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CNA Staff, Jun 17, 2025 / 10:37 am (CNA).

The New Jersey government will be allowed to assemble a grand jury to investigate allegations of clergy sexual abuse there, the state Supreme Court said Monday.

In a unanimous ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court said a lower court had erred when it held the state could not empanel the jury, with the high court stating that the government “has the right to proceed with its investigation and present evidence before a special grand jury.”

The lower court had said in part that any findings from the grand jury could be “fundamentally unfair” because any priests accused in it would lack the ability to adequately challenge the allegations.

But the Supreme Court said it was up to judges to decide if any report complied with prevailing legal standards. Courts “cannot and [do] not decide the ultimate question in advance,” the ruling said.

The court’s decision comes just over a month after the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, said it would drop its fight against the state’s efforts to empanel the grand jury.

Camden Bishop Joseph Williams last month said he intended to “do the right thing” for abuse victims. The Camden Diocese had been embroiled in a yearslong fight with the state over the potential grand jury empanelment.

Williams’ abandonment of the fight came just several weeks after he assumed the bishopric there on March 17.

The diocese had previously argued in part that New Jersey “cannot convene a grand jury to return a presentment unless it addresses public affairs or conditions, censures public officials, or calls attention to imminent conditions.” Years-old clergy abuse allegations did not meet these standards, the diocese had said.

In a letter in the Catholic Star Herald last month, Williams said he was “new to being a diocesan bishop and new to the complex legal arguments and proceedings involved” in the ongoing case. Prior to his March 17 appointment, he served as coadjutor bishop of the Camden Diocese.

A grand jury was famously empaneled in Pennsylvania from 2016 to 2018 to investigate abuse allegations in multiple dioceses of that state.

That report, released in August 2018, revealed allegations of abuse against more than 300 priests involving more than 1,000 children in the state.

Remarking on that data, the jurists said in their report: “We believe that the real number — of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward — is in the thousands.”

Lima Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 09:42 am (CNA).

Bernardo García, executive director of the Casablanca Declaration, a coalition that calls for the universal abolition of surrogacy, said that in reality the practice amounts to “the exploitation of poor women and the sale of children.” The Casablanca Declaration takes its name from a conference on the subject held in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2023.

García spoke to “EWTN Noticias,” the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News, during the coalition’s third summit, held last week in Lima, Peru, with specialists in bioethics, law, and communications participating.

García emphasized that the Casablanca Declaration “is an NGO [nongovernmental organization] that informs about the risks and dangers of surrogacy worldwide and actively promotes an international treaty at the United Nations level to abolish this practice.”

“We believe that the authorities, as well as the public, need to be aware of the reality of this market, because it is often presented as an alternative fertility technique, as an alternative adoption technique, but this is really the exploitation of poor women and the sale of children,” he emphasized.

García pointed out the importance of banning surrogacy, a practice in which several Latin American countries have become the center of operations in recent years.

According to García, the Casablanca Declaration brings together specialists from more than 80 countries and was launched in response to the global growth of surrogacy, an industry valued at $22.4 billion in 2024, according to Global Market Insights.

A practice that violates the rights of women and babies

Lorena Bolson, dean of the Institute of Family Sciences at Austral University in Argentina, explained that surrogacy “involves a violation of all kinds of rights, both for the woman who carries the child and, above all, for the child, who ends up being the most forgotten one.”

Commissioning parents are the ones who contract for the baby. María Carrillo, a professor at Pan American University in Mexico, noted: “There are homosexual couples who resort to this practice because they naturally cannot have children. There are also heterosexual couples with infertility problems, and even single people... As long as they can afford it, they can access it.”

In Mexico, the states of Tabasco and Sinaloa allow surrogacy. Carrillo noted that it also is done in other states, although illegally. The majority of those seeking Mexican women for this purpose are primarily from the United States, Spain, and Asia.

Mexico “is a country with very high poverty rates, and there are women who are truly in desperate, vulnerable situations who seek this practice as a means to support their families,” Carrillo indicated.

Argentina and Uruguay

Women who agree to become surrogates often sign contracts imposed by intermediary companies. Verónica Toller, national director of the Fight Against Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Argentina, follows these contracts closely.

“We are talking about human trafficking with contracts that [make the surrogate] absolutely subservient,” Toller said. “The Argentine justice system considers women bound by these contracts to have been reduced to servitude where there was economic violence, health-related violence, where the woman is abandoned if she loses the baby, for example, by not being responsible for her subsequent medical care.”

Sometimes, she continued, “by order of the commissioning parents, babies are selectively discarded and aborted.”

In Uruguay, surrogacy is legal under certain conditions. As Sofía Maruri, a lawyer and human rights consultant, explained: “It is permitted for women who demonstrate that they cannot become pregnant due to fertility issues and can ask a relative, such as their mother or sister, to bear a child in their place, as long as the condition is that no money is involved.”

This case is known as “altruistic” surrogacy, in which the commissioning parents must cover the surrogate’s medical and food expenses.

Tragedy of surrogacy in Ukraine

One of the countries where surrogacy is legal is Ukraine. According to data from Casablanca, the cost of surrogacy in Ukraine ranges between $60,000 and $80,000, while in the United States it can reach $150,000. Therefore, many commissioning parents seek Ukrainian women, even in the midst of the conflict there.

In poor countries, surrogate mothers typically receive between $10,000 and $20,000. They must be between 25 and 35 years old and have had at least one child previously.

Faced with the pain of couples who want to have children but cannot, specialists at the Casablanca Declaration encourage them to opt for adoption.

In 2024, during the Second Casablanca Conference in Rome, the organizers met with Pope Francis, who encouraged them to continue defending human rights.

In the United States, surrogacy is governed by laws that vary from state to state. 

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

Rome Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 06:47 am (CNA).

The town of Castel Gandolfo has said Pope Leo XIV will again partake in the centuries-long tradition of spending a summer vacation at the lakeside papal residence in the Alban Hills south of Rome.

A spokeswoman for the small town, Giulia Agostinelli, told CNA on Tuesday morning Leo will arrive sometime during the first week of July. The Vatican confirmed shortly afterward that the pope will spend July 6–20 and Aug. 15–17 in the pontifical villas at Castel Gandolfo.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household also announced that on July 13 and 20, and on Aug. 15, Leo will celebrate Mass at the local parish of Castel Gandolfo before leading the Angelus from Liberty Square in front of the main papal residence. On Aug. 17, the pontiff will also lead the Angelus before returning to the Vatican.

For most of July, the pope will not hold any private or public audiences. The Wednesday general audiences will resume on July 30.

Pope Francis in 2013 broke with the papal practice of escaping the Roman heat in Castel Gandolfo, with its extensive gardens, preferring to remain at his Vatican residence, Santa Marta, even during the summer.

Francis opted to turn the papal summer residence into a museum. It opened to the public in 2016.

The gardens of the papal residence, called the Barberini Gardens, were opened to the public in 2014 as a way to increase revenue for the town, which thrived on tourism brought by visitors who came to see the pope during his stay.

For Benedict XVI, the villa was a favorite summer getaway during his pontificate. It was conceded to the Holy See as one of their extraterritorial possessions under the Lateran Pact of 1929.

The villa served as the papal summer residence since the pontificate of Urban VIII during the 17th century. It has a small farm created by Pope Pius XI, which produces eggs, milk, oil, vegetables, and honey either for local employees or for sale in the Vatican supermarket.

This story was updated on June 17, 2025, at 8:35 a.m. ET with the confirmation of the Vatican.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Nearly 50% of adults in the U.S. have some connection to the Catholic faith, according to new data from Pew Research. 

“Catholicism’s roots in the United States run deep,” Pew stated in a new report titled “U.S. Catholicism: Connections to the Religion, Beliefs and Practices.” 

Pew reported that 47% of U.S. adults have Catholic ties: 20% identify as Catholic, 9% as “culturally Catholic,” 9% as ex-Catholic, and 9% report a connection through a Catholic parent, spouse, or past Mass attendance.

The survey, conducted Feb. 3–9 among a nationally representative sample of 9,544 U.S. adults, including 1,787 Catholics, “was designed to explore Catholic life in the United States,” the report stated. “It was completed prior to the hospitalization of Pope Francis on Feb. 14 and his death in April, and well before the conclave that elected his successor, Pope Leo XIV.” 

In addition to demographics, the survey asked what American Catholics believe is most essential to their identity, listing 14 items and asking them to rate them as “essential,” “important but not essential,” or “not important” to their Catholic identity.

The large majority of respondents, 69%, said “having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” was essential to being Catholic. 

The second item most commonly selected as essential was “devotion to the Virgin Mary” at 50%. “Working to help the poor and needy” came in third at 47%, and 46% selected “receiving the Eucharist.”

Getting married in the Church, opposing abortion, caring for migrants, papal primacy, going on pilgrimages, and celebrating feast days were also among 14 items concerning belief and identity that Pew asked respondents to rank.

The survey found that overall, about 3 in 10 Catholic participants surveyed attend Mass weekly. Compared with those who do not attend Mass regularly, those who do were more likely to affirm that all 14 items in the survey were essential to their practice of the Catholic faith.

According to Pew, only “some” of the 20% who identified as Catholic are “deeply observant,” with about 13% saying they pray daily, attend Mass at least weekly, and go to confession at least once per year. Alternately, 13% said they “seldom or never” pray, attend Mass, or go to confession.

“The largest share of Catholics (74%) fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum of observance. They may pray. They may attend Mass. They may go to confession. But they don’t regularly do all three,” Pew noted.

Although popes had opted to take their summer vacations at Castel Gandolfo since the early 1600s, Pope Francis famous opted not to, preferring to remain instead in his residence at the Casa Santa Marta on Vatican grounds during his July breaks.

Speaking to a group of bishops, Pope Leo XIV warned about the challenges being created by artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and social media In today’s world.

A recent report by the FAO and WFP reveal that conflict is the main driver behind the hunger crisis in a number of countries.

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Pope Leo XIV will spend half of July and a weekend in August at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, celebrating Sunday Mass in local churches and praying the Angelus with pilgrims in the town's Liberty Square.

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An editorial for the Nigerian Catholic Network, written by Church authorities at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja, has commended Pope Leo XIV for his prompt message, “condemning the evil visited on the people and praying for their souls.” According to the editorial, the Nigerian Church appreciates the Pope’s closeness to Nigeria over the killings in Benue State. They, however, sharply criticised the silence, inaction, and how Nigerian authorities often handle these matters.

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Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See has defended the country’s new military offensive in Iran as a service to peace and security, and said the pope can be an “influential” moral voice in advocating for justice and nuclear disarmament in the region.