Saint Michael Parish

The Becket Fund releases its annual Religious Freedom Index (RFI) on Jan. 16, 2026, exploring American attitudes on the First Amendment. | Credit: Leigh Prather/Shutterstock

Jan 16, 2026 / 11:54 am (CNA).

Annual research by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty found that Catholics in America today feel more accepted as people of faith in society than in past years.

The annual Religious Freedom Index (RFI) by the Becket Fund was released on Jan. 16 and explores American attitudes on the First Amendment, specifically religious freedom and tolerance.

An online poll surveyed 1,002 U.S. adults. The survey screened a sample that is representative by gender, age, ethnicity, race, and region matching U.S. Census figures, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%, researchers said.

In 2024, about 54% of Catholics reported they felt accepted as people of faith, specifically 19% said they feel “completely” accepted and 35% said they felt “a good amount” accepted. Becket found that in 2025, these numbers increased, with 22% feeling “completely” accepted and 37% said “a good amount.”

“It’s heartening to see a growing number of Catholics report feeling fully accepted by their fellow Americans,” said Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket. “Our nation is strongest when believers can participate in public life without fear of being bullied for their faith.”

Seal of confession

The report examined American attitudes about religious liberty and specific cases on religious freedom in the nation.

The percentage of Americans who believe the First Amendment right to the freedom to exercise religion should “definitely” or “somewhat” protect priests from breaking the seal of confession, even if someone confesses something indicating child abuse or neglect, is 61%. This was compared with 39% (20% somewhat not or 19% definitely not) who said the First Amendment does not protect the seal of confession in such instances.

The research noted that 77% of Americans reported they either “completely” or “mostly” accept school choice for religious schools.

In regard to specific U.S. Supreme Court cases regarding education, most Americans surveyed agreed with the rulings. The research found there was a four-point rise from 69% in 2024 to 73% in 2025 in those who support parents’ decision to opt their children out of content they believe is inappropriate.

When asked specifically about the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which parents sued a Maryland public school district for not allowing them to opt their elementary-aged children out of LGBTQ-themed storybooks that conflicted with their religious beliefs, 62% of Americans said they support the Supreme Court’s decision.

The report found a five-point increase from 2020 to 2025 in Americans who agree that religious freedom is inherently public and that Americans should be free to share their faith in public spaces, such as at school, work, or on social media, with an increase from 52% to 55%.

The report found that the younger generations especially reported an increased “vision of religious liberty” in the public square. Gen Z scored the highest in areas including “religious sharing” and “religion in action.” Of the group, 60% accepted and supported the freedom to express or share religious beliefs with others, compared with 52% of all Americans.

The French Senate, the upper house of the French Parliament. | Credit: Jacques Paquier (CC BY 2.0)

Jan 16, 2026 / 11:00 am (CNA).

French Catholic bishops have issued a public statement urging lawmakers to reject a proposed law that would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in France. The warning comes days before the French Senate is scheduled to debate the “end of life” bill between Jan. 20 and Jan. 26.

The bill, which was already passed by the National Assembly in May 2025, would establish a new “right to die” for gravely ill adults, but France’s bishops argue it would threaten the most fragile and undermine the respect due to every human life.

The pro-euthanasia legislation was adopted by France’ s lower house on May 27, 2025, with 305 votes in favor and 199 against.

It would allow any French resident over 18 suffering from a serious and incurable condition that is life-threatening, advanced, or terminal to seek medical help to end his or her life. Eligible patients must be experiencing constant, unbearable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be relieved, though psychological suffering alone would not qualify.

A particularly contentious provision in the euthanasia law is a new offense of “obstructing aid-in-dying.” Lawmakers amended the bill to mirror France’s existing penalties for blocking access to abortion. Anyone who prevents or dissuades a patient from exercising the right to euthanasia could face up to two years in prison and a 30,000-euro (approximately $35,000) fine.

This clause has alarmed Catholic institutions, which fear it targets hospitals or care homes that refuse to participate in intentional life-ending procedures.

Bishops cite ethical risks and gaps in end-of-life care

French bishops reaffirmed their “profound respect” for those facing end-of-life suffering along with the pain, fear of dependence, and loneliness they face, while stressing that “these fears are real.”

They called for human, fraternal, medical, and social responses, not legislation that permits intentional killing. They warned that integrating euthanasia into medical care would alter the “nature of our social contract” by blurring ethical boundaries and presenting assisted death as a form of treatment.

The bishops also pointed to persistent gaps in France’s palliative care system, noting that nearly a quarter of palliative care needs remain unmet, leaving many patients without adequate pain relief, accompaniment, or human presence. They argued that claims that “people die badly in France” stem not from the absence of assisted dying but from unequal access to care and insufficient enforcement of existing end-of-life laws.

According to the bishops, medical advances now allow most severe pain to be effectively managed, yet access to such care varies widely by region. Rather than offering death as a legal option, they insisted, France must first ensure equitable, effective access to palliative care, support, and solidarity for all those approaching the end of life.

Threat to Catholic hospitals and conscience rights

In an op-ed published by various French Catholic leaders and religious figures, concern is expressed over the bill’s lack of protection for institutional conscience rights. The proposed law stipulates that “the head of the facility or service is required to permit” the practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide. This means a Catholic hospital could be legally compelled to let an outside physician come in to administer a lethal injection to a patient, even though it directly contradicts the institution’s mission to heal and comfort.

Catholic health care congregations have decried this obligation as an assault on religious freedom. Their arguments rest on their congregations’ historical commitment to caring for people until their natural death — they cannot participate in euthanasia without betraying their core Catholic beliefs.

Across Europe, even countries with legal euthanasia, such as the Netherlands, maintain at least some protections for conscience. No European law currently in force goes as far as the French proposal in punishing institutions that uphold a pro-life stance. This comparative context bolsters various arguments that the bill before the French Senate is among the most permissive in the world and would set a troubling precedent.

As the French Senate analyzes the euthanasia bill on Jan. 20, French Catholics are being encouraged to pray, to contact their legislators, and to “not remain silent” in defense of life. The French Bishops’ Conference has even provided letter templates and posters with the slogan “DISONS NON,” “Let’s say NO,” with regard to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Member of Parliament David Smith, the U.K. special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, speaks at the parliamentary launch of the World Watch List on Jan. 14, 2026. | Credit: Open Doors

Jan 16, 2026 / 10:11 am (CNA).

More Christians were killed in Nigeria last year than anywhere else in the world combined, a new report has found, placing the country at the center of a growing global persecution crisis.

Of the 4,849 Christians killed for their faith worldwide, 3,490 were in Nigeria, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List 2026.

Open Doors is a Netherlands-based international Christian mission that tracks global persecution and supports persecuted Christians worldwide. The organization’s annual World Watch List ranks 50 countries by the severity of persecution faced by active Christians.

The new report also shows a global increase of 8 million Christians facing high levels of persecution and discrimination between October 2024 and September 2025, bringing the total to 388 million.

Speaking at the report’s launch, Henrietta Blyth, CEO at Open Doors UK & Ireland, said: “Nigeria is in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that represents a deathtrap for Christians,” while expressing relief that people are finally talking about what’s going on in the country.

In recent months the situation in Nigeria has been back in the spotlight after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to go “guns a-blazing” into the country and subsequently launched strikes on militants linked to the Islamic State group in the northwest of the country.

While both the U.S. and Nigerian governments cooperated on the strikes, Trump has accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect Christians from jihadist attacks, with some allies and campaign figures describing the situation as a “ genocide.”

The Nigerian government is reluctant to address the religious aspect for fear of being designated a “country of particular concern,” which could “enable the Trump administration and other international governments to take measures including an embargo,” according to John Samuel, an expert on sub-Saharan Africa for Open Doors.

Asked how the U.K. government should respond to the situation, the U.K.’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, David Smith, told EWTN News: “We need to be critical friends. We need to be able to speak to our Nigerian counterparts, encouraging and enable them to speak truth. It’s a multilayered conflict in central Nigeria, with many causes, including religious persecution.”

Speaking at Portcullis House, London, he told the room of 110 members of Parliament: “We have to be that voice that speaks on these horrendous stories. No one should live in fear because of their faith or belief. The minimum we can do is speak up, and I urge you to that.”

Pope Leo XIV addressed the Nigeria crisis in November 2025, acknowledging that “Christians and Muslims have been slaughtered” in the country. He told journalists at Castel Gandolfo that “many Christians have died” and called on the government to “promote authentic religious freedom.” The pope’s comments came after Trump designated Nigeria a country of particular concern for religious freedom violations.

The reasons for persecution in Nigeria are multifaceted and vary between regions. Ethnic Fulani herders have moved from the north to Nigeria’s middle belt, where they “are causing a massive problem,” according to John Samuel.

“They are moving to the area where they can find more resources for their cattle, like grazing land, and that naturally could cause a conflict between the predominantly Christian farming community and the herders who are predominantly ethnic Fulanis and Muslims.”

However, he warned “the least reported and the wrongly reported violence, but causing a massive problem, is the violence in the Middle Belt or north central of Nigeria by Fulani militants. That is the oversimplified one always,” he said, adding that “now there is an emergence of an Islamic militant Fulani.”

Christians are 2.7 times more likely to be targeted and killed in attacks from the Fulani than Muslims, according to the Netherlands-based Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa. Some have suggested this is because Christian faith leaders can fetch higher ransoms if they are kidnapped.

There are also groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), who “have openly stated their ideology” and “want to establish an Islamic caliphate based on a radical Islamic ideology… They have a YouTube channel these days and they brag about killing infidels.”

Blyth told EWTN News: “The U.K. government still has a lot of influence. They’re involved in security talks, trade talks, aid talks, diplomacy talks. All of these provide an opportunity to talk about freedom of religion or belief.”

“People should keep talking about the Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, because every day we are attacked,” shared Pastor Barnabas from Nigeria in a video that was shown. “We want people to spread this news to everybody, that they should keep talking about it, so that we will be saved.”

Monsignor Anthony J. Figueiredo and Bishop Mylo Vergara of Pasig, Philippines, bless the facility of the 2022 “Economy of Fraternity” prize recipient, the Ecocharcoal Briquettes Project in the Diocese of Pasig, on Dec. 3, 2025. | Courtesy of Monsignor Anthony J. Figueiredo

Jan 16, 2026 / 09:26 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Assisi in Italy will award 50,000 euros ($58,000) to the winner of the 2026 edition of the “Francis of Assisi and Carlo Acutis for an Economy of Fraternity” award.

Inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si’, the former archbishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino, instituted the award in 2020 on the day of St. Carlo Acutis’ Oct. 10 beatification.

In addition to the 50,000-euro ($58,000) prize money, award winners also receive an icon with the images of Sts. Francis and Carlo Acutis and are symbolically vested with the “cloak of Francis” by the bishop of Assisi during a ceremony to be held in May at the Sanctuary of the Renunciation.

Monsignor Anthony J. Figueiredo, director of international affairs and relics custodian for the Diocese of Assisi, said the prize is not simply a “payout” but a way of recognizing grassroots projects that support a just and “generative” economic model that restores dignity to the poor and vulnerable.

“The whole point of this award is really to encourage new initiatives from the bottom up so people, who are often discarded on the margins of society, can become the protagonists,” he told EWTN News.

“With the help of those in business, those in the Church, those in the municipality, they then are able to produce something where they earn,” he continued. “It’s a wonderful initiative that was born in the heart of Pope Francis and his emphasis on an economy of fraternity."

More than 160 projects from across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania have been submitted to the Diocese of Assisi since the award’s establishment nearly six years ago.

“Initially, a lot of the projects were coming from Europe but, with time, they have come from quite obscure and poor places,” Figueiredo said.

Last year, “Project Hope,” an initiative led by Caritas Goa in India, won the diocesan prize for its work in supporting disadvantaged women and youth gain financial independence. Caritas Goa provided services including specialized crafts training as well as partnerships with local businesses.

Previous awardees have come from Brazil, Chad, the Philippines, and Italy.

“In a world today that is full of bad news of war, violence, and division, this award points to the goodness from the bottom up, and that gives us joy and hope in going forward in this world,” Figueiredo said.

Individuals and organizations from around the world have until Feb. 28 to submit an online application for the sixth edition of the award.

Cardinal Aguiar and his auxiliary bishop, Francisco Javier Acero Pérez, OAR, met with Pope Leo on Jan. 14, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 16, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The primatial archbishop of Mexico, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, has invited Pope Leo XIV to visit the country. The cardinal extended the invitation during their Jan. 14 meeting at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, shortly before the Wednesday general audience.

According to a statement released later by the Archdiocese of Mexico, during the audience Aguiar renewed the invitation he had first extended to the pope a few days after the conclave for him to travel to the country.

“In response, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude and his desire and interest in visiting our country soon to entrust his pontificate to Our Lady of Guadalupe,” the press release indicated.

In addition, Aguiar shared with Pope Leo XIV the progress and development of the synodal process underway in the Mexican diocese.

In this context, the pontiff expressed his gratitude for the work of the religious communities, pastoral workers, and laypeople, and encouraged them to continue strengthening this path of listening, discernment, and pastoral co-responsibility.

During the meeting, the Holy Father expressed his joy at the pilgrimage that the archdiocese will make Saturday, Jan. 17, to the Guadalupe Basilica at the beginning of the pilgrimage season to the sacred shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac.

The cardinal was accompanied by Francisco Javier Acero Pérez, OAR, auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese. The communications office of the primatial archdiocese of Mexico invited all the faithful to join in prayer for the Holy Father and for the fruits of the synodal journey that the Mexican Church continues to undertake.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by the EWTN News English Service.

The pope closed the large bronze doors of St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 6, 2025, when the Jubilee of Hope concluded. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 15, 2026 / 17:42 pm (CNA).

With the final sealing on Jan. 16 of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Holy See will complete the closing — which includes the actual masonry work — of the four Holy Doors of the papal basilicas following the Jubilee of Hope.

The concluding rite of closing the Holy Door of St. Mary Major Basilica took place Jan. 13. St. John Lateran Basilica’s was closed Jan. 14 and the Holy Door of St. Paul Outside the Walls was closed Jan. 15.

The Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica will be sealed shut on Jan. 16.

The so-called “sanpietrini,” the staff of the Fabric of St. Peter — comprising carpenters, cabinetmakers, and electricians — who normally handle the maintenance of the basilica, will repeat the process they have already carried out in the other three basilicas: They will erect a brick wall inside the church to permanently seal the Holy Door.

In addition, the traditional metal capsule (“capsis”), a bronze box, will be inserted into the wall of the church. It will contain the official closing document, the coins minted during the jubilee year, and the keys to the Holy Door.

These elements serve as material and symbolic testimony of the holy year, which, as the pope emphasized in the Jan. 6 ceremony in which he closed the great doors of the Vatican basilica, has concluded on the calendar but not in the spiritual life of the Catholic Church.

In all the papal basilicas, the official document of closing the Holy Door has been deposited along with the key to the door and several pontifical medals from the last sealing, during the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016 to the present day.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Credit: Carl DMaster/Shutterstock

Jan 15, 2026 / 17:10 pm (CNA).

As the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues its review of the abortion pill mifepristone, Republican lawmakers are repeating calls for stronger federal regulations of the drug.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, held a hearing about the drugs Jan. 14. Republican lawmakers called for stricter rules, while Democratic lawmakers advocated for easy access to the drugs.

Cassidy, who is a medical doctor, urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary to complete the safety review of mifepristone promised during their confirmation hearings.

“Republican members of this committee and many other senators expect an answer,” Cassidy said. “At an absolute minimum, the previous in-person safeguards must be restored immediately.”

Cassidy expressed concern about the deregulation of mifepristone under former President Barack Obama in 2016 and former President Joe Biden in 2023 and said they have made women less safe.

In 2016, the FDA lowered the number of mandatory in-person doctor visits needed to obtain mifepristone from three to one and then fully eliminated required in-person visits in 2023. In 2016, the FDA stopped requiring doctors to report adverse events and ended rules requiring mifepristone to be dispensed by a physician and taken in a doctor’s office. Another 2016 rule change ended the mandatory follow-up visit and another 2023 rule change authorized delivery of the drug through the mail.

“It’s only through a proper medical examination that a doctor can determine a baby’s gestational age, ensure a woman does not have an ectopic pregnancy, and be sure the abortion will not jeopardize future fertility,” Cassidy said. “I’m a doctor, and if the first rule is do no harm, the way things work today has the potential to do a lot of harm.”

Speaking to “EWTN News Nightly” prior to the hearing, Cassidy said: “There’s some women at higher risk for complications … and the doctor interviewing her would be able to see that.”

He said President Donald Trump’s administration should suspend the use of mifepristone or at least reimpose previous safeguards.

An HHS spokesperson said the department “is conducting a study of reported adverse events associated with mifepristone to assess whether the FDA’s risk mitigation program continues to provide appropriate protections for women.”

“The FDA’s scientific review process is thorough and takes the time necessary to ensure decisions are grounded in gold-standard science,” the spokesperson said. “Dr. Makary is upholding that standard as part of the Department’s commitment to rigorous, evidence-based review.”

Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst, a practicing OB-GYN and research assistant for Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture, testified to the committee about potential harms of mifepristone and the added risks caused by the deregulation.

“The different risks that are associated with abortion are bleeding, infection, hemorrhage, [and a] need for transfusion,” she said, adding that taking abortion drugs while having an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy can be life-threatening.

Apart from the medical risks, Wubbenhorst also said the lack of oversight exacerbates problems with human trafficking, child sex abuse, and domestic violence: “Abusers have been known to force abortion pills down women’s throats, put them in their drinks, and insert them into their bodies,” she said.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told senators the deregulation of the Biden administration was a “purely political” decision, as opposed to a medical one, and she spoke about women in her state being coerced into taking mifepristone and cases of adverse events that she blames on the deregulation.

“A few examples from Louisiana include a woman who was coerced to abort her wanted baby, multiple [examples] of that, by partners or parents, a pregnant woman who took pills … mailed to her at 20 weeks’ gestation and ended up in the emergency room while her baby was left in a dumpster, [and regarding] another 20-week-old pregnancy, the baby was found recovered in a toilet,” she said.

Last year, Murrill sued the FDA over the deregulation after a resident, Rosalie Markezich, said her boyfriend forced her to take an abortion pill that was obtained through the mail.

Democratic lawmakers rejected calls for stricter regulations, with ranking member Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, saying the meeting is “not about the safety of a drug” and pointed to medical groups like the American Medical Association vouching for its safety.

“It is about the ongoing effort of my friends in the Republican Party to deny the women of this country the basic right to control their own bodies,” Sanders said. “That is what this hearing is about.”

Nisha Verma, an OB-GYN and fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health, testified that the drugs are safe for women and can help women recovering from a miscarriage. She said her patients who suffer from miscarriages “are at risk” because of restrictions in certain states.

“My patients are at risk because of restrictions on abortion and cuts to Medicaid,” she said. “They are at risk because of decreased funding to clinics that provide preventative care and cancer screenings and fears about whether they can safely go to the hospital based on their immigration status.”

Kennedy ordered a review of mifepristone last year, and the federal government has yet to reestablish any safeguards on the drug. Rather, the FDA approved a generic version of mifepristone in October, sparking backlash from Republican lawmakers and pro-life organizations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during an end-of-year press conference in the State Department Press Briefing Room in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. | Credit: Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Jan 15, 2026 / 15:57 pm (CNA).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. government is working with the Catholic Church to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba after a late-October hurricane.

“The U.S. is sending the first humanitarian shipment to Cuba to help people in need as they continue to recover from Hurricane Melissa,” Rubio said in a Jan. 14 post on X. “We are working with the Catholic Church and partners to ensure aid reaches the Cuban people directly — not the illegitimate regime.”

U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Brian Burch also reposted the message.

“The Trump administration stands with the Cuban people,” Rubio added.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Oct. 28, 2025. The storm’s high winds left a path of destruction and affected millions across the Caribbean, including Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Floodwaters and damaged water systems created conditions for disease outbreaks in Cuba, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The State Department said Jan. 14 the Trump administration “is following through on our commitment to deliver $3 million in much-needed disaster relief to the Cuban people” with the first of a series of direct humanitarian aid shipments to Cuba.

The next aid shipment is set to be delivered from Miami on Jan. 16 and could reach an estimated 6,000 Cuban families in the “hardest-hit provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma, and Guantanamo,” according to a State Department press release.

The statement said the State Department is “working closely” with the Catholic Church on delivering the assistance “without regime interference.”

Aid will take the form of food kits, including rice, beans, oil, and sugar; hygiene and water treatment kits; kitchen sets with pots and cooking utensils; and other household items such as sheets and blankets, solar lanterns, and more, the State Department said.

Catholic nongovernmental organizations in Cuba play a significant role in providing humanitarian aid on the island, with Caritas Cuba functioning as “the largest independent nongovernmental organization on the island, with more than 40 staff and a network of some 12,000 volunteers,” according to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which works in partnership with Caritas Cuba.

Caritas Cuba provides emergency response and humanitarian aid as well as programs for HIV and AIDS, elderly people, human development, and other educational programs, according to its website.

Working in tandem with Caritas, CRS Cuba has distributed more than $32 million in medical emergency supplies for hospitals, elderly homes, and victims of natural disasters since 1993. CRS provides emergency shelter support, food assistance, clean drinking water, home repair, and assistance to farmers and small businesses recovering from natural disasters.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states and international organizations of the Holy See. | Credit: Santosh Digal

Jan 15, 2026 / 13:37 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states and international organizations of the Holy See, described the practice of surrogacy as a “new form of colonialism” in which the interests of adults prevail over the rights of children.

The Italian Embassy to the Holy See hosted the Jan. 13 event “A Common Front for Human Dignity: Preventing the Commodification of Women and Children in Surrogacy” with the aim of fostering international debate on this practice and raising awareness of its ethical, legal, and social implications.

The event, held at the Borromeo Palace in Rome, is part of an awareness campaign promoted by the Italian Ministry for Family, Birth Rate, and Equal Opportunities together with the Holy See at the United Nations.

In his address, Gallagher stated that surrogacy is an issue that concerns all of humanity and therefore urged a united front to stop “the commodification of women and children.”

The Vatican official emphasized that this practice “exploits bodies and takes any meaning out of relationships,” reducing the person to a mere product, as Pope Francis has denounced. He also noted that Pope Leo XIV recently warned that surrogacy sacrifices the rights of children.

During his address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, the pontiff denounced that “by turning gestation into a negotiable service, the dignity of both is violated: that of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and that of the mother, by exploiting her body and the generative process and altering the original relational vocation of the family.”

In this context, Gallagher warned that surrogacy — although presented as “an act of generosity” — reduces the person to an “object of transaction.”

“It’s the sale of a child, handed over to the buyers by virtue of a contract that places the interests of the adults at the center, and not those of the children,” he said emphatically.

He also stated that it reduces women’s bodies to a “mere reproductive instrument,” affecting the social conception of motherhood and human dignity.

After recalling that feminist groups also reject surrogacy, Gallagher emphasized that it is “a new form of colonialism” that exploits the most vulnerable people and pointed out that women’s consent is often the result of “financial pressures.”

Finally, the Vatican official argued for the “total abolition” of surrogacy and expressed its opposition to the creation of an international regulatory framework, which, in his view, would lead to “more children destined to be sold.”

The event also included speeches by the Italian ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto; the dean of the diplomatic corps to the Holy See and ambassador of Cyprus, George Poulides; and Italian Minister for Family, Natality, and Equal Opportunities Eugenia Roccella.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News.

Pope Leo XIV next to the new mosaic of him that will be added to St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica in Rome. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 15, 2026 / 12:54 pm (CNA).

A mosaic bearing the official portrait of Pope Leo XIV was presented to the pontiff on Jan. 14. The mosaic will be placed in St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica at the request of the basilica’s archpriest, Cardinal James Michael Harvey.

The artwork, which, according to ancient tradition, is created upon the election of each pope, was made in the Vatican Mosaic Studio of the Fabric of St. Peter, where the basilica’s mosaics are currently being conserved through restoration work and where artwork is also produced for sale to the public.

Thanks to the skill and experience of its mosaic artists, who still use ancient technical and artistic methods, mosaics are produced that are inspired by masterpieces of sacred and secular art.

The mosaic “tondo” — from the Italian word meaning “round” — of the Holy Father is 54 inches in diameter and was made with glass enamels and gold on a metal structure, according to the Vatican.

The mosaic is composed of more than 15,000 tesserae — the small pieces used to create the mosaic — including some that date back to the 19th century. These pieces were created using the ancient technique of cut mosaic and have been fixed with the traditional oil-based stucco of the Vatican tradition.

The mosaic will be placed in the space next to the portrait of Pope Francis, in the right nave of the papal basilica, at an approximate height of 43 feet.

The work is based on a pictorial sketch by the Italian artist Rodolfo Papa, an oil painting on canvas that will be preserved in the Fabric of St. Peter in the Vatican.

Also participating in the presentation were Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, and Harvey along with the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Donato Ogliari.

At the end of the presentation, the Holy Father invited all those present to join him in a moment of prayer.

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