A color guard stands at attention as Eliza Monroe Hay’s remains are carried for reinterment at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Payne/CNA

Richmond, Virginia, Oct 23, 2025 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

Nearly two centuries after her death, the daughter of American Founding Father James Monroe has been laid to rest in Richmond, Virginia, joining her family’s historic burial plot in the city’s famed Hollywood Cemetery. 

The Diocese of Richmond held Eliza Monroe Hay’s reinterment at the top of Hollywood Cemetery overlooking the James River on Oct. 23. Hay, who died in 1840, converted to Catholicism several years before her death. 

State Sen. Bryce Reeves, who worked with the Eliza Project to repatriate Hay’s remains, said she was “far more than the daughter of a president.”

He described Hay as strong-willed and intelligent. “She served this nation quietly but powerfully in its formative years,” he said. 

The historic reinterment came about from a yearslong effort by the Eliza Project to bring Hay’s mortal remains home from the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, a cemetery on the outskirts of Paris.

 Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1786, Hay grew up in both the U.S. and Paris, where her father was the American ambassador amid the ongoing French Revolution. 

She would later be known for serving as an unofficial First Lady of the White House during James Monroe’s presidency, as her mother Elizabeth’s health regularly kept her away from state functions. 

Hay’s husband, Virginia attorney George Hay, died in 1830, as did her mother. James Monroe died in 1831 and was by then one of a dwindling number of prominent U.S. citizens who had led the country through its founding and earliest years.

Hay herself subsequently returned to Paris, where she converted to Catholicism before she died.

A happy ending

Delivering Hay’s eulogy at the event, Virginia resident Barbara VornDick described Hay as “my friend from the past.”

VornDick said in an Oct. 21 press release that the effort “has been a fascinating, enriching journey in many ways,” though she said the “most amazing aspect was how it enriched my faith.”

She told the Arlington Catholic Herald in August that she spent years researching Hay’s life. She discovered that a popular family legend that Hay became a nun was untrue, but her conversion to Catholicism was confirmed by records at St.-Philippe-du-Roule Church in Paris, where her funeral Mass was held in 1840. 

Hay also reportedly received a piece of jewelry from the Vatican — a cameo of the head of Christ — along with a note from Pope Gregory XVI’s secretary of state. 

During her years at the White House, Hay gained a reputation as an unpleasant, demanding hostess. Reeves said at the Oct. 23 ceremony that Hay was at one time described by John Quincy Adams as an “obstinate little firebrand.”

The Eliza Project, however, says she had a record of “good deeds and generosity” that history has largely forgotten. 

“She gained increasing admiration for her nursing of the sick: for family, for friends, and, during two epidemics, for the people of Washington,” the project said. 

She also exhibited “a sense of duty and loyalty, strength of character and fortitude, and compassion for the sick and suffering.”

The Diocese of Richmond had earlier held a memorial Mass for Hay at the nearby Cathedral of the Sacred Heart before the interment at Hollywood Cemetery. Father Tony Marques, the rector of the cathedral, presided over the Rite of Committal on Oct. 23. The cathedral’s choir performed at the ceremony.

Describing the yearslong project to repatriate Hay’s remains as a “grassroots effort,” Reeves told the assembled crowd on Tuesday: “The Virginian thing to do was bring Eliza home.”

VornDick told the Herald that the yearslong effort to “bring Eliza home” was motivated by the likelihood that she “never intended to die” in Paris.

“I just wanted to make it right for her,” she said.

At the reinterment, meanwhile, VornDick described Hay as a “daughter, sister, wife, and grandmother,” one who stands out in history for her devotion, service, and forceful personality. 

“Today marks the end of the Bring Eliza Home Project,” she said. “But it is a happy ending.”

Pope Leo XIV meets with participants of the fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements on Oct. 23, 2025, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 23, 2025 / 15:26 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday decried the devastating impact of opioid addiction in the U.S., criticizing the pharmaceutical industry for its lack of “a global ethic” for the sake of profits.

In an Oct. 23 meeting with participants of the fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements held inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall, the pope directly spoke out against “unbridled consumerism” and its negative impacts on people living in both poor and wealthy nations.

“In the current culture, with the help of advertising and publicity, a cult of physical well-being is being promoted, almost an idolatry of the body and, in this vision, the mystery of pain is reduced to something totally inhuman,” he said.

“This can lead also to dependence on pain medications, the sale of which obviously goes to increasing the earnings of the same pharmaceutical companies,” he continued. “This also leads to dependence on opioids, as has been devastating particularly in the United States.” 

Describing fentanyl as the “drug of death” and the “second most common cause of death among the poor” in the U.S., the pope said the harm of such synthetic drugs extends beyond the country’s borders.

“The spread of new synthetic drugs, ever more lethal, is not only a crime involving trafficking of drugs but really has to do with the production of pharmaceuticals and their profit, lacking a global ethic,” he said on Thursday.

Besides the pharmaceutical industry, the Holy Father also criticized the influence of big tech in promoting unhealthy, consumerist behaviors among people of all ages.

“How can a poor young person live with hope and without anxiety when the social media constantly exalt an unbridled consumerism and a totally unrealizable level of economic success?” he said.

“Another problem not often recognized is represented by the dependency on digital gambling,” he continued. “The platforms are designed to create compulsive dependence and generate addictive habits that create addiction.” 

Throughout the Oct. 23 gathering, the Holy Father expressed his solidarity with social leaders who are “moved by the desire of love” in order to “find solutions in a society dominated by unjust systems” present in the world today.

“Your many and creative initiatives can become new public policies and social rights. Yours is a legitimate and necessary effort,” he told those present at the audience.

“This makes you champions of humanity, witnesses to justice, poets of solidarity,” he added.

Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III walk together in the Sistine Chapel during a historic meeting that included a prayer service at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 23, 2025 / 09:34 am (CNA).

History was made in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday as Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III prayed side by side, marking the first time since the Protestant Reformation that a reigning British monarch and a pope have prayed together during a royal state visit to the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV led the midday prayer of the Divine Office, standing beneath Michelangelo’s fresco of “The Last Judgment” and flanked by Anglican Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, King Charles, and Queen Camilla.

The ecumenical prayer service featured the Sistine Chapel Choir along with the choirs from St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and His Majesty’s Chapel Royal.

The choirs sang “Come, Holy Ghost, Who Ever One,” a hymn by St. Ambrose translated into English by St. John Henry Newman. Pope Leo will declare Newman, the 19th-century English cardinal and Anglican convert, a doctor of the Church on Nov. 1. 

King Charles attended Newman’s canonization in 2019 and recently became the first British monarch to visit the Birmingham Oratory, which Newman founded in 1848.

During the prayer, the choirs sang verses of Psalms 8 and 64 in Latin and English. A reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:22–27) was read aloud before Pope Leo and Cottrell offered the closing prayer together in English.

Cardinals, bishops, and Anglican representatives attended the prayer service, which was the highlight of the king’s first state visit to the Holy See since his accession in 2022.

As part of the state visit, Pope Leo approved the conferral of a new title on the monarch: “Royal Confrater” of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Cardinal James Michael Harvey, the basilica’s archpriest, will formally bestow the honor during an afternoon ecumenical service at the tomb of St. Paul. 

In return, Pope Leo XIV was offered the title of “Papal Confrater” of St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, an invitation Pope Leo accepted.

“These mutual gifts of ‘confraternity’ are recognitions of spiritual fellowship and are deeply symbolic of the journey the Church of England (of which His Majesty is Supreme Governor) and the Roman Catholic Church have traveled over the past 500 years,” the British Embassy to the Holy See said in a statement. 

Before the prayer service, King Charles and Queen Camilla met privately with Pope Leo in the Apostolic Palace. The king also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister. The Vatican said discussions focused on environmental protection, fighting poverty, and promoting ecumenical dialogue.

“Particular attention was given to the shared commitment to promoting peace and security in the face of global challenges,” the Holy See Press Office said.

King Charles also conferred on the pope the honor of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Bath, while the pope conferred on the king the honor of Knight Grand Cross with the Collar of the Vatican Order of Pope Pius IX and on Queen Camilla the honor of Dame Grand Cross of the same order.

The royal visit comes as King Charles continues treatment for cancer, first diagnosed in early 2024. 

Buckingham Palace said that the king’s state visit — postponed earlier this year due to the poor health of Pope Francis — celebrates both the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year and “the ecumenical work between the Church of England and the Catholic Church, reflecting the jubilee year’s theme of walking together as ‘Pilgrims of Hope.’” 

Following the Sistine Chapel service, Pope Leo and King Charles met business and church leaders in the Apostolic Palace’s Sala Regia for a discussion on environmental sustainability and care for creation.

After the Vatican meetings, King Charles is scheduled to visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, reviving the historic ties between England and the papal basilica. After the arrival in England of Roman monk-missionaries such as St. Augustine of Canterbury and St. Paulinus of York in the sixth and seventh centuries, Saxon rulers including Kings Offa and Æthelwulf contributed to the upkeep of the apostles’ tombs in Rome. 

By the late Middle Ages, the kings of England were recognized as “protectors” of the Basilica of St. Paul and abbey, and its heraldic shield came to include the insignia of the Order of the Garter. That tradition was interrupted by the Reformation and the ensuing centuries of estrangement. 

A newly commissioned chair bearing the royal coat of arms and the Latin phrase “Ut unum sint” (“That they may be one”) has been installed in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls for King Charles and his successors to use during future visits.

King Charles visited the Vatican several times as Prince of Wales, including for the funeral of John Paul II and for Newman’s canonization. His last papal audience was with Pope Francis in April, shortly before Francis’ death, though that was not an official state visit.

Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’ mother, met five popes during her 70-year reign but never participated in a public prayer with any of them.

Bishop Philippe Christory of Chartres, France. / Credit: Eichthus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 23, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

French Bishop Philippe Christory pointed out that the essence of an advanced civilization “is to promote life and support the lives of those who suffer.”

Father Adam Muda, a chaplain for the U.S. Army, celebrates Mass on the field with soldiers while in Germany. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Adam Muda

CNA Staff, Oct 23, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

During Pastoral Care Week, celebrated Oct. 19–25, a Catholic psychotherapist encouraged a group of Catholic chaplains and ministers to pursue prayer, rest, and self-care in light of burnout — a challenge that often accompanies their unique work.

At an Oct. 22 webinar, “Carrying the Cross Without Burnout: Self-Care for Catholic Chaplains,” Adrienne Koller, a Catholic psychotherapist and founder of Strong Self Psychotherapy, encouraged chaplains to make time for spiritual and emotional renewal. 

The webinar, organized by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC), a group that educates and supports Catholic chaplains across the country, highlighted the importance of finding rest amid the emotional toll of ministry.

“God doesn’t call us to self-erasure,” Koller told the nearly 100 chaplains who attended the webinar. “He calls us to stewardship of our bodies, our minds, and spirits.”

Koller described self-care as “stewardship” and “caring for the vessel God entrusted to you.”

“One of the most powerful mindset shifts I’ve seen in ministry is this: Self-care is not selfishness; it’s stewardship,” Koller said. “You are the vessel God entrusted with the work he gave you, and taking care of that vessel honors him.”

“You’re not taking away from your calling. You’re strengthening it,” she said. “Renewal isn’t an indulgence — it’s obedience.” 

Erica Cohen Moore, executive director of NACC, highlighted the importance of caring for chaplains, both during Pastoral Care Week and throughout the year. 

“Our chaplains are often called into spaces where few others are willing or able to go,” Cohen Moore told CNA. “They serve people in some of the most marginalized and challenging situations, where grief and suffering can be profound.” 

Pastoral Care Week “gives opportunities for organizations and institutions of all types to recognize the spiritual caregivers in their midst and the ministry that the caregivers provide,” according to the NACC’s website.

Chaplains are often priests, but seminarians, deacons, religious brothers and sisters, and laymen and laywomen can all serve as chaplains, providing professional spiritual and emotional support in a range of areas — often in prisons, hospitals, fire departments, and campuses.  

To help prepare and support chaplains, the NACC offers a variety of resources, training, community, and support for chaplains, both Catholic and non-Catholic. 

What does burnout look like? 

“Over the years, I’ve walked with countless individuals who appear incredibly strong on the outside yet wrestle with exhaustion, doubt, or the feeling that their work has taken more from them than they have time to replenish,” Koller told attendees. 

Koller noted that the “emotional weight” of service can lead to burnout.

“That emotional weight, it doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong; it means you’re human,” she said. “But we do take on that emotional weight, and that can lead, if unchecked, to burnout.”  

“Burnout doesn’t happen because we’re weak or we’re incapable,” Koller continued. “It happens because we care deeply, we give fully, and sometimes we forget to refill our own cup.”

To combat the weight of service, Koller encouraged ministers to pray before and after each difficult meeting or encounter, and to offer the weight of those challenges to the Lord. She also led the group in grounding prayer exercises that incorporate breathing into prayer. 

Cohen Moore noted that burnout is a “very real concern” that chaplains face — one that her organization works to combat through the resources they provide.  

The association educates chaplains with a program called Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), which is “a process that equips them to manage burnout and care for themselves and one another,” according to Cohen Moore.

The group also offers webinars on topics such as self-care, mental illness and trauma, and mental health, as well as networking groups and in-person gatherings, and publishes a magazine called Works of Hope.

The association plans to launch a learning institute early next year to include a course on “sustaining pastoral ministers and helping them avoid burnout,” Cohen Moore said. 

“Burnout is a very real concern in our field, and we take it seriously as we continue exploring new ways to provide care and connection,” Cohen Moore said. 

‘I will give you rest’ 

When Koller speaks with “those in service, especially chaplains and first responders,” she said that one verse “always comes to mind.” 

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Koller noted that Christ “doesn’t say: ‘Keep pushing, work harder, work harder, deplete yourself, run yourself into the ground.” 

“No — he says, ‘Come to me,’” she said.

“That invitation isn’t to perform,” Koller continued. “It’s to rest, in a way, to surrender the illusion that we have to carry everything alone. That’s where our renewal begins.”

Antonia Salzano is the mother of St. Carlo Acutis. / Credit: “EWTN Noticias”/Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 23, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Antonia Salzano, St. Carlo Acutis’ mother, who was present with the rest of her family at his canonization on Sept. 7, shared what it’s like to be the mother of a saint.

St. John Capistrano and St. Bernardine of Siena. Museum of Fine Arts of Granada. Painting, oil on canvas, by Alonso Cano (1653-1657) for an altarpiece of the disappeared Franciscan convent of San Antonio and San Diego, Granada. / Credit: Jl FilpoC, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Oct 23, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Oct. 23, the Catholic Church celebrates the life of St. John of Capistrano, a Franciscan priest with an extraordinary number of achievements.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at Mass on Dec. 3, 2023. / Credit: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 22, 2025 / 18:04 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, expressed concern that the U.S. Army is not adequately addressing its discontent with canceled religious contracts, which the archdiocese said is straining its ability to minister to Catholics in the armed forces.

This month, the Army canceled all contracts for three roles: coordinators of religious education (CRE), Catholic pastoral life coordinators (CPLC), and musicians. The contract terminations affected Catholics and those of other faiths.

CREs served as catechists trained by the archdiocese to assist the priests in religious education in the military chapels. The archdiocese also trained CPLCs who offered administrative support such as liturgy coordination, assistance with sacramental record documentation, and weekly bulletin preparation. Contracts also included musicians, usually pianists who played music during Mass.

Military Services Archbishop Timothy Broglio sent a letter to Congress on Oct. 17 saying Army officials assured him that religious affairs specialists (RAS) and directors of religious education (DREs) — federal employees — would accommodate the needs of the archdiocese amid the canceled contracts but that he believes this is not possible.

Neither an RAS nor a DRE is a trained catechist, he explained, and neither are properly trained or qualified to perform the roles of people who served in the canceled contracts. There is no requirement for a DRE to be Catholic or for an RAS to have any faith.

In response to the archdiocesan complaint, an Army spokesperson told CNA it would reexamine its contract support for RASs and DREs “to mitigate any potential impact during this period.“

Archdiocese: Response is ‘wholly inadequate’

Elizabeth A. Tomlin, a lawyer for the archdiocese, told CNA that the Army’s response is “wholly inadequate” and “demonstrates the spokesperson’s total lack of understanding of the issue.”

“Merely eight DREs across the entire Army are Catholics, so most DREs are not qualified to direct Catholic religious education,” Tomlin said.

“[RASs] are soldiers, [usually] anywhere from private first class to staff sergeant in rank,” she explained. “There is no requirement whatsoever for RASs to be Catholic or have any training in catechesis or catechetical methodology that could possibly equip them to coordinate religious education.”

Tomlin rejected the Army’s assertion that people in these positions could fulfill the work of the CREs, CPLCs, or musicians.

“Without meeting the basic requirement of a catechist, namely, to be a confirmed Catholic, these people are not qualified to be involved in Catholic religious education programs whatsoever,” she said.

Tomlin said the only way to have music during Mass is if someone volunteers.

“It is factually inaccurate that DREs or RASs are fulfilling the duties of CREs, CPLCs, or liturgical musicians,” Tomlin said.

‘No knowledge of our faith’

Jena Swanson — who worked as a Catholic CRE at Fort Drum from August 2024 until her contract was canceled on March 31, 2025 — told CNA she agrees with the archdiocese’s assessment that those employees cannot fulfill the roles of those whose contracts were canceled.

She said she helped facilitate religious education classes, Bible studies, sacrament preparation classes, and retreats, and collected sacramental records, among a variety of other tasks. She said she mostly worked independently of the DRE because that employee did not have much knowledge about the Catholic faith.

“The DRE is not guaranteed to be Catholic depending on the installation military families are stationed at,” Swanson said. “In our 13 years of military family life (my husband is active duty Army), we’ve experienced one Catholic DRE and only for two years.”

She said in her experience, RASs “are as helpful as they can be” but often “have no knowledge of our faith.”

Swanson said the Catholic community at Fort Drum “was thrown into a bit of chaos” once her contract ended. Some weeks there were no teachers for religious education, families did not know whom to direct questions to, and weekly Mass attendance dropped about 50%.

“Our families want answers and want to continue coming to our parish, but if these options are not open it will drastically affect attendance and faith formation,” Swanson said.

Bishop Edward Malesic addresses the First Friday Club of Cleveland on Feb. 10, 2022. / Credit: Diocese of Cleveland

CNA Staff, Oct 22, 2025 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Cleveland has confirmed that the Vatican granted permission for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at two diocesan churches for an additional two years. 

The extension applies to St. Mary’s Church in Akron and St. Stephen’s in Cleveland, both of which, according to the Catholic Herald, had previously been granted limited approval to continue celebrating the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. 

At both parishes, diocesan priests say the Masses, rather than priests from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter or the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, as sometimes occurs in other dioceses.

In an email to CNA, Nancy Fishburn, executive director of communications for the Diocese of Cleveland, said: “The Holy See granted a two-year extension of permission for the two remaining diocesan celebrations of the Latin Mass within the Diocese of Cleveland.” 

Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes has restricted the use of the pre-Vatican II Mass by requiring Vatican approval for its celebration in parish churches, placing oversight directly under the Holy See. Bishops must now obtain authorization from the Vatican to permit the older form of the Roman rite in their dioceses.

It is unclear when Cleveland Bishop Edward C. Malesic requested the extension. Fishburn told CNA she had no further information.  

The extension of the TLM in Cleveland comes even as other dioceses are seeing its cancellation. 

In the Diocese of Knoxville last week, Bishop Mark Beckman informed the TLM community in an Oct. 14 letter that “by Jan. 1, 2026, every Latin Mass in the diocese will be celebrated using the 2002 Roman Missal ensuring consistency with the Church’s approved liturgical books while preserving the beauty and reverence you cherish.”

Beckman wrote that he had consulted with the three pastors in the diocese who currently celebrate the TLM, assuring parishioners that the transition away from the extraordinary form was “being handled with utmost pastoral sensitivity and care, honoring both your devotion to the sacred liturgy and the Church’s living tradition.” 

In the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, meanwhile, Bishop Michael Martin said in September that the TLM would cease at four parishes and would only be permitted at one chapel beginning Oct. 2.

Brian Williams, a leader of the TLM community in Charlotte, spoke with CNA in September.

“Why is going to the Latin Mass a bad thing? It’s no different from the Ordinariate, or Byzantine, or any other rite. It’s all still Catholic,” he said. 

Williams said he and other members of the TLM community are still hopeful that Pope Leo’s pontificate will be more welcoming of the TLM and that things can change, citing a post on X on Sept. 29 showing a priest at the St. Michael’s chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica saying the Mass in the extraordinary form, as well as the recent granting of an exemption to the restrictions imposed by Traditionis Custodes in the San Angelo Diocese in Texas, the first exemption granted under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV.

Crosses stand in a row at the Wounded Knee Memorial in South Dakota. / Credit: Von Roenn/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 22, 2025 / 15:24 pm (CNA).

Rapid City, South Dakota, Bishop Scott E. Bullock and South Dakota Jesuit leaders criticized U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for honoring U.S. soldiers who carried out an 1890 assault on a Lakota reservation near the Wounded Knee Creek.

“Those who died at Wounded Knee are sacred,” the joint statement read.

“Jesus stands with all who suffer and die at the hands of others,” the statement added. “Those who committed the violence are also sacred; for this reason, Jesus offers them mercy and healing. Yet the acts themselves were grave evils and cannot be honored.”

On Dec. 29, 1890, U.S. soldiers killed nearly 300 Lakota people in an assault now known as the “Wounded Knee Massacre” or the “Battle of Wounded Knee” in South Dakota. Most of the Lakota killed were civilians, including unarmed women and children, and 31 American soldiers were killed.

After a review, Hegseth announced last month that 20 U.S. soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor for actions at Wounded Creek will retain those honors. The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military honor, awarded by Congress for risk of life in combat beyond the call of duty. A review panel commissioned by former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recommended they retain their honors in October 2024.

“That panel concluded that these brave soldiers should, in fact, rightfully keep their medals for actions in 1890,” Hegseth said in a Sept. 25 post on X.

Hegseth criticized Lloyd for not issuing a final decision on the inquiry last year, saying “he was more interested in being politically correct than historically correct.”

“We’re making it clear — without hesitation — that the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 will keep their medals, and we’re making it clear that they deserve those medals,” Hegseth said. “This decision is now final and their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate. We salute their memory, we honor their service, and we will never forget what they did.”

Bishop, Jesuits call for ‘prayerful correctness’

Bullock, whose diocese serves western South Dakota where the assault took place, was joined in his statement by the De Smet Jesuit Community of West River, South Dakota.

They said their opposition to the Medals of Honor is not rooted in “political correctness,” as Hegseth called it, but rather in “prayerful correctness, grounded in truth, conscience, and compassion.”

Bullock and the Jesuits said soldiers massacred civilians: “This was not a battle. To recognize these acts as honorable is to distort history itself.”

“We acknowledge the government’s intent to honor its troops, yet we reject any narrative that erases the humanity of the victims or glorifies acts of violence,” they said.

The statement said as Catholics and followers of Christ, “we proclaim the infinite dignity of every human life. We confess that humanity — capable of love and goodness — is also capable of terrible evil.” It added that the Crucifixion and Resurrection “reveal that true victory comes not through killing but through suffering love, mercy, and truth.”

“If we deny our part in history, we deepen the harm,” they said. “We cannot lie about the past without perpetuating injustice and moral blindness. Even if we are not personally responsible for Wounded Knee, we bear a moral responsibility to remember and speak the truth.”

Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), told CNA Wounded Knee “was a complex historical event” that had “many conflicting narratives.” She said military records show conflicting accusations, investigations, and personal rivalries among military officers.

She said, with historical events, there is not always “easy moral clarity.” 

She said the events “cannot simply be viewed as an unprovoked massacre, racially motivated against all Native Americans indiscriminately.”

Hanssen expressed concern that the effort to revoke the honors for soldiers at Wounded Knee is part of an ongoing effort to target “American and Western culture,” which includes destroying statues of Christopher Columbus and attacks on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, among others.

“It is perfectly reasonable for the United States government to refuse to revoke Medals of Honor from over a hundred years ago,” she added.

No Medals of Honor have been revoked for any reason in more than a century. The only time medals were revoked was in 1917, when Congress commissioned a comprehensive review of Medal of Honor recipients and revoked more than 900.