Posted on 07/28/2025 21:33 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
The central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/CNA
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2025 / 17:33 pm (CNA).
The Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) — the body responsible for managing the properties and investments of the small city state — presented on July 28 its financial statement for the 2024 fiscal year, with net profits of 62.2 million euros ($72.1 million), one of the highest figures recorded since these reports began being published.
In addition, it contributed 46.1 million euros ($53.4 million) to cover the Holy See’s deficit, 8 million euros ($9.27 million) more than in 2023.
“This is one of the best financial statements in recent years,” emphasized the president of APSA, Archbishop Giordano Piccinotti, in a statement to Vatican media. He explained that these results not only reflect effective management but also a growing commitment to the Church’s mission, a strategic vision of patrimony, and a working model based on transparency, collaboration, and the common good.
“APSA is not limited to offering operational services,” Piccinotti explained in the report’s introduction, “but is configured as an organization at the service of the mission of the Catholic Church.”
The report reflects the fruits of a strategy focused on three guiding principles. The first is an ecclesial vision of patrimony: understanding that the assets managed are not ends in themselves but rather instruments to serve ecclesial communion and promote a sense of belonging to the Church. The second principle is collaboration and transparency: investments have been made in inter-institutional relations, in strengthening internal competencies, and in clear and traceable processes with defined responsibilities. The third is the common good as a guiding criterion: Management has been oriented toward decisions that respond to ethical and pastoral criteria, seeking to build synergies with other entities of the Holy See.
The 2024 result represents a surplus of 16 million euros ($18.5 million) higher than that of 2023, when the profit was 45.9 million euros ($53.2 million).
Part of the profit was allocated to the Vatican budget (known as “fabbisogno”) of the Roman Curia, which totaled 170.4 million euros ($197.5 million). APSA’s contribution was divided between a fixed portion of 30 million euros ($34.7 million) and a variable portion equivalent to 50% of the residual net profit, thus reaching 46.1 million euros ($53.4 million).
Piccinotti explained that the increase is due to better management and valuation of assets. “We are doing our duty: We provide significant coverage for the Curia’s financial deficit. It’s not just about renting out empty properties. We have restructured property management, allowing rentals at market prices, which generates additional resources.”
Regarding financial investments, in 2024 the APSA adopted the guidelines of the Holy See’s Investment Committee, using separate management accounts (SMAs) similar to private investment funds. This allowed for sales at high points and strategic reinvestment, achieving a return of 8.51%, representing 10 million euros ($11.6 million) more than in 2023.
Real estate management — which represents a fundamental part of the Holy See’s assets—generated stable revenues of 35.1 million euros ($40.7 million). This result was possible thanks to a “combined effect”: an increase in rental income (+3.2 million euros [$3.7 million] in Italy and +0.8 million euros abroad [$.92 million]) and an increase in expenses, especially in maintenance (-3.9 million [-$4.5 million], of which 3.8 million euros [$4.4 million] was allocated to upkeep).
APSA currently manages 4,234 real estate units in Italy, of which 2,866 are its own. It also owns assets abroad through affiliated companies in England, France, Switzerland, and Italy.
The 2024 financial report is the fifth to be published publicly since this transparency practice began in 2020, following the economic reforms promoted by Pope Francis. APSA was created by Pope Paul VI in 1967.
In 2024, the organization paid 6 million euros ($6.9 million) in municipal property tax (IMU) and 3.19 million euros ($3.69 million) in corporate income tax (IRES), thus refuting rumors of widespread tax exemptions.
Furthermore, nearly 40% of APSA’s staff work in services provided to other Vatican entities, such as accounting or maintenance of apostolic nunciatures. “We not only contribute profits but also essential services for the mission of the Church,” Piccinotti explained.
Among the notable projects is Fratello Sole (Brother Sun, an allusion to St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Sun”), an initiative to install an agrovoltaic plant in the Santa Maria di Galeria area, geared toward the Vatican’s energy transition. The site was visited by Pope Leo XIV on June 19 as a sign of his support for integral ecology.
“The goal is to continue improving deficit coverage in 2025 as well,” Piccinotti said, summing up with a phrase inherited from his grandfather: “You can’t get more than 15 kilos [33 pounds] of cherries from a cherry tree. We are close to the limit, but there is still room for improvement. Management is already good, but we are not standing still,” he concluded.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Posted on 07/28/2025 21:03 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Prevention Park in Houston was at one time the largest Planned Parenthood administrative and medical facility in the United States. / Credit: Hourick, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Houston, Texas, Jul 28, 2025 / 17:03 pm (CNA).
Planned Parenthood has announced the closure of two of its six clinics in the Houston area, including its Prevention Park location, which was known as the largest abortion facility in the Western Hemisphere until the state’s near-total abortion ban in 2022.
Texas Right to Life President Dr. John Seago in an interview with CNA called the Prevention Park location’s closure an “unmitigated victory for life.”
At its peak, this center aborted 10,000 babies a year, up until 24 weeks of pregnancy, according to Shawn Carney, founder and CEO of the pro-life group 40 Days for Life, whose headquarters in Bryan, Texas, are located in a former abortion clinic near Texas A&M University.
“There just hasn’t been a more exciting time to be pro-life,” Carney told CNA, saying the clinic’s closure is one of “the greatest victories” in the history of the pro-life movement.
Seago called the 78,000-square-foot structure, which he said resembles a Central American pyramid where human sacrifices took place, a “symbol of Planned Parenthood’s height of power and influence.”
Carney said volunteers would get “overwhelmed” and “depressed” when they saw how big the abortion clinic was, sometimes feeling like “all hope was lost.”
“If you go from that moment to seeing the building closing, it is unbelievable,” he said.
Located alongside the busy Gulf Freeway in Houston’s East End, a Hispanic neighborhood near the University of Houston, which has 50,000 students, the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Prevention Park location also houses the Gulf Coast administrative offices.
“The thousands of pro-lifers that have prayed outside of it” over the years “are celebrating,” Carney said.
“For so long the Church has been taught its teachings were archaic,” he said, but these closures show that the culture is finally waking up to “the teachings of natural law.”
The closure of the abortion giant’s largest clinic, which both Seago and Carney called “symbolic,” follows more than two dozen other Planned Parenthood clinic closures in recent months.
The latest closure comes after years of funding cuts by the Texas Legislature, which slashed funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in 2011, leading to 82 clinic closures statewide, and barred Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program in 2021 after a legal battle.
In 2019, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 22 prohibiting local governments from contracting with Planned Parenthood for any services, including non-abortion care.
The Trump administration’s recent signature legislative victory, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, includes a provision that ends Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. A federal judge blocked the provision on July 28, however, after issuing a partial preliminary injunction last week.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President and CEO Melaney Linton said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle that “having to reduce [Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s] staffing and future footprint in Houston is heartbreaking, infuriating, and the direct result of these sustained political attacks.”
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which has been operating in the Houston area for more than 90 years, operates six clinics in Greater Houston and two in Louisiana. It will close its Prevention Park and Southwest clinics on Sept. 30. The four remaining Houston clinics will be acquired by affiliate Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
Once the four remaining clinics in Houston are acquired, Planned Parenthood Greater Texas will operate 22 clinics in the state. Seven other clinics in the San Antonio area are operated by Planned Parenthood South Texas.
The clinics rely on donor support now that so much of their funding has been cut, according to a spokesperson for the Gulf Coast affiliate.
Posted on 07/28/2025 20:33 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Mollie Keen and her baby, Nash, the world’s youngest premature baby. Nash was born more than four months early and celebrated his first birthday this month. / Credit: University of Iowa Health Care
CNA Staff, Jul 28, 2025 / 16:33 pm (CNA).
The world’s youngest premature baby, who was born more than four months early, celebrated his first birthday this month.
Nash Keen’s first birthday was much like any other baby’s — cake with extra whipped cream, a gathering of family and friends, and stacks of gifts — except that his birthday made him the holder of the Guinness World Record for the most premature baby to survive.
Nash was born at 21 weeks’ gestation, 133 days early. At only about 10 ounces, he weighed less than grapefruit and was a little over eight inches long. He was so lightweight that when his mother, Mollie Keen, held him, she could barely feel his weight.
The impossibly small baby was born July 5, 2024, at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital — one of the most advanced in the nation for neonatal care.
There was effectively no chance of survival for Nash as no one born this young had survived.
His parents, Mollie and Randall Keen, were terrified when they discovered that due to a condition Mollie had, Nash would be born early.
At a 20-week scan for the baby, the doctor found that Mollie was already two centimeters dilated. Mollie had felt that something was wrong and had asked for the closer examination.
The couple had already lost a baby. Their first baby, a girl named McKinley, was born at 18 weeks’ gestation about two years before Nash’s birth.
They were terrified they would lose another child.
“We were devastated. We thought we were going through the exact same thing, and we thought we were going to lose this baby,” Mollie said in the hospital press release.
Mollie had been diagnosed with cervical incompetence, a condition where the cervix begins to open too early, often leading to premature birth or miscarriage. To further complicate things, she has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) — a relatively common condition that can make it difficult to conceive a child due to inconsistent ovulation.
“At that point, I didn’t know what I could do to turn things around,” Mollie said.
In spite of the odds, the couple pursued all the treatment they could find for their unborn baby.
“I never lost hope for Nash,” Mollie said.
That same evening, after her 20-week scan, Mollie had already begun to feel mild cramping. The couple rushed to the emergency room, where Mollie was told to go on bed rest and try to delay labor.
If the baby could hold out to the 21-week mark, the hospital would have the resources to treat him.
While different NICUs (neonatal intensive care units) have different levels of care they are able to offer premature babies, the University of Iowa NICU has recently begun offering lifesaving care for babies born at 21 weeks’ gestation. According to the hospital, its own NICU was one of only a “few places in the world equipped to potentially save Nash.”
In the early hours of the morning, Mollie and Randall rushed to Iowa City. Mollie’s water broke, increasing the chances of complications, and the hospital tried to delay labor. After two days — just hours after the 21-week mark — Mollie’s delivery began. Less than 10 hours later, Nash was born.
The first hours and days after delivery have the highest jeopardy, according to Dr. Amy Stanford, the neonatologist who supervised Nash’s resuscitation. Extremely premature babies need care around the clock.
The baby’s size can determine if he or she will live or die. If the baby is too small, even the smallest tubes won’t be able to fit.
“Sometimes babies born at 21 weeks are just too small for even our tiniest breathing tubes and intravenous lines,” Stanford said.
But Nash was lucky — he was just big enough for the tubes. After Stanford placed the breathing tube, his condition began to stabilize.
During the 189 days that Nash was in the hospital, a team of more than 30 staff members cared for him. Doctors watched Nash closely, using hemodynamics, an ultrasound-based technique to check on the baby’s blood flow and heart function.
“Around the one-month mark, we all began to breathe a little easier,” Stanford said. “While we knew Nash still had a long journey ahead, that was the point when we started to feel more confident that he had a real chance of going home.”
But Nash still had more challenges. His vital signs dropped for several nights because of his immature lungs and heart, and he underwent a surgery for a perforated bowel that had a 30%-40% mortality rate.
“He can be doing well for several days and then have one to two bad days in between, but I’m starting to understand that’s part of the journey that most NICU parents go through and that we’re not alone,” Mollie wrote online during Nash’s NICU stay, according to the hospital press release.
After 189 days in the hospital, at the beginning of 2025, Nash went home.
In Ankeny, Iowa, the Keen family celebrated Nash’s first birthday with a small gathering of family and close friends, who showered the birthday boy with presents — 70 new outfits as well as plenty of toys and diapers.
The doctors gave the 1-year-old a special dispensation — he could have birthday cake for the special occasion.
The couple has nicknamed their son “Nash Potato” and they describe him as “determined, curious, and the happiest baby you’ll meet,” according to the Guinness World Records press release.
Mollie described the last year as “surreal.”
“A year ago, we weren’t sure what the future would look like, and now we’ve celebrated his first birthday,” she said. “It’s emotional in so many ways: pride, gratitude, even some grief for how different his journey has been. But above all, it feels like a victory.”
Nash still has ongoing health issues, including a minor heart defect, but his doctors say the defect should resolve as he gets older. While he has been delayed in reaching typical baby milestones, Nash didn’t experience any brain bleeds while in the NICU, so doctors hope his cognitive function won’t be affected.
Mollie said she hopes Nash will “see his story as a source of strength.”
“I just hope that Nash realizes just how loved he is and how many people have cheered him on from the very beginning,” she said. “I want him to grow up and be healthy, happy, and confident in who he is.”
Posted on 07/28/2025 19:50 PM (Catholic News Agency)
Warsaw, Poland Archbishop Adrian Galbas. / Credit: SILESIA FLESZ TVS, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 28, 2025 / 15:50 pm (CNA).
Archbishop Adrian Galbas of Warsaw, Poland, has asked the Vatican to laicize a priest accused of murdering a homeless man.
Posted on 07/28/2025 19:20 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Actor Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen.” / Credit: Screenshot EWTN News/Colm Flynn
CNA Staff, Jul 28, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).
Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, known for his portrayal of Jesus in the hit series “The Chosen,” sent a video message on Monday to those gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers in which he called their work “incredibly important.”
The Jubilee of Digital Missionaries, which is taking place July 28–29, seeks to unite the Church’s efforts “to celebrate, train, and inspire those called to evangelize on digital platforms.” The two days will consist of prayer services, workshops, and talks from Church leaders. The event, with the participation of over a thousand popular Catholic social media users from around the world, will culminate in a music festival. Pope Leo XIV is also expected to make an appearance.
“As someone who’s been blessed to portray Jesus in ‘The Chosen,’ I’ve seen firsthand how a story shared online can touch a heart, soften a soul, even change a life. You’re doing the same,” Roumie said. “Whether it’s through a post, a reel, a comment thread, or a livestream, you’re showing up in these digital spaces with the heart of Christ — not to preach at people but to meet them, to listen, to engage, to start conversations that actually matter.”
He urged the attendees to not “grow weary” and to never “underestimate the power of what you’re doing … your presence online — authentic, prayerful, joyful — that’s part of God’s plan to keep us talking about Jesus.”
The actor explained that this work in digital media is what “evangelization looks like today — it’s not just pulpits and church walls — it’s Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogs, all of it. And you’re stepping into that world with love, creativity, and authenticity.”
“What you’re doing is mission. Period. You’re reaching people wherever they are, no matter what they believe or don’t believe, no matter how much they understand or don’t understand. And that openness, that willingness to connect without judgment creates space for real dialogue, for moments of grace, for Christ to move in surprising ways,” he said.
Roumie encouraged the participants to “keep going. Keep showing up. Keep being that light in the feed.”
“You never know who’s watching or listening or scrolling, and whose life might be changed just because you shared a little hope,” he added. “God bless you. I’m praying for you all. I love you and seriously, thank you for being out there.”
The popular Catholic actor also takes to social media to share inspiring messages about the faith with those who follow him. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Roumie frequently prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet with his followers via livestreams. On Instagram alone, he has over 2.5 million followers.
Pope Leo XIV is also an active social media user. He started a Twitter (now X) account back in August 2011, over a year before Benedict XVI earned the moniker of the “tweeting pope” with the launch of the official papal account @Pontifex on Dec. 3, 2012.
Before becoming pope, then-Father Robert Prevost also frequently discussed social media’s potential for evangelization.
In a 2012 interview with Catholic News Service in Rome, Prevost said: “I think the Church needs to be sophisticated, if you will, also in terms of the use of the social networks that are available to us.”
Posted on 07/28/2025 18:10 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at an EWTN dinner in Frascati, Italy, Oct. 19, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Monday expressed his concern over the July 27 attack on a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which killed at least 31 members of the Eucharistic Crusade, a prayer movement and an apostolate for children and young people focused on devotion to the Eucharist and personal sanctification.
“This is a dangerous sign,” Parolin declared, pointing to the growing threat from forces identified as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
For the Italian prelate, this group is a force “that in practice represents Islamic jihad and that imposes itself through force and violence.”
The attack has once again raised the alarm about the insecurity of Christians in the region: “This represents an additional problem in a region that already suffers from many conflicts of an ethnic, cultural, and sociopolitical nature. The addition of a religious aspect now further aggravates the situation,” Parolin told the media during a break at an event with Catholic influencers at the Via della Conciliazione auditorium a short distance from the Vatican.
According to initial reports, the terrorists stormed a Catholic church in northwestern DRC while they were participating in a prayer vigil.
According to the BBC, members of the ADF stormed a church in the town of Komanda, where they shot dead Catholic worshippers and then looted and burned nearby businesses.
Komanda is in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mineral-rich area contested by several armed groups.
The Vatican cardinal was also asked about the attack earlier this month on Holy Family Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza, which left three people dead, including two refugee women, and said that it is up to Israel to prevent such attacks.
“It’s up to Israel to find a way to ensure that these mistakes are not repeated. I believe that, if they want to, they can find a way,” he stated.
Asked about the war between Israel and Hamas, he stated that “the solution lies in direct dialogue between the two parties, with a view to establishing two autonomous states.”
The Holy See’s secretary of state acknowledged that “this is becoming increasingly difficult, also because of the situation that has been created and is being created in the West Bank.”
In his analysis, Parolin emphasized that “even in these months, Israeli settlements do not, from a practical point of view, favor the creation of the State of Palestine.”
The cardinal also referred to an upcoming attempt to revive the peace process: “Now it appears there will be a conference in New York — I don’t know if this week or exactly when — sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia to find the practical terms for the implementation of the State [of Palestine].” He added cautiously: “We hope it will bring something positive.”
Regarding communication between the Holy See and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Parolin said: “Of course, we are in constant contact. He [the patriarch] informs us of all the steps being taken; he also seeks our advice, and therefore there is very strong collaboration.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Posted on 07/28/2025 17:40 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: Deemerwha studio/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 28, 2025 / 13:40 pm (CNA).
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has invited Americans to participate in a daily prayer to St. Joseph, defender of life, to stop federal funding of the abortion industry.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, and Bishop Daniel Thomas, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote in a joint statement: “History was recently made when Planned Parenthood and other big abortion businesses were banned from receiving federal Medicaid dollars for one year.”
The passing of the Trump administration’s controversial One Big Beautiful Bill Act halted tax dollars from going to organizations that perform abortions. But, the bishops noted in their statement, “Planned Parenthood immediately sued in a federal court and the judge swiftly granted part of a preliminary injunction, requiring the abortion giant’s taxpayer funding to continue.”
The ruling will allow the organization to continue to operate with millions of taxpayer funds as the case progresses. “Otherwise, children’s lives could be saved every day,” the bishops wrote.
Broglio and Thomas are now “inviting Catholics to join a focused effort of prayer to stop taxpayer funding of the abortion industry.” The prayer invoking the intercession of St. Joseph should be prayed until Oct. 1, the beginning of Respect Life Month.
“Americans should not be forced to pay for the killing of preborn children or fund the clinics that kill them,” the bishops said. “We ask Catholics to offer this prayer daily” to protect “innocent children and their vulnerable mothers from the evil of abortion.”
Dearest St. Joseph, at the word of an angel, you lovingly took Mary into your home. As God’s humble servant, you guided the Holy Family on the road to Bethlehem, welcomed Jesus as your own son in the shelter of a manger, and fled far from your homeland for the safety of both Mother and Child. We praise God that as their faithful protector, you never hesitated to sacrifice for those entrusted to you.
May your example inspire us also to welcome, cherish, and safeguard God’s most precious gift of life. Help us to faithfully commit ourselves to the service and defense of human life — especially where it is vulnerable or threatened. Obtain for us the grace to do the will of God in all things. Amen.
Posted on 07/28/2025 17:09 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Angelus address on July 6, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2025 / 13:09 pm (CNA).
The Vatican welcomes more than a thousand social media influencers to Rome this week for an event intended to shape a new generation of Catholic missionaries — those sharing Christ on the internet. An active social media user, Pope Leo XIV is ready to help the Church navigate the fraught world of internet evangelization.
Before becoming pope, then-Father Robert Prevost identified social media’s potential for evangelization, but he warned about the anti-Christian messages dominating Western media and the tendency to exalt exhibition over the mystical.
“I think the Church needs to be sophisticated, if you will, also in terms of the use of the social networks that are available to us,” Prevost said in a 2012 interview with Catholic News Service (CNS) in Rome.
The Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers July 28–29 is two days of prayer services, workshops, and talks from Church leaders. The event, with the participation of over a thousand popular Catholic social media users from around the world, will culminate in a music festival. Pope Leo is also expected to make an appearance.
Father Lucio Ruiz, No. 2 at the Vatican’s communication department, told EWTN News that since 2018, the Vatican has recognized the activity of what they now brand “digital missionaries … people who loved Jesus and the Church and who dedicated themselves to seeking out suffering and spreading the Word [online].”
“They were alone, they had no training. The Church didn’t know or recognize them. And everywhere they asked for the Church’s accompaniment,” he said.
So the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication started organizing online prayer meetings with thousands of these so-called digital missionaries, Catholics with large social media followings, called “The Church Listens to You.”
And now, they are meeting in person for the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers for spiritual and academic preparation — what the Church calls formation — something Leo identified as an important need for the new evangelization.
In the 2012 interview with CNS, Prevost said he did not think “turning away from the media would be the answer.”
“I think our real challenge is in formation. Our challenge is in preparing people to become critical thinkers,” he said following the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, a gathering in which hundreds of Catholic bishops and others gathered to discuss how to share the good news of Jesus Christ in the modern era.
Prevost, who took part in the synod as the then-prior general of the Augustinian order, told CNS thinking about how the Church should evangelize in a media-saturated environment “is a complex question with a more complex answer.”
“Most people in the Church recognize today the need for the media,” he said. “So this isn’t meant as sort of a blanket elimination of the media in terms of the usefulness that the instruments of modern communication can have for the Church and for announcing the message. But one thing that was repeated numerous times in the synod was that the whole concept of the new evangelization needs to begin with a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
In his own short address to bishops at the synod, Prevost called out “mass media-produced distortions of religious and ethical reality,” including the normalization of “beliefs and practices at odds with the Gospel, for example: abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia.”
If the Catholic Church is going to successfully counter these messages, he said in the Vatican’s New Synod Hall, “pastors, preachers, teachers, and catechists are going to have to become far more informed about the context of evangelizing in a world dominated by mass media.”
“Evangelization in the modern world,” he concluded, “must find the appropriate means for redirecting public attention away from spectacle and into mystery.”
Almost 13 years later, the popularity of social media has skyrocketed — giving almost anyone a public platform — and priests, religious, and laypeople talking about Catholicism on the digital stage are wrestling with some of the same issues identified by the future Pope Leo.
Father Heriberto García Arias, a young priest from Mexico with 2 million followers on TikTok, told EWTN News that social media is self-referential, because “that’s how social media works. If you want your message to get across, you have to do the same.”
But he said he tries to keep Jesus the focus of his content, even if it is a temptation to do otherwise: “It’s not something you overcome all the time,” he acknowledged. “It’s a struggle.”
García pointed out another potential stumbling block for online influencers, faith-focused or otherwise: the algorithm.
“If you say no, I’m not going to do this, I’m just going to do it differently, without filters, without music, without that, it won’t get through” to reach viewers, he said.
Ruiz, who has become the Vatican’s point person for digital evangelization, acknowledged social media’s limitations too: “The timing, the speed, the simplicity of the language.”
That’s why, the Argentinian priest said, it’s only a “first proclamation” — what St. Paul VI called “pre-evangelization,” or evangelization “at its initial and still incomplete stage.”
In the 1975 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, Paul VI already identified that the 20th century was “characterized by the mass media or means of social communication, and the first proclamation, catechesis, or the further deepening of faith cannot do without these means.”
The Church’s use of modern means of social communication is not new; it has embraced novel technologies from the printing press to the radio.
Likewise, Ruiz insisted that online evangelization is just the traditional missionary activity of the Church, only now, on the digital continent.
He cited a 2023 report from the Synod on Synodality that said: “It is up to us to reach today’s culture in all spaces where people seek meaning and love, including the spaces they enter through their cellphones and tablets.”
In the 2012 CNS interview, Prevost pointed to St. Augustine, one of his sources of spiritual inspiration for advice on spreading the good news. “One of the reasons the ‘Confessions’ [of St. Augustine] continues to be one of the widest-read books in the history of the world is precisely because of Augustine’s insight into human experience,” he said.
“Human experience, [Augustine] says, is precisely where you can find God. And the humanity of Augustine is not something which leads into a kind of personalized, egoistic, it’s-all-about-me-and-only-me world, but quite the opposite.”
Sharing bits of humanity on the internet is what another digital influencer coming to the jubilee event said she tries to do in her work.
Author, speaker, and radio host Katie Prejean McGrady shares snippets of her life as a wife and mom with over 40,000 followers on Instagram.
Catholic influencers get to be like the great missionaries of the Church “in the places and spaces where people are often trying to just dull their senses and be distracted,” she said in an interview with EWTN News.
In an email ahead of the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers, McGrady told CNA she hopes “Pope Leo, who isn’t unaware of the digital landscape, strikes an encouraging and hopeful tone in talking about how we go ‘on mission’ into these digital spaces.”
“A pope who is aware of how well (or poorly) these spaces can be used is one, I think, that will be encouraging to those missionaries who are willing to go onto the digital continent and share the Gospel there,” she added.
Leo has plenty of personal experience with social media. He opened a Twitter (now X) account in August 2011, over a year before Benedict XVI earned the moniker of the “tweeting pope” with the launch of the official papal account @Pontifex on Dec. 3, 2012.
Leo XIV’s account, with the handle @drprevost, was deleted within a week of his election to the papacy, but not before other X users had noted and screenshotted a number of the new pope’s replies and reposts, including a criticism of an interpretation of St. Augustine by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
As a prior general, and later bishop and cardinal, Leo’s over 400 tweets and posts (saved on a webpage) included many reshares of articles from Catholic news accounts, especially with pro-immigrant and pro-life content, information from the Peruvian bishops’ conference, and posts from the Augustinian order.
In fact, the now-pope seemed to have identified social media’s potential early on: One of his first tweets after opening the account was a reply to another user that “the news can be communicated very well here!”
“In this culture where new generations come with a different way of thinking, where the digital world is real for them… these new places require testimony, witnesses, digital missionaries who are witnesses to the Gospel,” García said.
The priest underlined that the youngest generations are all on social media, so future priests, cardinals — even a future pope — are likely logging on to those platforms too.
That is why, he added, it is important for Pope Leo to be informed: so he can guide the Church in this new challenge.
“I mean, a pope doesn’t come from Mars, and I’ve said it before … the next pope is watching TikTok right now.”
Paola Flynn, Vatican correspondent for EWTN News’ Spanish-language news program, “EWTN Noticias,” and Casey Mann, a summer 2025 intern for EWTN News in Rome, contributed to this report.
Posted on 07/28/2025 12:00 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
St. John Paul II in the popemobile amid the enthusiasm of 2 million young people at World Youth Day in 2000. / Credit: Vatican Media/Osservatore Romano
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Twenty-five years have gone by since St. John Paul II transformed the Tor Vergata esplanade in the south of Rome into the beating heart of the young Church for the World Youth Day celebration in 2000. Now, that same area, over 200 acres and best known for being the site of one of Italy’s leading public universities, is preparing to welcome a new generation.
A vigil and Mass with Pope Leo XIV will take place there Aug. 2–3. These two events will be the epicenter of the Jubilee of Youth, over which the pope will preside from July 28 to Aug. 3 and during which thousands of young people are expected to spend the night in tents at the site.
The celebration inevitably recalls the moment a quarter of a century ago when 2 million hopeful young people, unconcerned with the heat and the discomfort of sleeping outdoors, flooded the outskirts of Rome with their radiant faith. As the Polish pope said at the time: “They made a noise in Rome that will never be forgotten.”
On those days in August 2000, St. John Paul II was physically weak, but he created a lasting bond with the young people, visible in every gesture he made and every word he spoke. Tor Vergata became an open-air sanctuary, where the pain of the wars of the 20th century and the hope of the third millennium came together.
During the vigil and Mass, the pontiff spoke words that still resonate strongly: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!”
But the most powerful aspect was not the content of the pope’s message but the source: Christ himself.
“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness,” proclaimed St. John Paul II, outlining a spiritual journey that transformed World Youth Day into much more than an event. It became a vocational, communal, and missionary journey that has been etched in the memories of many young people who have since directed their lives toward God.
The pope is calling on young people to return to Tor Vergata with renewed vigor. The imposing 15,000-square-foot stage for Leo XIV will stand in the same location as it did in 2000 as a symbol of continuity.
As then, a massive number of pilgrims is expected — 1 million, by the organizers’ estimates — many on foot, others by bus, but all with one shared desire: to experience a moment with the successor of Peter that will transform their lives forever.
Organizing the event has been a monumental logistical and technological effort: There are 355 giant tents, 179 audio and video towers, 2,000 speakers, nearly 26,000 square feet of giant screens, 110 generators, and 122 surveillance cameras. There will be a 4,300-square-foot control room and guaranteed internet access thanks to 12 miles of fiber optic cable and nine miles of electrical wiring.
“We want to guarantee not only security but also a spiritual and community experience of the highest level,” explained Agostino Miozzo, head of logistics for the city of Rome, at a press conference.
Although the world has changed profoundly since 2000, the core of the message remains. At that time, St. John Paul II denounced the 20th century as an era of hatred and fratricidal wars. Today, Leo XIV inherits a much more fractured world with new social divides: digital loneliness, forgotten wars, climate crises, economic injustices, and growing distrust of institutions, including of the Catholic Church.
Faced with this landscape, the Jubilee of Youth will not be a simple festive gathering but a renewed “missionary mandate” in continuity with the one that occurred 25 years ago. Young people today, just as those back then, are called to go against the flow, to not resign themselves or anesthetize their desire for God.
As John Paul II said: “It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to make something great of your lives.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Posted on 07/28/2025 11:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
Sister Nancy Usselmann and Daughters of St. Paul at Pauline Books and Media. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Daughters of St. Paul
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 28, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the way we consume and create media, the “media nuns” are on a mission to ensure humanity stays mindful in the digital age and remembers that “human beings create, machines generate.”
AI “generates a lot of questions, it generates a lot of concerns, but it also generates a lot of excitement,” Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP, director for the Daughters of St. Paul’s Pauline Media Studies, told CNA.
The Daughters of St. Paul are known as the “media nuns” for their media-centered mission and outreach. They study new trends, issues, and advances in media to look at what the changes mean for people including parents, teenagers, and young adults.
As director of Pauline Media Studies, Usselmann leads the sisters’ efforts to “develop media mindfulness catechesis for a lived discipleship” and help people find ways to integrate their faith with daily media use. The sisters seek to accomplish this mission through writing, hosting workshops, and speaking across the country.
Usselmann is a theologian, writer, international speaker, and film reviewer, among other things. With a doctorate in ministry from The Catholic University of America and certificates in catechetics and media literacy education, Usselmann is now also studying and teaching about AI, including what the Church teaches about it and how Catholics can “live within this digital world, while also living our faith.”
“I know everybody gets excited about new tools and hopping on the bandwagon of trying out the newest, latest, and greatest, but so much of it needs reflection,” Usselmann said. “Taking what the Church says about [AI], with its document Antiqua et Nova … we need to take a step back in this rapid change, where every single day there is a new AI app coming.”
Usselmann highlighted that it’s not necessarily a matter of educating on whether AI is good or bad but teaching people to “understand what it is.” AI is “machine learning that’s trained to be able to mimic some aspects of human intelligence.”
We can acknowledge that AI offers “great tools” that “can help us in our lives in many ways, including medicine, finance, and so on,” Usselmann explained. “They help us with a huge amount of data to make information more accessible. But, the problem is that we really have to stop and think.”
While AI has beneficial aspects, it also raises a number of concerns including job displacement, privacy, data security, accountability if the systems fail, and “there will be bad actors out there using it for malicious purposes.”
“This is moving so fast, and young people, especially kids and teens, are using the chatbots for assistance and therapy and for friendship. It’s concerning to a lot of people,” Usselmann said.
When using AI tools, it is important to ask: “Does this particular app promote the common good? Is this respected dignity of the human person?”
“The Church is never going to say: ‘Don’t go there and don’t use AI.’ It’s saying we need to delve within the culture, we need to be present in that digital culture and illuminate the culture from within it with God,” Usselmann said. “We need to be present there to help transform it for good.”
In order to use this technology “for good,” a number of Catholics are starting companies that are working to use AI “for the Church’s mission of evangelization,” Usselmann said. “It’s pretty exciting and amazing that there are so many out there that are thinking that way.”
AI technologies created by Catholics include Longbeard, Magisterium AI, and Truthly, which offer daily Mass readings and liturgical resources at the click of a button. Some of them are even drawing from the pontifical universities in Rome’s libraries to have access to “tremendous theological and philosophical knowledge.”
Many of the Catholic AI tools provide sourcing and give footnotes that explain where in the Church’s teaching the information was found. “And that’s phenomenal because it’s helping us learn,” Usslemann said. “It’s being a research tool, but it’s not taking away our own ability to discover.”
“There’s also a prayer app called the Grace app,” Usselmann said. “It’s a generative AI model that’s … not replacing traditional spiritual guidance in the Church, but it gives personalized spiritual guidance or companionship to help somebody grow in their faith.”
Usselmann said of course she “questions it,” but also “it’s really interesting.”
The sisters, and other Catholics working in the media, she added, need to “help people think and question” AI. People need to understand why they are using it and then use it in ways that are “supportive of human dignity” and that don’t “take away from our own ability to reason and think through problems.”
While AI has many capabilities, it cannot create the same way human beings can because, according to Usselmann, it doesn’t have the “soul” to do so.
“Human beings create, machines generate. So they’re just generating based on information that’s out there — learned algorithms and learned practices that it’s being fed. But human beings, we have this amazing gift of creativity because we are made in God’s image and likeness. God, who is the creator, endowed us with this spark, this element of God-likeness, which is creativity.”
“It comes from the depth of the person, body and soul, where we reflect and can think and be self-aware and give self-expression, and have moral agency, which is something a machine cannot do … Can AI generate beauty and art? Maybe. But where does beauty and art come from? It comes from our God-likeness, being made in God’s image and likeness.”
Usselmann plans to continue to expand her knowledge of AI and keep the conversation around the technology open. This fall, she will attend the Builders AI Forum hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University at the Collegium Maximum in Rome.
The event reported that it “aims to foster a new interdisciplinary community of practice dedicated to supporting the development of AI products that serve the Church’s mission.” The gathering will “bring together companies leading in Catholic AI, venture capital and angel investors, as well as prominent AI thought leaders and researchers.”
While many are going as “creators and investors,” Usselmann is attending as an “investigator.” She explained that guests will discuss “innovative new ideas,” while “having the educators and theologians helping to ask questions,” to help keep future AI “in line with the Church’s understanding of Christian anthropology.”