LAPD rally as a curfew takes effect in Los Angeles on June 10, 2025, following days of protests in response to federal immigration operations that saw clashes spread across downtown. / Credit: BENJAMIN HANSON/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jun 11, 2025 / 15:16 pm (CNA).

Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles has called for a day of prayer amid growing violence during protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following arrests of unauthorized immigrants living in the city.

The archbishop has instructed parishes across the archdiocese to hold special Masses for peace and unity, encouraging both Catholics and non-Catholics to pray for peace amid the rioting. 

Father Juan Ochoa, who runs the archdiocesan worship office, in a message to parishioners encouraged people to look to Christ.

“In this time of unrest and uncertainty, we turn our hearts to God, the source of all peace,” Ochoa said in the June 10 message.

The priest encouraged parishes to offer special intentions and suggested people partake in prayerful observances such as Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharistic adoration, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The message also encouraged people to pray the rosary as a family, fast, read sacred Scripture, and pray the Sacred Heart novena. 

“As followers of Jesus and members of his Church, we are called to be instruments of reconciliation, healing, and hope,” he said. 

The archbishop was scheduled to celebrate Mass at noon on Wednesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels “to unite our communities in prayer during this time of unrest,” according to the archdiocese.

The prelate “invites all Catholics and people of goodwill to pray for our nation, and especially for our immigrant and local community during this tumultuous time,” Ochoa said. 

The archdiocese is also encouraging Catholics to participate in a candlelight prayer vigil. 

Michael Donaldson, senior director for the archdiocesan Office of Life, Justice, and Peace, invited residents of the city to light a candle at 6 p.m. on June 10 “so that through prayer, wherever we may be, we are united for peace in our communities.”

Neighbors gathered in Grand Park for a peaceful interfaith prayer vigil in the evening, according to a social media post by the archdiocese.

An interfaith prayer vigil had previously been scheduled for Sunday evening at Los Angeles City Hall but was postponed amid escalating violence.

“With so many in fear, we are hoping to share a message of peace and hope, uniting our prayers with others throughout Southern California to end the violence, bring healing, and for a path toward reform of our broken immigration system,” Donaldson said.

As tensions escalated over the weekend, Gomez in a statement called for “restraint and calm,” also calling on Congress to fix the nation’s “broken” immigration system.

After ICE raids at multiple work sites, unrest began on June 6 and escalated as conflicts between protesters and law enforcement intensified over the weekend. 

On Saturday night, President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard despite California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s opposition. 

The president has since deployed hundreds of Marines to the state to join National Guard troops in protecting federal property and personnel and providing security to ICE agents. 

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass enacted a curfew in parts of the downtown area.

Pope Leo XIV meets with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on June 11, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 11, 2025 / 13:57 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday received U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in an audience held in the study of the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.

Guterres subsequently met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Holy See, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states and international organizations.

Although the Vatican did not provide details about the private meeting with the pontiff, it indicated that during the conversation with the Secretariat of State the Holy See’s support for the United Nations’ commitment to world peace was expressed.

Some ongoing processes and upcoming summits organized by the United Nations were also discussed as well as the difficulties the organization faces in addressing current crises around the world.

During the course of the conversation, specific situations of conflict and instability were also discussed.

The United Nations was established in 1945 with the aim of fostering international peace and security. Currently 193 countries are members of the organization, which has its headquarters in New York.

Various initiatives promoted by the U.N. clash head-on with Christian values, such as the demand for the decriminalization of abortion under the euphemism of “sexual and reproductive health,” its explicit support for gender ideology, and the promotion of the 2030 Agenda, which clashes in essential aspects with the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Since 1964, the Vatican has held the position of permanent observer to the U.N., which means the Holy See is not a full member of the organization but rather an observer state.

The current permanent observer, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, participates in its debates by contributing ideas but does not have the right to vote.

Guterres, 76, is the ninth secretary-general of the United Nations, a position he assumed on Jan. 1, 2017. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1949. In addition to being a politician and businessman, he is also an electrical engineer and professor.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl, the bishop of Graz-Seckau in Austria, expressed being “stunned and shaken” following a deadly shooting at a school in Graz on June 10, 2025. / Credit: Screenshot / YouTube / Katholische Kirche Steiermark

CNA Deutsch, Jun 11, 2025 / 13:01 pm (CNA).

The bishop of Graz-Seckau in Austria, Wilhelm Krautwaschl, expressed being “stunned and shaken” following a deadly shooting at a school in Graz that claimed 10 lives.

Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children (right), speaks to “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Mark Irons on Friday, June 6, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 11, 2025 / 12:16 pm (CNA).

Florida has emerged as a national leader in Catholic school enrollment as a product of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education policy, the leader of a national school choice group says.

Step Up For Students, a Florida program that administers state-funded K–12 scholarships to expand school choice, reports that Catholic school enrollment in the state has recently increased by 12.1%, a contrast to the 13.2% decline seen nationwide.

Tommy Schultz, CEO of the national school choice group American Federation for Children, discussed the implications of these figures in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly,” crediting the accessibility of Florida’s school choice credit for the increase in enrollment. 

“Gov. DeSantis signed into law the big expansion that made every single family eligible for school choice funding in the state. And guess what? Florida is up 12%,” Schultz told anchor Mark Irons.

“In Florida, [families are] eligible for about $8,000 per kid per year with state funding, essentially. Rather than all of your taxpayer funds just going into the public system, now all parents fully control their funding for education in Florida,” Schultz said. 

In 2023, DeSantis signed a bill to expand opportunities for school choice. According to the Florida state government there are currently “1.4 million students utilizing a school choice option in Florida.”

Schultz emphasized the broader national impact of the Step Up For Students findings, particularly in the federal context.

“It couldn’t come at a better time,” he said. “Congress is currently negotiating a comprehensive legislative package, and there’s momentum to include school choice provisions that would extend similar opportunities to families in all 50 states.”

He contrasted Florida’s growth with steep declines in other states. “In New York, Catholic school enrollment has dropped by 31%, Pennsylvania is down 23%, and Illinois by 20%. These declines are driven by a combination of government regulation and financial challenges.”

The success in Florida, Schultz suggested, could serve as an example for national reform, including potentially even solving poverty.

“Now, where every family could theoretically be able to control their child’s education funding, like we see in Florida, like we see in Arizona and other places, that is just a total game changer for families, and it could bring a lot of children out of poverty,” he said.

Earlier this year, CNA reported on the National Catholic Educational Association’s latest annual report of Catholic school data, which found that “8% of students use school choice programs, which is up by nearly 5% from last year.”

A group of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. / Credit: EWTN News

Vatican City, Jun 11, 2025 / 11:32 am (CNA).

“Rome ’25-the Way of St. James ’27-Jerusalem ’33” is the name of an initiative led by young people who, through pilgrimages, evangelization, and healing, aim to “restore the soul of Europe.”

The initiative encourages young Christians from across the continent to open up a pathway to faith and hope for a new European generation in preparation for the Jubilee of Redemption, which will be celebrated in 2033.

“It’s not just about making the pilgrimage but about rediscovering God and our Christian identity, walking the pilgrim paths of Europe with a new, courageous, and joyful perspective,” the young people stated in a press release issued by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, one of the promoters of the initiative.

Young Christians in Europe ‘raising their voices’

In this way, young Christians in Europe “are raising their voices” to tell the world that another Europe is possible and to reconnect it “with the beauty, truth, and love of Christ,” especially in a time of distractions, uprootedness, and “hidden wounds.”

Fernando Moscardó, a 22-year-old medical student, has been the architect of this “revolution of the youthful spirit” on the old continent. Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, he explained that the idea arose from seeing the pessimistic figures of an increasingly secularized Europe.

“Recent surveys tell us that more than 70% of young Europeans declare themselves nonreligious, an unprecedented figure. Furthermore, young people feel lonelier than ever, and we see that 42% of Europeans say they feel their lives lack meaning,” he noted.

“Fer,” as his friends know him, was clear that the answer to healing these wounds must be a spiritual one. He also pointed out that Bishop Mikel Garciandía, head of the Spanish bishops’ conference’s committee on pilgrimages and also in charge of the project, refers to this “lack of meaning” as “a spiritual orphanhood.”

Manifesto of the young Christians of Europe

They consequently decided to embark on this journey of renewal in preparation for the Jubilee of Redemption in 2033, the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s redemption.

“We couldn’t wait until 2033 to get started, so we outlined a project consisting of three stages: The first is in Rome, with this year’s Jubilee of Hope, with which we kick off the event.” It will then take place in Santiago de Compostela (the Way of St. James pilgrimage route) in 2027 and, finally, in Jerusalem in 2033.

During this month of June, local pilgrimages are taking place throughout Europe, culminating on Aug. 1 with the proclamation of a manifesto of the Young Christians of Europe in St. Mary’s Basilica in Trastevere, Rome.

“On that day, together we will tell the world what we believe, what we dream, and what we are ready to live out. Every step we take is for those who no longer believe they have hope. This revolution of the spirit aims to make the invisible visible and give a voice to those who unknowingly seek God,” he said.

So that this declaration, drawn up on the basis of pilgrimages, truly serves as the voice of a generation, it will be published digitally during the month of July so that young people around the world can read and sign it.

“We want this to be the most widely supported youth declaration in the history of Europe, and only then will the words we speak on Aug. 1 have the weight of a multitude that believes, dreams, and journeys together.”

Furthermore, the project is also organized around a large network of Christian pilgrimage routes, including the historic Michaelmas Axis, which links shrines of St. Michael the Archangel from Ireland to Jerusalem.

This “spiritual sword” symbolizes a Europe that is once again turning heavenward. Monasteries, cathedrals, and parishes will become points of light, welcoming those who go through life in search of meaning.

Three pillars of the project

Moscardó also explained that the initiative is based on three pillars: pilgrimage, healing, and evangelization. “These are the three pillars we are taking as turning points to bring about change in this lost Europe,” he emphasized.

The young man reiterated that this is “a project of young people and for young people” and said that it has had “a very beautiful start,” with work teams throughout Europe supported by the bishops’ conferences.

“We thought that people today were going on pilgrimage for tourism, for social interaction, and we were forgetting that the most important thing when going on pilgrimage is to be aware that we do not walk alone, that we walk with Christ, and that we can pave the way for that personal relationship with him,” he explained.

He also noted that more than 600 people participated in the first pilgrimage, which was to Mont Saint-Michel in France. “We’re having a very beautiful and quite large response.”

On June 11, the project’s promoters are scheduled to be received by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. He also explained that they are already working on a website to provide all the necessary information about the activities as well as on their social media channels, which will be called J2R2033 (Journey to Redemption 2033).

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: Korawat photo shoot/Shutterstock

Rome, Italy, Jun 11, 2025 / 10:46 am (CNA).

Chiara Griffini, president of the Italian bishops’ conference’s Office for the Protection of Minors, said the increase in cases was concerning.

Jay Richards, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family, speaks at a Fidelity Month gathering on June 9, 2025, in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA

Washington D.C., Jun 11, 2025 / 09:54 am (CNA).

Members of the grassroots movement promoting the month of June as “Fidelity Month” at a gathering on Capitol Hill on Monday called for a renewal of the “common bonds” that unite Americans.

Fidelity Month bills itself as “a positive, grassroots movement to heal division and restore unity in our nation. It celebrates June as a season of recommitment to God, our spouses and families, our communities, and country,” according to the Fidelity Month website. 

Princeton professor Robert George founded the movement in 2023 after reading a Wall Street Journal article citing survey data that showed significant declines in Americans’ belief in the importance of religion, family, and patriotism.

It was these principles, George said at the event in the Longworth House Office Building on June 9, that inspired him to declare “by the power invested in me by absolutely no one” the month of June to be Fidelity Month. 

The “exceptional” thing about America, George observed, is that the source of the country’s unity cannot be found in race, ethnicity, or a particular religious tradition. 

Rather, national unity of the United States is found in the “shared commitment to the principles of republican government” and the “shared belief in the importance of fidelity to God, fidelity to spouses and families, fidelity to our country and communities.” 

George said the movement has grown from a few thousand initial followers to tens of thousands in 2024. “This year, we’re moving into the hundreds of thousands,” he said, adding: “I hope we’ll be moving into the millions of people recognizing June as Fidelity Month, where we rededicate ourselves and pledge ourselves to these important principles.” 

George also discussed the Fidelity Month movement during a June 4 interview on “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” telling anchor Abigail Galván he hoped it would serve as a rallying point for Americans to reclaim the enduring values that have long been the bedrock of national unity. 

Sources of America’s unity and strength

At Monday’s event, titled “What Are the Sources of America’s Unity and Strength?”, George was joined by several conservative leaders including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri; the Heritage Foundation’s Jay Richards; and Kristen Waggoner, CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

Echoing George in her speech, Waggoner reflected that “unlike most countries, [America] was founded on a direct appeal to divine reality.”

Waggoner continued: “When the founders declared independence, they didn’t appeal to a king or to an army or even to a written constitution. They appealed to heaven, to a God who endows each person with an alienable right, no matter what they believe.”

In his remarks, Hawley extolled marriage as “the true test of virtue for men and women” but especially for young men.

Citing President Theodore Roosevelt’s four-volume work “The Winning of the West,” Hawley noted Roosevelt’s view that of all the dangers faced by frontiersmen in the West, “the greatest challenge they faced” was their character and that fidelity to marriage was the ultimate test of manhood and the foundation of civilization.

“Whereas in Roosevelt’s day, the challenge of the frontier was the challenge of bringing culture and civilization to a vast wide-open space to what was in many respects a wilderness, our challenge today is to preserve our civilization from becoming a wilderness,” Hawley said.

“Today, the wilderness threatens to come to us,” he continued. “We see this nowhere more starkly than the breakdown of marriage and the family.” 

Hawley called on members of the movement to embrace their responsibility to “craft an economy and a society where marriage is rewarded.”

“I think Roosevelt was right all those years ago,” he said, concluding: “This must be the great call that we give to our countrymen again, to embrace the call to fidelity, to be faithful to what we believe in, to be faithful to what makes us who we are, to be faithful in our marriage commitments, in our family life, to our country.”

In his speech, Richards, director of Heritage’s DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family, cited the changing tide on the gender ideology debate in the U.S., where half of the states have passed laws protecting children from “gender-affirming care.” 

Just three years ago, he pointed out, “it was difficult to get Republican staffers and members in Congress to even talk about this issue.” 

Now, he said, “something like 70 or 80% of the American public doesn’t believe that we should be conducting experimental medicine on kids who are uncomfortable with their bodies. [And] they don’t believe that males should be in female prisons.” 

“We now have a moment in which the vast majority of our country is opposed to the idea that separates children’s identities from their bodies and is focused like a laser beam on the health of children,” he said, concluding: “That’s concrete. That’s the moment for those of us to continue to commit ourselves to fidelity to God, to country, to marriage, and to family, to make the case for that good again.” 

Other speakers included former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, and American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Ian Rowe.

Pope Leo XIV speaks at a Wednesday audience with the public on June 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 11, 2025 / 09:12 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Fuzhou in China, the Holy See announced on Wednesday.

The Vatican credited the Sino-Vatican deal, signed in September 2019 and renewed for a third time in October 2024, for Lin Yuntuan’s June 5 appointment.

The Vatican announced “the recognition of the civil effects and the taking of possession of the office of Monsignor Joseph Lin Yuntuan.” The announcement said the Holy Father made the appointment “in the framework of the dialogue regarding the application of the provisional agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”

Lin Yuntuan, 73, was ordained a priest for the Fuzhou Archdiocese, located in China’s Fujian Province, in 1984 after completing four years of studies in the local seminary. He was clandestinely consecrated a bishop in 2017. 

From 1984 to 1994 and 1996 to 2002, Lin Yuntuan was appointed parish priest for several parishes spread across the Fuzhou Archdiocese.

Other roles he held include a teaching role at the Fuzhou seminary in 1985, two terms as deputy director of the diocesan economic commission from 1994 to 1996 and 2000 to 2003, and as diocesan administrator from 2003 and 2007.

Prior to his clandestine consecration as bishop in 2017, Lin Yuntuan served as apostolic administrator of Fuzhou from 2013 to 2016.

Archbishop Joseph Cai Bing-rui currently leads the metropolitan Archdiocese of Fuzhou, which was erected in 1946. 

Globally, 84 new bishops have been elected in 2025. To date, Pope Leo XIV has appointed 15 new bishops in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the U.S. 

The city of Birmingham in the United Kingdom is the site of the WeBelieve festival from July 25–28, 2025. / Credit: Alexey Fedorenko/Shutterstock

London, England, Jun 11, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The historic Catholic festival in the U.K. will blend tradition and worship with a focus on unity.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from the back of a pickup style popemobile before his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 11, 2025 / 05:50 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV reflected on Christian hope — one of the three theological virtues, along with faith and charity — during his general audience on Wednesday. 

“There is no cry that God does not hear, even when we are unaware that we are addressing him,” the pope said, illustrating this idea with the story of Bartimaeus, described in the Gospel of Mark as a blind beggar who encountered Jesus as he was leaving Jericho. 

Pope Leo explained that this story helps us understand that “we must never abandon hope, even when we feel lost.” 

The Holy Father today spoke on the healings performed by Jesus and invited Catholics to bring before the heart of Christ their “most wounded or fragile parts” or those areas of life where they “feel paralyzed or stuck.” 

“Let us ask the Lord with trust to hear our cry and heal us!” the pope said. 

Pope Leo focused on the attitude of Jesus, who does not immediately approach Bartimaeus but instead asks him what he wants. “It is not obvious that we truly want to be healed of our illnesses — sometimes we prefer to remain as we are so as not to take on new responsibilities,” he said. 

“It may seem strange that, faced with a blind man, Jesus does not immediately approach him. But if we think about it, this is how he helps reactivate Bartimaeus’ life: He prompts him to rise and entrusts him with the ability to walk,” the pope added. 

Indeed, the pope said that Bartimaeus does not only wish to see again — he also “wants to regain his dignity.” 

“To look upward, one must lift one’s head. Sometimes people feel stuck because life has humiliated them, and they simply want to regain their worth,” the Holy Father said. 

For this reason, he called on the faithful to do everything they can to obtain what they seek, “even when others scold you, humiliate you, or tell you to give up.”

“If you truly desire it, keep crying out!” he said. 

The pope stressed that what saves Bartimaeus is faith. “Jesus heals us so that we may be free,” he said. 

Exposing ourselves to Jesus with all our vulnerabilities 

Leo XIV also reflected on Bartimaeus’ gesture of casting off his cloak in order to stand up.

“For a beggar, the cloak is everything: It is security, it is home, it is the protection that shields him. In fact, the law protected a beggar’s cloak and required that it be returned by evening if it had been taken as a pledge,” he explained.

The pope compared the beggar’s cloak to the illusion of security that people often cling to.

“Often what holds us back are precisely these apparent securities — the things we have wrapped around ourselves for protection, which in reality prevent us from moving forward,” he said.

Pope Leo noted that, in order to go to Jesus and be healed, Bartimaeus “must expose himself to him in all his vulnerability” — a fundamental step on any path to healing.

Finally, the pope called on the faithful to trustingly bring to Jesus “our illnesses, as well as those of our loved ones,” and “the pain of those who feel lost and without a way out.”

“Let us cry out for them as well, and let us be certain that the Lord will hear us and will stop for us,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.