’t mean you hate people from outside of your own borders,” Vance said Jan. 30.
“But there’s this old-school [concept] — and I think a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” he said.
He continued: “A lot of the far left has completely inverted that. They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders. That is no way to run a society.”
Later that evening Vance responded on social media to a British professor and politician, Rory Stewart, who criticized Vance’s comments as a “bizarre take on John 15:12-13” and as “less Christian and more pagan tribal.” (The Bible verse referenced by Stewart reads “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”)
“Just google ‘ordo amoris,’” Vance wrote in reply.
“Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense. Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone?” he continued.
Just google “ordo amoris.” Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense. Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone? https://t.co/otvv5g1wFN
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 30, 2025
What’s ‘ordo amoris’?
Though you won’t find the term “ordo amoris” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, a canon lawyer and a professor, told CNA that the concept is a well-established one and is “evident both by revelation and reason.”
St. Augustine in his classic work “City of God” offers the term “ordo amoris,” often rendered as “rightly ordered love,” as a definition for the concept of “virtue.”
Augustine, a highly influential early bishop and theologian, expanded on the concept of the “order of love” in his work “On Christian Doctrine.”
“Now he is a man of just and holy life who forms an unprejudiced estimate of things, and keeps his affections also under strict control, so that he neither loves what he ought not to love, nor fails to love what he ought to love, nor loves that more which ought to be loved less, nor loves that equally which ought to be loved either less or more, nor loves that less or more which ought to be loved equally,” Augustine wrote in “On Christian Doctrine.”
St. Thomas Aquinas — a 13th-century doctor of the Church — in his “Summa Theologica” cited and expanded on St. Augustine’s work, writing that there must be “some order in things loved out of charity … in reference to the first principle of that love, which is God.”
Aquinas defined this “order of charity,” or “ordo caritatis,” as a principle that dictates how we should love God, ourselves, and our neighbors in a hierarchical and interconnected manner. He cited Augustine to argue that while one should love all people equally, one ought to “chiefly” consider those who are more closely united by reason of place, time, or other circumstances.
In Aquinas’ analysis, he concludes that God is to be loved first and foremost, followed by oneself, then neighbors, and among neighbors, he wrote that there are those who should be loved with a more intense affection, such as family.
The hierarchy laid out by Aquinas is not meant to diminish the importance of loving all people as Christ commanded but does acknowledge that certain relationships, practically speaking, carry more immediate obligations. For example, a married person has a higher obligation to care for his or her spouse than for others and an obligation to provide for his or her own children before providing for those in other places.
Pietrzyk said that while the entirety of the concept of “ordo amoris” isn’t “revealed” teaching straight from God, some aspects of it are — the duty of every person to honor his or her father and mother, for example, is found in the Ten Commandments.
As a matter of logic, he continued, the duty to “love your neighbor as yourself” relies on a prior love of self.
“Of course, all of this assumes a love of God as the basis for all other love. Revelation certainly shows us a hierarchical structure of charity in man. Sts. Augustine and Thomas use reason to help more fully understand and explain that notion,” Pietrzyk explained.
While Pietrzyk said the existence of the ordo caritatis is well established, its practical application is complex and allows for legitimate disagreement. He also pointed out that Aquinas’ approach requires taking into account certain situational difficulties and urgent needs, especially the greater need of an individual in the moment.
“[W]e ought in preference to bestow on each one such benefits as pertain to the matter in which, speaking simply, he is most closely connected with us,” Aquinas writes in the Summa.
“And yet this may vary according to the various requirements of time, place, or matter in hand: Because in certain cases one ought, for instance, to succor a stranger, in extreme necessity, rather than one’s own father, if he is not in such urgent need.”
The term “order of charity” appears in two places in the Catechism of the Catholic Church; firstly in No. 2197, in which the Church teaches that the Fourth Commandment — “honor your father and mother” — “shows us the order of charity.”
“God has willed that, after him, we should honor our parents to whom we owe life and who have handed on to us the knowledge of God. We are obliged to honor and respect all those whom God, for our good, has vested with his authority,” the catechism continues.
Finally, No. 2239 reads: “It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.”
Social media debate
Vance’s mention of “ordo amoris” sparked a vigorous debate on social media, with some Catholic figures criticizing the vice president’s understanding and use of the concept and others, including several Catholic theologians and philosophers, expressing concurrence and appreciation.
Jesuit Father James Martin opined that Vance’s comments “[miss] the point of Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan.”
“Jesus’ fundamental message is that everyone is your neighbor, and that it is not about helping just your family or those closest to you. It’s specifically about helping those who seem different, foreign, other. They are all our ‘neighbors,’” Martin wrote.
“Jesus was often critical of those who would put family first,” he added.
In a subsequent post, Martin argued that interpretations of Aquinas’ “ordo caritatis” that suggest one ought to prioritize family before strangers misrepresent both Aquinas’ intent and the Gospel’s central message.
“Jesus’ command to love the stranger is not just a theological reflection and not just an important part of our tradition, it’s divine revelation. Jesus tells us clearly that at the heavenly gates, we are going to be asked if we welcomed the ‘stranger’: that is, someone who is not part of our family, someone we don’t know. That’s how we will be judged, as he says in Matthew 25,” Martin wrote.
“[I]t’s not about the selective love of family but about a new kind of family. And within that family is the stranger, the migrant, the refugee. And I’ll bet that Aquinas and Augustine would agree.”
Michael Sirilla, a professor of philosophy at Franciscan University, said Vance had summarized the “Christian notion” of ordo caritatis “deftly.”
It is a Christian notion called the "ordo caritatis," the order of charity. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas express it eloquently and Vance summarizes it here deftly. https://t.co/o2SJoH4Kkc
— Michael Sirilla (@msirilla1) January 30, 2025
Catholic philosopher Edward Feser said Vance expressed “the correct view.”
“The view that one has the same duties to all human beings, rather than special duties to those closest, in no way reflects a conception of human beings as social animals,” Feser wrote, calling that view a “product of liberalism’s radical individualism.”
“The correct view (common to Confucius, Aristotle, Aquinas, and the common sense of mankind in general) is that our social nature and its consequent obligations manifest themselves first and foremost in the family, then in local communities, then in the nation as a whole, and only after that in our relationship to mankind in general.”
This article was updated on Feb. 4, 2025 to include two places in the Catechism of the Catholic Church where the term “order of charity” appears.
CNA explains: How the Catholic Church partners with the U.S. government to serve migrants
Posted on 02/3/2025 23:10 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 3, 2025 / 18:10 pm (CNA).
The Catholic Church’s service to migrants and refugees has come under scrutiny after Vice President JD Vance criticized the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a televised interview as the administration continues to crack down on illegal immigration.
“I think that the [USCCB] needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million [from the federal government] to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance asked rhetorically in a Jan. 26 interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Without directly referencing Vance, the USCCB issued a statement that same day defending its partnership with the federal government on resettling refugees, noting that the people they serve through the refugee resettlement program are “vetted and approved … by the federal government while outside of the United States.”
“In our agreements with the government, the USCCB receives funds to do this work; however, these funds are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs,” the statement read. “Nonetheless, this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the Church.”
In light of this debate, here’s an explainer to shed light on the USCCB’s efforts to serve migrants and its partnership with the federal government.
How much taxpayer money does the USCCB receive?
In recent years, the USCCB has received more than $100 million annually from the federal government to support migration and refugee services.
A large portion of funding comes from grants through the federal U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to help resettle refugees who have been vetted by the federal government. This is the program the bishops referenced in their statement.
The USCCB also gets federal funding through other programs. These include the Refugee and Entrant Assistance program, which is meant to support migrants and help them attain self-sufficiency. The bishops’ conference also receives federal money from the Unaccompanied Alien Children program, which is meant to support migrant children who enter the United States without a parent or guardian or are separated from their parents or guardians.
The amount of money the USCCB receives fluctuates from year to year and from administration to administration, but the conference has partnered with the federal government on the issue for four and a half decades.
According to the USCCB’s audited financial statements, federal funding covered more than 95% of what the conference spent on refugee and migrant programs in recent years. The USCCB has spent slightly more on these services than what is covered by federal funding, according to the financial statements.
In 2023, the most recent year reported, the USCCB spent more than $134.2 million on these services with federal grants covering more than $129.6 million of the spending. In 2022, the USCCB spent nearly $127.4 million after getting nearly $123 million from the government.
Federal funding in those two years was much higher than it was in President Joe Biden’s first year in office and throughout most of President Donald Trump’s first term.
The USCCB received just over $67.5 million in federal funds in 2021, about $47.8 million in 2020, slightly more than $52.7 million in 2019, and a little under $48.5 million in 2018. Each year, the conference spent about $5 million more than what was covered by the grants. During Trump’s first year in 2017, the grant funding was higher — at just over $72.3 million — and the USCCB spending on these services was more than $82.2 million.
During President Barack Obama’s tenure, federal grant funding for the USCCB’s programs that support refugees and migrants fluctuated from below $70 million to above $95 million.
Where does the money go?
The USCCB directs the bulk of its federal grant funding to affiliate organizations that provide migration and refugee services, such as Catholic Charities.
According to the USCCB Committee on Migration, the Catholic refugee resettlement network includes more than 65 affiliate offices throughout the United States. The bishops self-report that the USCCB and its Migration and Refugee Services help resettle about 18% of refugees who enter the country every year.
Numerous affiliates are located near the border with Mexico, where many people seeking legal refugee status cross into the United States. The committee’s website states, however, “there is no evidence or research to support the claim that … services provided by Catholic organizations incentivize unlawful migration.”
Some of the services provided through the funding include food, clothing, shelter, employment, and assistance in assimilating to their new community, including lessons in English as a second language. Some organizations also offer legal services to migrants to provide free assistance with legal issues related to immigration status and travel for refugees accepted into USRAP.
Apart from refugee resettlement, the USCCB also uses federal grants to assist unaccompanied refugee minors through work with its affiliates. This includes foster care services for migrant children and family reunification programs that work to reunite children who are separated from their families during migration.
The USCCB also operates several programs with the help of its affiliates that are intended to combat the human trafficking of migrants, which includes initiatives focused on preventing forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Although a significant portion of this work is supported by federal grants, the committee website emphasizes the USCCB “does not profit from its participation” in these programs, noting that the conference spends more money on these initiatives than it receives from the government. Both the USCCB and Catholic Charities are nonprofit organizations.
Policy disputes and federal funding
Enhancing border security and deporting immigrants who entered the country illegally are two of the top issues on which the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump focused his campaign and presidency.
Officials in the new administration have not only focused on changing federal immigration policy but have also criticized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provide migrant services, which include Catholic nonprofits affiliated with the USCCB.
One of Trump’s first-day executive orders was to suspend refugee admission through USRAP. The following week, the White House ordered the heads of federal departments and agencies to halt federal funding to NGOs that could be implicated by the executive orders.
Although it is still unclear to what extent this will affect funding for Catholic NGOs, Catholic Charities USA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson issued a statement that urged the president to reconsider the freeze.
“The millions of Americans who rely on this life-giving support will suffer due to the unprecedented effort to freeze federal aid supporting these programs,” Robinson said. “The people who will lose access to crucial care are our neighbors and family members. They live in every corner of the country and represent all races, religions, and political affiliations.”
Patrick Raglow, the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, told “EWTN News In Depth” on Friday that “our approach is to be present to those that come our way, so we are [supportive of] the individual that finds their way to Catholic Charities.”
Jesuits to hold third world summit of major superiors in October
Posted on 02/3/2025 21:10 PM (EWTN News - World Catholic News)

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 3, 2025 / 16:10 pm (CNA).
The superior general of the Society of Jesus, Venezuelan priest Arturo Sosa, has convoked a meeting of all the Jesuit major superiors to be held this October in Rome.
Survey reveals common threads behind final vows of 2024’s professed religious
Posted on 02/3/2025 20:40 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 3, 2025 / 15:40 pm (CNA).
A newly released survey is pulling back the curtain on the men and women who professed perpetual vows this past year.
Here’s a snapshot of those who made their final vows in 2024:
Once again, nearly all respondents to the annual study conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) reported being raised by their biological parents during the most formative part of their childhood, with at least one Catholic parent.
The survey report released on Monday polled a total of 140 religious who professed perpetual vows in 2024, including 73 sisters and nuns and 67 brothers and priests ranging from 25 to 69 years old.
Traditional family upbringing again prevailed as a shared trait among survey respondents, with 97% saying they were raised by their biological parents during their most formative years, and 90% reported being raised by a married couple living together.
Almost 9 in 10, 87%, reported both of their parents were Catholic, while 92% reported having at least one parent practicing the faith.
A look at demographics
According to the survey, about 7 in 10 responding religious were born in the U.S. Those born outside the U.S. were represented as follows:
Asia (12%)
Latin America (10%)
Africa (6%)
Canada (3%)
Europe (1%)
The average age of foreign-born religious respondents when they came to the U.S. was 24, with the youngest arriving stateside at 1 year old and the oldest at 50.
On average, respondents made their perpetual vows this year at age 37, with half of respondents making vows at 34 years or younger. The eldest sister to make her final profession was 69, while the eldest brother was 66. The youngest of both men and women was 25.
A deeper dive: family dynamics
While most of those who professed religious vows last year reported coming from stable two-parent homes, about 9% said they had been raised by grandparents “during the most formative part of their childhood.”
In terms of family size, the report found that of the profession class of 2024, 96% had at least one sibling, with nearly 40% reporting having four or more. About a quarter, 27%, had just one sibling, while 32% reported having two to three.
Only seven respondents were the only child in their family.
About a third of respondents were the eldest siblings, while the same percentage reported being born somewhere in the middle of their families. Thirty-five respondents were the youngest.
Faith and reason: educational background
Catholic education may have played a significant role in driving vocations among this year’s respondents.
According to the survey, 43% reported attending Catholic elementary or middle school, 38% attended Catholic high school, and 41% attended a Catholic college or university. Regardless of religious affiliation, the majority of those who professed vows, 73%, completed an undergraduate or graduate degree before entering their religious institute.
Women face more discouragement
The majority of respondents, almost 9 in 10, reported having served in some form of ministry before entering their religious institute.
The “most common ministry experiences” were the following:
Lector (55%)
Altar server (54%)
Youth/campus ministry (45%)
Extraordinary minister (42%)
Youth group (49%)
When discerning, almost 60% of respondents said they were “discouraged from considering a vocation to religious life by one or more persons.”
The survey found that women were more likely to experience this discouragement than men, with 61% of women reporting negative reactions to their discernment compared with 43% of men.
Nonetheless, most respondents on average reported knowing their respective orders for five years before entering. Ninety-three percent said they participated in a discernment program before entering, with 73% saying they attended a “come and see” experience.
Children’s hospitals suspend youth transgender programs after Trump order
Posted on 02/3/2025 17:50 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)

CNA Staff, Feb 3, 2025 / 12:50 pm (CNA).
Several hospitals have suspended child transgender programs after the Trump administration moved to restrict what the White House describes as the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of young people.
President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order restricting transgender surgeries and drugs for youth, with the president vowing that the United States “will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” the controversial procedures.
Among other measures, the order directs that every federal agency that offers “research or educational grants” to medical institutions must ensure that those institutions are not administering transgender drugs to, or performing transgender procedures on, youth.
On Thursday the Associated Press reported that multiple major hospitals throughout the U.S. have paused some of those medical practices following the White House’s order.
Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., “paused prescriptions of puberty blockers and hormone therapy” for transgender-identifying youth there in response to the directive, the news wire reported. The hospital “already did not perform gender-affirming surgery on minors.”
Farther south, the health system at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond both paused medication and surgeries for minors who believe they are the opposite sex.
Denver Health in Colorado has likewise paused “gender-affirming surgeries,” the wire said.
Some other hospitals indicated to AP that they would continue offering those procedures for now. Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital said after Trump’s order it was “assessing any potential impact to the clinical services we offer to our patient families.”
The White House order last week also moved to end the use of what it calls “junk science” promoted by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).
That organization has come under fire for endorsing what critics have called the “pseudoscience” of transgenderism, with an internal leak last year revealing its members admitting that children are too young to fully understand the consequences of such procedures.
The president last week also issued an order to end “radical gender ideology” in the military, reversing former President Joe Biden’s directive that allowed soldiers who identify as transgender to serve in the armed forces.
Kansas Catholics travel 1,600 miles with truck of supplies for Los Angeles parish
Posted on 02/3/2025 11:00 AM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)

CNA Staff, Feb 3, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Catholics in Kansas last week drove a truckload of supplies more than 1,600 miles to Los Angeles to bring some relief to the faithful there who have been devastated by recent wildfires.
Deacon Greg Trum and his wife, Barb, told CNA they were moved to help residents of Los Angeles while putting Christmas decorations away in the storage space of their Leawood, Kansas, home.
“Barb said, ‘Hey, if something’s been in the storage area for a year and we haven’t needed it, it needs to go,’” Trum said, adding that his wife further expressed that she wished they could get some of their belongings to victims of the Los Angeles fires.
Trum’s response? “We could probably load up a truck and do something.”
The Trums asked their pastor, Father Brian Schieber at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, if they could organize the parish to donate supplies. They contacted Paul Escala, the superintendent of Catholic schools in Los Angeles, to determine what parishioners in that city might need. The effort ultimately focused on students and others at St. Elizabeth Catholic School in Altadena.
They put the word out to the St. Michael community. “The response was overwhelming,” the deacon said. “Immediately people started bringing things in.”

The effort began at the St. Michael the Archangel parish school. Trum said the principal told the several hundred children of the school: “If you woke up and had nothing, what would you need? Bring that to these kids.”
“We got a ton of school supplies, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and bedding,” Trum said. “It was originally somewhat focused on the school. But once we knew we were going to overwhelm the school [in Los Angeles] with the supplies, we opened it to family needs.”
Organizers quickly saw that the volume of goods being donated by the parish would require a truck to transport it. Trum was able to secure transportation at a bargain rate.
“I was in the commercial tire business,” he said. “One of my customers was Penske Truck.”
“I didn’t want to get gouged,” Trum said with a laugh. “I called them up and told them about it and said, will you give us a deal?”
According to the deacon, the company responded: “We’ll give you a really good deal — we’ll give you a truck!” All it cost the church was gas, Trum said.
A fellow parishioner, Mike Pollock, oversaw the logistics of boxing up and organizing the supplies. The deacon ultimately rode out with another friend and fellow Catholic, Mike Klover.
On the way out, they stopped at a Catholic parish in Topeka that had heard about the effort and wanted to add supplies to the truck. The city was directly on the route to Los Angeles, so the drivers stopped and loaded up more donations.
After that, “the only room we had on our truck was our two suitcases,” the deacon said. “Mother Mary was definitely in charge, making sure things went well.”

Both the St. Elizabeth church and school survived, but many members of the parish and school lost their homes in the surrounding area.
The duo traveled a total of 1,653 miles to get to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Pasadena, where the supplies would be dropped off for the nearby St. Elizabeth Parish.
“We had a 3:30 appointment, and we were there at 3:15,” Trum said. Many members of the community turned out to help unload the truck, including Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Brian Nunes.
Trum and Klover stayed overnight two nights with the religious sisters at the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra before heading back to Kansas.
For Barb Trum, the experience was the fruit of a dedication to Christ and the Virgin Mary. “We have a very deep devotion to the Blessed Mother,” she told CNA. “You have to stay very close to the sacraments every day, whether it’s daily Mass, the Eucharist, reconciliation, or adoration.”
She urged the faithful to “have an open heart to do God’s work and build up the kingdom of God.” She pointed to the Gospel directive in which the faithful are told “if you have two things you’re supposed to give one to someone who needs it.”
“When Jesus calls, we respond,” she said. “That’s what we did.”
Cause for beatification of quadriplegic who brought many sick people to Christ advances
Posted on 02/2/2025 12:00 PM (EWTN News - World Catholic News)

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 2, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has validated the diocesan investigation for the beatification cause of Servant of God Antonino “Nino” Baglieri.
Philadelphia archbishop: ‘My heart sank’ after learning of Friday plane crash
Posted on 02/1/2025 15:55 PM (EWTN News - US Catholic News)

CNA Staff, Feb 1, 2025 / 10:55 am (CNA).
Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Peréz called for all to “unite in prayer” after a private medical jet carrying a pediatric patient, her mother, and four crew members crashed Friday night in northeast Philadelphia.
“My heart sank when I learned that an aircraft crashed at Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in northeast Philadelphia tonight,” Peréz said in a Jan. 31 statement.
The plane, which was owned by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, crashed just after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport at about 6 p.m. It was headed to Branson, Missouri, before its final destination of Tijuana, Mexico. The six passengers, who were all Mexican nationals, were killed, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
On Saturday afternoon, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said one person on the ground who was in a car was killed and at least 19 people on the ground had been injured, the Inquirer reported.
A representative of Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia said the child had received care at the hospital and was returning home with her mother, according to the Inquirer.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a post on X Saturday morning that “consular authorities are in permanent contact with the families” and “my sympathy goes out to their loved ones and friends.”
“This shocking tragedy comes with great loss, pain, and anxiety for the families of the crew and passengers as well as neighborhood residents and business owners whose evening was shattered with sudden violence,” Peréz continued in his statement. “We pray fervently that God will bring comfort and healing in this time of anguish.”
Peréz prayed that the Blessed Mother would be with the first responders and emergency personnel and extended his gratitude for their service.
“Let us all unite in prayer and do what we can in the days ahead to share the compassionate love of Christ with those suffering as a result of tonight’s crash,” he said.
The tragedy comes just two days after an American Eagle flight collided with a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing 67 people.
This story was updated on Feb. 1, 2025, at 1:58 p.m. ET with an updated death and injury toll.
Ireland’s spiritual mother faces secular reinterpretation
Posted on 02/1/2025 10:00 AM (EWTN News - World Catholic News)

Dublin, Ireland, Feb 1, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).
In Ireland, Feb. 1 marks the beginning of spring and the celebration of “Lá Fhéile Bríde” — St. Brigid’s Day.
St. Brigid of Ireland and her unmistakable Irish cross
Posted on 02/1/2025 09:00 AM (EWTN News - World Catholic News)

Dublin, Ireland, Feb 1, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
St. Brigid has given Ireland one of its most iconic religious and cultural images — the cross that carries her name.