We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

The Israelites didn't have a map. Moses didn’t have a plan. Peter didn’t have clarity. These heroes of Scripture had faith built on trust in God’s promises. In this homily reflection for Aug. 10, 2025, the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Archbishop Weisenburger invites us to follow in their footsteps, saying: "Into your hands I commend my spirit."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with EWTN News anchor Raymond Arroyo on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” on Aug. 7, 2025. / Credit: “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 8, 2025 / 14:08 pm (CNA).

As the 100th day of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate approaches, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States and the Vatican have a “good relationship, but it’s new.” He explained: “A new papacy” brings “a new direction.”

In a Thursday interview with EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” Rubio explained the first American pope can benefit U.S. and Vatican relations because the pope can understand Americans’ “history, our politics, our culture, [and] what’s going on here.”

Rubio discussed that when previously interacting with leaders of the Catholic Church, they were “almost invariably from some other country.” So when in Rome for Pope Leo XIV’s installation, Rubio said it was “almost surreal” to “interact with an American.” 

“Right now it’s new and the papacy has only been there for less than 100 days,” Rubio said. But there has already been “good communication” between the nation and the Vatican, specifically about the Catholic church attacked in Gaza, he said. Following the bombing, Rubio indicated, the U.S. spoke with the Church “extensively about Gaza” and “to facilitate visits.”

“I’m speculating … but I think one of the things that the cardinals probably chose is someone that could provide a period of stability and consistency as the Church faces a myriad of challenges around the world,” America’s top diplomat said. Someone who can “reach out to areas where the Church is growing but also reinvigorate the Church in some places where perhaps it’s struggling.”

“I know they’re deeply concerned, for example, that the Church is being heavily persecuted in Nicaragua,” Rubio explained. “They’re always concerned about the Church in China, which has been a point of friction with the U.S. government in the past.”

“I think the Vatican can play a very key role in many parts of the world. They’re actually very skilled diplomatically. In the end, their No. 1 goal has to be … the Church and its presence in different places.” 

The Vatican has “offered to get involved in any way [it] can” when it comes to “bringing about peace as a forum or as a facilitator,” Rubio said.

null / Credit: felipe caparros/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 8, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).

Just before the state of Florida executed Edward Zakrzewski on July 31, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB) called for a novena asking the faithful to pray for an end to Florida’s death penalty.

The novena began Aug. 6 and concludes Aug. 14, the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest executed in Auschwitz in 1941.

Zakrzewski’s execution marks the state’s ninth this year and sets a record for the most executions in a state in a single year since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Nationally, there has been a total of 28 executions in the first seven months of 2025, the highest in a decade.

The Florida bishops wrote that capital punishment is “harmful and unnecessary,” saying that “state-sanctioned killing further distorts society’s understanding of the sacredness of all human life, diminishing the recognition of our own inherent dignity and that of others.”

“We are called to mercy and compassion, not violence and vengeance,” the bishops continued. “With mercy towards the offenders, who themselves have often been victimized in life, and compassion for the victims of violence and their families, whose grief is not eliminated by the taking of another life, justice can be better served.”

Zakrzewski, convicted of the 1994 killing by machete of his wife and two children, was put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison. Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed 11 death warrants in 2025. The two remaining scheduled executions are for Kayle Bates on Aug. 19 for the 1982 murder of a woman in Bay County, and Curtis Windom on Aug. 28 for the 1992 killings of three people in Orange County.

The pace of these scheduled executions has drawn sharp criticism from Florida’s bishops as well as other advocates nationwide, who argue that capital punishment violates the sanctity of human life and is no longer necessary to safeguard society.

“Our ability to protect society by incarcerating the offender for life eliminates the need for executions, making every execution an act of revenge that outweighs any possible good to society,” the FCCB wrote.

Michael Sheedy, FCCB executive director, has repeatedly written to DeSantis on the bishops’ behalf. In his most recent letter on July 22, he called Zakrzewski’s crimes “especially heinous” but asked the governor to stay the execution and commute his sentence to life imprisonment without parole.

“Every human life, given by God, is sacred,” Sheedy wrote. “There is a way to punish without ending another human life: Lifelong incarceration without the possibility of parole is a severe yet more humane punishment that ensures societal safety, allows the guilty the possibility of redemption, and offers finality to court processes.”

While the Catholic Church has historically allowed the death penalty under strict conditions and where no other means could protect society, in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II said it should only be permitted in cases of “absolute necessity.”

In 2018, Pope Francis went further and had the Catechism of the Catholic Church revised to reflect the death penalty’s inadmissibility.

While acknowledging the Church had long considered the death penalty an “acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good,” the revised catechism now states that “the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes” and the death penalty attacks the “inviolability and dignity of the person.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has long advocated for the abolition of capital punishment, publishing a statement calling for its cessation in 2005.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska (pictured in St. Peter’s Square in 2019) criticized the University of Nebraska for allowing a student to mock the Mass in a drag show. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 8, 2025 / 13:08 pm (CNA).

The University of Nebraska has officially apologized for sanctioning a profane “drag” performance that mocked the Catholic Mass earlier this year, with the school undertaking an investigation into the incident after Catholic outcry against it. 

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, publicly criticized the so-called “drag Mass” in June, calling it “a blatant public display of faith-based discrimination.”  

The event was put on in April by music doctoral student Joseph Willette, who claimed the performance was meant to “bridge the gap between queerness and spirituality.”

The demonstration “imitated various parts of the Mass, including the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.”

On Aug. 8 the bishop said in a public statement that he had met with University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold and other leaders of the university after the incident. The university told the prelate that an “investigation into the matter was already underway.”

Conley wrote that University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Chancellor Rodney Bennett subsequently sent a follow-up letter in which the administrator told the bishop: “We regret deeply that the matter we met to discuss has caused disruption, and we sincerely apologize.”

The university will “fully embrace the opportunity this incident has prompted to consider carefully how we educate members of our community about the impact individual acts may have on people and communities — both positively and negatively, and whether intended or inadvertent,” Bennett wrote, according to Conley.

In his Aug. 8 letter Conley said the school was also establishing a university advisory group meant to reduce the likelihood of such incidents occurring in the future. 

It is unclear if the university has concluded its investigation into the event or if the inquiry is still ongoing. The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Aug. 8. 

The school’s President’s Advisory Roundtable on Community Engagement will help advise the school on “addressing sensitive and often emotional matters for which there are strong convictions.”

Representatives from the local Catholic community will be included on the panel, Conley said. 

In addition to backlash from the bishop’s office, state lawmakers also reportedly criticized the performance. 

Nebraska Sen. Dan Lonowski told the higher education news website the College Fix that he and a dozen colleagues wrote to the university condemning the display. 

Lonowski, a Catholic, told the Fix that the performance “[did] not appear to advance music nor faith in any manner.” Lonowski said the university confirmed that it was undertaking an investigation.

Conley, meanwhile, expressed hope that the school was apologizing not just for the controversy surrounding the incident but “for the substance of the incident itself.”

“On behalf of Catholics and all people of faith, I would like to see a more concrete commitment from the university to provide training and education on why this behavior is offensive to Catholics,” the bishop wrote. 

Mocking the Eucharist, Conley said, “should never be an action that is rewarded with a degree, but instead should be condemned for its ignorance and evil.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is seen here during his Aug. 7, 2025 interview on the EWTN News program “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.” / Credit: "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo"/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 8, 2025 / 12:38 pm (CNA).

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is “committed” to fixing an ongoing backlog in religious worker visas.

“We’ll have a plan to fix it,” Rubio said in an Aug. 7 interview with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN News’ “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”

The interview comes after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a report showing widespread fraud in its permanent residence program for unaccompanied minors, which led to the backlog in issuance of visas to migrant priests and religious.

Rubio said the administration is currently working to create a “standalone process” for religious workers, separate from other competing applicants — such as from the juvenile program — to the employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) category of visas. 

“​​In many cases, what you were finding is you had [a certain] number of people you were going to allow a year, [and] you prioritized people that were coming here from a different migration [background] and it came at the price of some of these others,” he said of the category.

“I’ve been in touch with a number of our cardinals here in the United States and bishops about that as well,” Rubio continued, “and it’s not only the Catholic Church — I mean there are other places that are being impacted, but we’re trying to streamline that process.”

Each year, Congress decides how many green cards — visas that grant permanent residence in the U.S. — may be made available per year. 

These green cards are divided into categories based on various factors, including employment or relationship status to U.S. citizens. The EB-4 category can distribute approximately 7.1% of all employment-based visas. 

Typically, religious workers enter the U.S. on R-1 visas, which have a five-year limit. In the meantime, religious workers hoping to stay in the U.S. apply for visas in the EB-4 category. 

Since juveniles were added to the category in 2023, the wait time for green card applications has been extended to at least five years and seven months, meaning some religious workers face the possibility of having to return to their home country before their application is processed. 

When asked whether he would be in favor of extending R-1 visas for religious workers while their green card applications are pending, Rubio said the administration is “looking at every option.” 

“We don’t want to read headlines that some Catholic church had to close because it couldn’t get their priests here or some order closed because some nun couldn’t get here,” he said. “We’re not interested in that, and that’s not really the aim here.” 

“We know it’s an issue and we’re committed to fixing it,” he concluded. 

Federal lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill, the Religious Workforce Protection Act, to prevent U.S.-based priests from being forced to leave the country. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has urged the government to pass the bill. 

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio described the measure as “desperately needed to ensure communities across our nation can continue to enjoy the essential contributions of foreign-born religious workers who lawfully entered the United States on a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) visa.” 

Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrams gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 8, 2025 / 12:08 pm (CNA).

The Prefecture of the Papal Household announced that Pope Leo XIV will travel to Albano, Italy, on Sunday, Aug. 17, to celebrate Mass with the poor.

At 9:30 a.m. local time, the Holy Father will arrive at the Shrine of Santa Maria della Rotonda in Albano, a municipality located 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) from the Vatican and bordering Castel Gandolfo, to celebrate Mass with a group of people who receive assistance from Caritas.

After Mass, he will head to Castel Gandolfo to preside over the Angelus prayer at noon from Liberty Square.

In addition, according to the Diocese of Albano, he will later share lunch with 100 low-income people at Borgo Laudato Si’, an ecological and social project inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical.

According to Vatican News, the bishop of Albano, Vincenzo Viva, said he was “full of joy” at the return of Pope Leo to the diocese, where he spent his summer vacation from July 7–22.

He also stated that the Holy Father accepted Caritas’ proposal to have lunch with the group. “This is the first time that Leo XIV will meet with the poor during his pontificate, and we are very happy that he is beginning this journey with our diocese,” Viva stated.

On Friday, Aug. 15, the Holy Father will also travel to Castel Gandolfo to preside over Mass for the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Pontifical Parish of St. Thomas of Villanova. After Mass, he will also lead the Angelus from the iconic Piazza della Liberdade (Liberty Square).

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

Pope Francis greets Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn at the Vatican during the USCCB’s Region II ad limina visit on Nov. 15, 2019. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Aug 8, 2025 / 10:54 am (CNA).

A U.S. Catholic bishop is sharply criticizing a large payout to his accusers even after the Holy See said it had found no evidence to support allegations of abuse against him.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston-based lawyer who has represented numerous Catholic abuse victims, said in a press release this week that two accusers of Brooklyn Bishop Emeritus Nicholas DiMarzio had received separate six-figure payouts to settle their abuse claims.

The two accusers claimed DiMarzio had abused them in the 1970s and early 1980s when the prelate was then a priest in New Jersey. The men went public with the allegations in 2019 and 2020.

Both accusers filed suits against DiMarzio and the Archdiocese of Newark in 2021. Later that year, what was then the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found that the allegations did not have “the semblance of truth.”

DiMarzio himself has repeatedly and strongly denied the allegations. In a statement this week the retired bishop reaffirmed those denials. “As I have said from the very beginning, in my 50+ year priesthood, I never abused anyone,” he said. 

The prelate pointed out that an “exhaustive two-year canonical investigation” cleared his name and further that he “took a lie detector test and passed it.”

“I did not authorize these settlements because I did not abuse anyone,” DiMarzio said this week. 

The bishop’s lawyer, Joseph Hayden, noted in a statement that the investigation that cleared DiMarzio was led “by independent firms headed by a former federal prosecutor and former FBI director.” They were conducted under the Vos Estis Lux Mundi guidelines promulgated by Pope Francis, he said. 

In a statement this week a Newark spokeswoman said the archdiocese “chose to settle the lawsuits to avoid the costs of litigation and help bring resolution to painful matters for everyone involved.”

Hayden described the payments as “a business decision.” 

“Bishop DiMarzio did not authorize or approve the settlements, nor did he participate in any settlement negotiations,” the lawyer said. 

“In fact, he did not sign the settlement agreements, nor did the settlement agreements admit liability on the part of the archdiocese or Bishop DiMarzio,” he added. 

‘A charade of an investigation’

In a statement to CNA, meanwhile, Garabedian disputed the results of the Vatican’s 2021 conclusions regarding the abuse allegations. 

Describing the inquiry as a “charade,” Garabedian claimed that investigators did not directly query one of the accusers about whether he had been abused by the bishop. 

The Vatican’s ruling was “not surprising given the cover-up the Catholic Church has been practicing when investigating clergy sexual abuse over the decades,” the attorney claimed.

DiMarzio resigned from his post as bishop of Brooklyn in 2021, shortly after the Vatican cleared him of the abuse claims.

The Vos Estis Lux Mundi guidelines under which DiMarzio was investigated were first promulgated by Pope Francis in 2019 before being made permanent in 2023. 

The revised norms established obligatory reporting for clerics and religious, required that every diocese had a mechanism for reporting abuse, and put the metropolitan archbishop in charge of investigations of accusations against suffragan bishops.

Francis at the time stressed that sex abuse crimes “offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological, and spiritual harm to the victims and harm the community of the faithful.”