Bishop Michael F. Burbidge leads the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of Arlington

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 15, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, said the country can simultaneously protect its borders and treat immigrants with respect.

In a Nov. 14 interview with “EWTN News Nightly,” Burbidge said the U.S. bishops’ special message on immigration in the United States is a call for respect of the human dignity that belongs to every person as a child of God.

The bishops voted to approve the statement on Nov. 12 at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore. The message said bishops oppose “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” It is rooted in Jesus’ teachings, Burbidge said.

The bishops have called for a meaningful immigration law “that will provide safe pathways” to citizenship, Burbidge said. “There’s not an easy solution, but there has to be a solution.”

“The bishops understand that a country, of course, has a right to protect its borders for the sake of the common good, but at all times must treat persons with respect,” Burbidge said. He also said the country must do everything possible so people don’t live in distress.

‘Fear and anxiety’

Pastors in the bishops’ dioceses have said the execution of immigration laws is “causing a lot of fear and anxiety,” Burbidge said. The bishops are continuing to minister to immigrants who are “contributing to the good of the Church” and “the good of our communities,” he said.

“We’re representing those who seek no harm to our country, who only want to do good, and we want them to be treated with the respect that is necessary,” Burbidge said. “Again, we also say this does not have to be in conflict with a country protecting itself.” 

“We express gratitude to our elected officials for the dialogue that we have had in the past and hopefully that we will continue to have. We love our country. We love the immigrants who have contributed to our country, and we would like our country to be freed from this violence, from rhetoric, from fear,” Burbidge said. 

“There has to be a way that we can live together in harmony, and we want to work together,” Burbidge said.

St. John Paul II. / Credit: Adrian Tusar/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A new Vatican-set thriller based on a true story is currently in the works, according to Variety.

“Santo Subito!” will follow Father Joseph Murolo, an American priest asked by the Vatican to serve as the “devil’s advocate” in the investigation of Pope John Paul II’s life and his path to sainthood.

The film will take place after the pontiff’s death and follows Murolo, who “must make sure that nothing undermines the sanctification of Karol Wojtyla, the first non-Italian pope in 450 years,” the synopsis reads, as he interviews candidates and witnesses. The description goes on to say that the priest will navigate a “moral labyrinth” that will “put his own faith to the test.”

Murolo will be played by actor Mark Ruffalo, known for his role as Bruce Banner, or the Hulk, in “The Avengers” movies.

Filming is expected to begin on March 9, 2026, on location in Italy and Poland.

“The film offers a genuine behind-the-scenes investigation of the Vatican world, while also taking us into the deeper realm of faith and values,” a co-producer of the film, Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, said. “The script itself is a page-turner, and I can’t imagine any audience remaining indifferent to Father Murolo’s journey.” 

In the canonization process of the Catholic Church, the “advocatus diaboli,” or the devil’s advocate, was established to ensure rigorous scrutiny of a candidate’s life, virtues, and reported miracles. The role’s purpose was to consider all possible doubts and inconsistencies, and to present evidence that might challenge claims of holiness, so that only those truly worthy would be declared saints.

However, in 1983, Pope John Paul II reformed the process through the apostolic constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, changing the role of the devil’s advocate, also known as the “promoter of faith.” The emphasis shifted from an adversarial model to one more focused on collecting and verifying evidence, with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints overseeing the process.

null / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life- and abortion-related news:

Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood centers have closed nationwide in 2025

Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood centers have closed this year due to Medicaid and Title X funding cuts, according to a recent Planned Parenthood report.  

Planned Parenthood has closed 20 facilities since federal defunding earlier this year following a round of nearly 50 other closures. 

President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act prevented federal taxpayer dollars from being used to subsidize abortion providers for one year, meaning abortion providers don’t currently qualify for federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

Rather than giving up abortion offerings, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood are closing clinics across the country. 

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the defunding “cruel.” 

“They are intentionally dismantling health care for patients most in need and pushing Planned Parenthood health centers further to the financial brink,” Johnson said in a Nov. 12 statement.

Community health centers, meanwhile, vastly outnumbered Planned Parenthood locations in the U.S., according to a report by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

There are “more than 8,800 community health centers that provide comprehensive care to vulnerable populations and offer women’s health services, in comparison to just 579 Planned Parenthood centers as of spring 2025,” a Charlotte Lozier Institute report reads.

Group to fund ultrasound machines in states where abortion is legal 

A leading Christian group is launching a program to place ultrasound machines in states where abortion is legal.

The Across State Lines program, launched by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), is meant to be “lifesaving” and “missional,” according to organizers.  

Across State Lines will work with Baptist state conventions to place the machines. 

Gary Hollingsworth, ERLC interim president, said Southern Baptists “stand firmly on the truth that God has created all people, from the moment of conception, in his image and endowed them with the right to life.”  

He said he hopes the ultrasounds will help mothers “see this truth.”

The Psalm 139 Project will fund the cost of ultrasound machines and training. 

Rachel Wiles, who directs the Psalm 139 Project, said the project is about “serving vulnerable women” with a “missional” attitude. 

“Southern Baptists are strongly pro-life and are missional people — whether ministering to others across an ocean or across the street,” Wiles said. 

“In the same way, we are asking those who live in more conservative states with pro-life laws to consider reaching across state lines with a missional mindset, ultimately saving preborn lives and supporting mothers who face unplanned pregnancies,” Wiles said.

Pro-life group to invest $80 million in midterms 

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is investing $80 million in the 2026 midterm elections to preserve a pro-life majority in the U.S. House and Senate in battleground states.

SBA, along with Women Speak Out PAC, plans to reach 10.5 million voters through canvassing, advertising, mail, and early vote campaigns, prioritizing pro-life voters who do not vote consistently in midterm elections.

According to an SBA press release, campaigners will make 4.5 million home visits to voters in battleground states such as Iowa, Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina. 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA, said pro-life voters “are the heart and soul of the Republican Party,” referring to a CNN poll that found that President Donald Trump would not have won the election if 1% to 2% of pro-life voters had stayed home.

“The party that once claimed the position of ‘safe, legal, and rare’ is now the party of abortion anytime, anywhere, paid for by the taxpayer,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. 

Ernest Board (1877-1934), “Albertus Magnus Teaches in the Streets of Paris.” / Credit: Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0

National Catholic Register, Nov 15, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. Albert the Great, the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, was an assiduous Dominican whose accomplishments and gifts to the Church are difficult to exaggerate.

French press reports on the jihadist terror attacks the night of Nov. 13, 2015. / Credit: BalkansCat/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 14, 2025 / 11:34 am (CNA).

Ten years ago on Nov. 13, armed jihadists stormed the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and elsewhere in the city, murdering over a hundred innocent people.

Archbishop Bernard Bober, chair of the Conference of Slovak Bishops. / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/EWTN News

EWTN News, Nov 14, 2025 / 09:18 am (CNA).

The Day of Repentance on Nov. 16 will acknowledge failures “in relation to God, each other, and society at large.”

Representatives of the Roman Curia and the German bishops’ conference meet to discuss the proposed Synodal Conference statute at the Vatican on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. / Credit: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Kopp

EWTN News, Nov 13, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Vatican and German bishops held their fourth meeting Wednesday to discuss the statute of a proposed “synodal conference” in Germany.

St. Nicholas Church in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. / Credit: Kirill Neiezhmakov/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Nearly a quarter of Czechs declare themselves atheist, according to the 2017 Pew Survey on European Values.

null / Credit: LookerStudio/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Ana Lazcano of the University Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Francisco de Vitoria University in Spain warned that AI is not all-powerful.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller. / Credit: La Sacristía de la Vendée

Madrid, Spain, Nov 11, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has called for overcoming ideological divisions within the Catholic Church.