Vatican City, Oct 27, 2025 / 17:49 pm (CNA).

In separate audiences on Monday, Pope Leo XIV received two political leaders with very different views on the migration issue. In the morning, he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and in the afternoon he met with Magnus Brunner, European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration.

Orbán maintains a restrictionist stance on migration and has repeatedly criticized the migrant redistribution policies promoted by the European Union. For his part, Brunner defends a common migration policy and supports the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, an agreement the Hungarian leader firmly rejects.

Orbán arrived promptly at 9 a.m. at the Courtyard of San Damaso in the Apostolic Palace for his first official meeting with the Holy Father. He later 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.

The Vatican did not provide details on the content of the private audience with the pope nor did it specify whether the migration issue was among the topics discussed. For his part, the Hungarian prime minister stated on his X account that he requested the pope’s support in his country’s efforts for peace.

During the meeting at the Secretariat of State, the strong bilateral relations and appreciation for the Catholic Church’s commitment to promoting social development and the well-being of the Hungarian community were highlighted.

According to the Vatican, special attention was paid to the role of the family and the formation and future of young people as well as the importance of protecting the most vulnerable Christian communities.

The discussions also addressed European issues, especially the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.

Last Thursday, during his meeting with delegates from popular movements, Pope Leo XIV defended each state’s right and duty to protect its borders, which he said must be balanced with “the moral obligation to provide refuge” and warned against “inhumane” measures that treat migrants as if they were “garbage.”

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

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2025 / 17:08 pm (CNA).

Russian President Vladimir Putin is voicing concern about the ongoing internal problem of “falling birth rates” in his own country and suggesting state action to address the issue.

Putin said in an Oct. 23 meeting with the Council for the Implementation of State Demographic and Family Policy that drops in birth rates have become “a global trend and a global challenge in the modern world” that is especially affecting economically developed countries, “and Russia is unfortunately no exception.”

Russia, he noted, has had “demographic pitfalls” from losses in World War II and problems that coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Though he did not mention the ongoing war with Ukraine, Russia has also lost between 137,000 and 228,000 soldiers in the war approaching its fourth year, according to an analysis by The Economist.

Putin said some countries respond to falling birth rates with “uncontrolled, and even chaotic migration to replace the native population” but that Russia’s approach would be different.

“Our choice is unequivocal,” the president said. “We support the family as the fundamental basis of Russian society and aim to protect and preserve genuine family values and traditions, which have united and strengthened our country for centuries.”

The country’s fertility rate is less than 1.5 children per woman — which is far less than the 2.1 births per woman that’s needed to simply maintain a nation’s population. It’s less than half of what Putin sees as his ideal, which is that “families with three or more children should be seen as a standard and natural way of life in our country.”

Russia is the ninth most populous country in the world, but it has dropped from 147.6 million people in 1990 to about 146.1 million today, according to The Independent. The latter number includes 2 million people gained from the annexation and occupation of Crimea.

Putin said “no pressure should be exerted” to force couples to have children, because it is “a private and personal matter.” Yet, he said Russia should ensure young people “would sincerely aspire to a happy motherhood, would aim to effectively raise their children, and that they would feel confident that the state will support them whenever necessary.”

“It is now very important … to promote and uphold the internal attitude that I have mentioned … so that the desire to create a family, to marry and to have many children becomes prevalent in the public mentality,” Putin said.

State solutions to incentivize families

Putin sees the government as an essential partner in addressing the falling birth rates. He noted Russia’s low-interest mortgages and flat-rate benefits for low-income families and an initiative scheduled for early next year to reduce income tax for low-income families raising at least two children.

Another concern Putin noted is that young people postpone starting families when they focus on studying or their early career. He said young people should “not have to choose one path over another” and highlighted the country’s increase in pregnancy and childbirth benefits for full-time students, along with some universities offering day care. 

“Fatherhood and motherhood are a source of joy, and there is no need to postpone happiness,” Putin said. “That is what truly matters.”

Putin noted that housing expansions and better infrastructure are also needed, along with the promotion of “fundamental value-based attitudes” and engagement with cultural figures and the mass media.

Concerns of Orthodox and Catholic leaders

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has similarly expressed concerns about the declining birth rates in the country. Last year, he highlighted the “tragedy” of abortion as a contributing factor.

Putin did not mention abortion at last week’s meeting. In Russia, elective abortion is legal up to the 12th week of pregnancy, but the government has banned promoting “child-free propaganda,” and many regions have banned people from pressuring women to have abortions.

Last year, Kirill sent letters to encourage women early in their pregnancies to carry their unborn children until birth. He wished them “good health, peace of mind, and many blessings from Christ, the giver of life” and discussed the blessing of children.

Earlier this month, Pope Leo XIV expressed concern about declining birth rates in Italy when he met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. He urged a “concerted effort” to promote family and protect life “in all its phases.”

“In particular, I wish to emphasize the importance of guaranteeing all families the indispensable support of dignified work, in fair conditions and with due attention to the needs related to motherhood and fatherhood,” Leo said. “Let us do everything possible to give confidence to families — especially young families — so that they may look to the future with serenity and grow in harmony.”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2025 / 15:53 pm (CNA).

The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is launching a new Bible study program to help Catholics prepare for the Advent and Christmas seasons. 

The Bible study, titled “Bible Across America,” is set to begin Nov. 5 and aims to gather Catholics “around God’s Word to prayerfully study Scripture, grow in discipleship, and build one another up in the Lord,” the organization announced. The course represents the latest addition to the St. Paul Center, whose offerings include online courses, academic books on Scripture and theology, and in-person events for clergy and laity across the country.

Based in Steubenville, Ohio, the St. Paul Center is an independent, nonprofit research and educational institution dedicated, according to its website, to promoting “life-transforming Scripture study from the heart of the Church” and through its programming seeks “to raise up a new generation of priests who are fluent in the Bible and laypeople who are biblically literate.”

The initiative builds on the center’s previous “Journey Through Scripture” video Bible studies, which have as their goal empowering “Catholics and Christians across North America to experience an ‘Emmaus moment,’ encountering Christ in the pages of sacred Scripture and through the doctrine of the Catholic Church.”

In preparation for Advent and Christmas, the new course will help Catholics understand “who Christ is as ‘Teacher and Lord’ (Jn 13:13).” The Bible study will include seven weekly sessions starting Nov. 5 that will each focus on a different theme including the Infancy Narratives, exorcisms, the Sermon on the Mount, the healing of the synagogue ruler’s daughter, Martha and Mary, the Lost Sheep and Luke 15, and the Transfiguration of Jesus. 

The center’s “Bible Across America” initiative is billing itself as “a nationwide Catholic Bible movement,” encouraging Catholics to create and organize Bible study groups with their families, friends, or fellow parishioners. Leaders can register with St. Paul Center to receive a guide to help conduct discussions with their groups. Use of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, which was released last year and whose general editor is St. Paul Center founder Scott Hahn, is also being promoted as part of the initiative.

As “Bible Across America” is expected to simultaneously welcome thousands of participants, St. Paul Center anticipated it will be the “largest Bible study” in the United States. The organization is working in partnership with other Catholic organizations on the project, including Hallow, FOCUS, and Mount St. Mary’s University. The sessions are slated to include insights from Benedictine Father Boniface Hicks, Heather Khym, Shane Owens, Katie McGrady, and Alex Jones, the CEO of Hallow.

“By witnessing the transformative power of studying Scripture in community, ‘Bible Across America’ will inspire Catholics across the nation to introduce communal Scripture study in their own homes and parishes,” the center noted.

Vatican City, Oct 27, 2025 / 15:23 pm (CNA).

A small delegation from Kazakhstan has brought to the Vatican two sealed boxes containing more than 30 pounds of documents, testimonies, and accounts of miracles for the cause of Servant of God Gertrude Detzel — a laywoman who kept the Catholic faith alive through decades of Soviet persecution. The materials, delivered to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints on Oct. 21, mark the start of the Roman phase of the cause of the first laywoman from Central Asia to reach Rome.

“It was a very warm welcome,” said Auxiliary Bishop Yevgeny Zinkovskiy of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, who accompanied the dossier to Rome as notary of the diocesan process. “Amid so many causes, it was moving to see how our distant story from Kazakhstan was received with open arms. The universal Church has now welcomed Gertrude — we have placed her in its hands.”

Detzel, born in 1903 into a family of ethnic Germans in the Caucasus region of Russia, was deported to Kazakhstan during Stalin’s regime. She endured forced-labor camps — sent there because of her ethnicity — but would be imprisoned again later for another reason: her missionary zeal in spreading the faith.

“Even in prison, she couldn’t stop speaking about God,” said Bishop Joseph Werth, who was born in Karaganda and personally knew Detzel before serving as bishop in Novosibirsk, Russia. “When Stalin died and the time came to release prisoners, the guards reportedly said, ‘Let her go first — otherwise she will convert everyone here.’ That was the impression she left — she could not help but evangelize.”

After more than a decade of forced labor and imprisonment — including four years in Soviet prison for her faith — Detzel settled in Karaganda in 1956, drawn by its strong Catholic community. “She didn’t think about where she could live better,” said Bishop Adelio Dell’Oro, who oversaw the diocesan phase of her cause in Karaganda. “She thought about where she could serve — she wanted to be where there was a Catholic community.”

Even as a child, Detzel’s life revolved around faith. Werth recalled: “When she was little, Gertrude was sad that she’d been born a girl and couldn’t become a priest. The priest told her, ‘One day you will understand.’ And indeed — thanks to her, the flame of faith remained alive in the camps and later in Karaganda.”

As an adult, Detzel became a catechist and leader among the faithful — baptizing children, preparing them for the sacraments, and leading prayers when priests were absent. Each gathering carried risk; discovery could mean another arrest.

“She formed a whole generation of believers — not only laypeople but also priests and consecrated men and women,” Werth said. “I myself was taught the faith by her.”

For Dell’Oro, Detzel’s story carries a message beyond Kazakhstan.

“During the Soviet regime, people were forced to live as if God did not exist,” he said. “Today, no one forbids us to believe — yet we often live as if God does not matter. Gertrude reminds us that faith must again become the center of life — in persecution or in freedom alike.”

Interest in Detzel’s holiness first surfaced during the bishops of Central Asia’s “ad limina” visit to Rome in 2019, when Pope Francis urged them to preserve the memory of those who kept the faith alive “in silence and suffering.” Her cause was opened in Saratov, Russia, in January 2020 under Bishop Clemens Pickel and transferred to Karaganda in August 2021, 50 years after her death in 1971.

The diocesan inquiry concluded earlier this year after collecting testimonies from across Kazakhstan, Russia, and Germany. 

Many witnesses were already advanced in age, making the gathering of reliable evidence a race against time. Even so, about 25 depositions were recorded — including those of Werth and several religious and laypeople who had known Detzel personally. 

Dell’Oro said the research team even gained access to the presidential archive in Almaty, where they located and photographed Detzel’s personal case file, confirming the years of imprisonment she endured for her faith.

“Each document felt like a small resurrection of memory,” he said. “It was as if the truth about her life was finally allowed to speak.”

Though no religious communities existed in Kazakhstan at the time, Detzel lived her vocation as a consecrated laywoman. Before her deportation, she is believed to have made private vows, later joining the Franciscan Third Order under Servant of God Bishop Alexander Chira — the underground bishop who also suffered exile in Karaganda. When her remains were exhumed, a ring and wreath were found — signs of a hidden consecration and of a life offered entirely to God as a consecrated virgin.

According to Werth, Detzel led Sunday Liturgies of the Word when priests were absent — proclaiming Scripture, offering brief reflections, and preparing children and adults for the sacraments. When priests could pass through secretly, Dell’Oro noted, they entrusted her with the Eucharist to bring to the faithful who could not be reached openly.

Her home became a refuge for believers — a place of prayer and catechesis. Only as a laywoman could she have entered homes and sustained families in faith when priests could not.

“She didn’t try to replace priests,” Dell’Oro said. “But when they were absent, she did what was needed.”

“Gertrude formed consciences,” Werth added. “She taught us that holiness begins with fidelity in small things — and from that, everything else flows.”

The spiritual fruit of Detzel’s witness continues to grow in the Church — among priests, religious, and laypeople whose vocations were shaped by her example.

On Dec. 22, 1989, the Supreme Court of the Kazakh SSR officially rehabilitated her, acknowledging that she had committed no crime. Not long after, the Soviet system that had tried to silence the faith collapsed, and Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty on Oct. 25, 1990 — a moment now marked each year as Republic Day. This year marks 35 years since that declaration.

Her cause is now in Rome under the postulation of Father Zdzisław Kijas, OFM Conv, who has guided major causes, including those of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and the Ulma family.

Vatican City, Oct 27, 2025 / 14:53 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV urged university students on Monday to feed their “hunger for truth and meaning,” lamenting that modern education often loses sight of the “big picture.” 

“Today we have become experts in the smallest details of reality, but we have lost the capacity of seeing the big picture again, a vision that holds things together through a greater and deeper meaning,” Pope Leo XIV said. “Christian experience, on the other hand, wants to teach us to look at life and reality with a unified gaze.”

The pope presided over a Mass for students from Rome’s pontifical universities on Oct. 27, marking both the start of the academic year and the opening day of the Jubilee of the World of Education, a weeklong celebration that runs through Nov. 1 as part of the Jubilee of Hope. 

The jubilee highlights the global reach of Catholic education with more than 231,000 schools and universities in 171 countries serving nearly 72 million students worldwide, according to the Vatican. 

Pope Leo described education as “a true act of charity.” He said: “Feeding the hunger for truth and meaning is a necessary task because without truth and authentic meaning one can fall into emptiness.”  

“What we receive as we seek the truth and engage in study, therefore, helps us discover that we are not creatures thrown into the world by chance but that we belong to someone who loves us and has a plan of love for our lives,” the pope added.

A pontifical university is a Catholic university under the authority of the Vatican. In Rome, several such universities, including the Jesuit-run Gregorian University and the Dominican University of St. Thomas Aquinas, educate seminarians, priests, religious sisters, and Catholic lay students from around the world in theology, philosophy, canon law, and other disciplines.

In his homily, Pope Leo XIV encouraged students and educators to integrate their intellectual work with their spiritual lives.

“Looking at the example of men and women such as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Ávila, Edith Stein, and many others … we too are called to carry on intellectual work and the search for truth without separating them from life,” he said.

“It is important to cultivate this unity so that what happens in university classrooms … becomes a reality capable of transforming life and helps us to deepen our relationship with Christ, to understand better the mystery of the Church, and makes us bold witnesses of the Gospel in society.”

Pope Leo also told the university students that the truth found in Christ can free us from self-absorption.

“When human beings are incapable of seeing beyond themselves, beyond their own experiences, ideas, and convictions, beyond their own projects, then they remain imprisoned, enslaved, and incapable of forming mature judgments,” he said.

“Yet, in reality, many of the things that truly matter in life — we might say, the most fundamental things — do not come from ourselves; we receive them from others. They come to us through our teachers, encounters, and life experiences. This is an experience of grace, for it heals us from self-absorption … This especially happens when we encounter Christ in our lives.”

“Those who study are ‘lifted up,’ broadening their horizons and perspectives in order to recover a vision that does not look downward but is capable of looking upward: toward God, others, and the mystery of life.” Pope Leo XIV said. “This is the grace of the student, the researcher, the scholar.”

As part of the Jubilee of the World of Education, Pope Leo XIV will meet with students on Thursday and with educators on Friday. The jubilee will conclude on Saturday, when the pope will declare St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church.

Pope Leo XIV will also designate Newman as a co-patron saint of Catholic education alongside St. Thomas Aquinas in a document to be published Oct. 28, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on Christian education.

CNA Staff, Oct 27, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will name St. John Henry Newman a patron saint of Catholic education in a document to be published on Oct. 28 for the 60th anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on Christian education.

He will become an official co-patron saint of education, alongside St. Thomas Aquinas, during the Vatican’s Jubilee of the World of Education from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1. He will also be declared a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo at the jubilee’s closing Mass on Nov. 1, the solemnity of All Saints.

Newman will join a list of several other Catholic saints considered patrons of other aspects of education. Get to know them here:

St. Thomas Aquinas

A scholar and doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the Catholic Church’s greatest theologians and philosophers. He is the patron saint of Catholic colleges and universities, teachers, philosophers, theologians, and students. 

St. Albert the Great

A teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great was a provincial of the Dominican order and is also a doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of science students due to his belief that science and faith are compatible.

St. Joseph of Cupertino 

A Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Joseph of Cupertino was an Italian mystic who was known for struggling with his studies. He is a patron saint of students, especially those preparing to take exams.

St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle 

St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a patron saint of teachers.

St. Scholastica

St. Scholastica is the foundress of the women’s branch of Benedictine monasticism, which focuses on prayer, work, and study. Her name also means “scholar.” Therefore, she is a patron saint of education.

St. Francis de Sales

Known for his influential writings on spiritual direction and formation, St. Francis de Sales is the patron saint of writers, journalists, the Catholic press, and educators.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is considered the foundress of the Catholic school system in the United States, making her a patron of Catholic schools. In 1810, she opened the first Catholic girls school in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It was also here where she founded the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity.

St. John Neumann

A member of the Redemptorist order, St. John Neumann was the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. While he was there, he founded the first Catholic diocesan school in the United States, which made him a patron saint of Catholic education.

St. Gemma Galgani 

St. Gemma Galgani is considered a patron saint of students because she was an exceptional and diligent student who excelled in her education despite her fragile health.

St. Catherine of Alexandria

A fourth-century noblewoman and scholar, St. Catherine of Alexandria is a patron saint of students, teachers, and librarians due to her incredible skills in debate, which led to many conversions among pagan philosophers.

Vatican City, Oct 27, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on Monday released the full program for Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey, which will take him to Turkey and Lebanon from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2.

The trip will center on two key moments: a pilgrimage to İznik (ancient Nicaea) to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea and a visit to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf in Lebanon.

The Council of Nicaea, convened in 325 by Emperor Constantine, was a turning point in Christian history. It produced the original formulation of the Nicene Creed — later adopted as the universal profession of faith — and set out to unify the date of Easter across the Church.

Turkey: Honoring Christian unity and dialogue

The pope will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on Thursday, Nov. 27, arriving in Ankara at midday. Following an official welcome, he will visit the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, and meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and members of civil society and the diplomatic corps.

That evening, he will travel to Istanbul.

On Friday, Nov. 28, the Holy Father will begin the day with prayer alongside bishops, priests, deacons, and pastoral workers at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. Later, he will visit a home for the elderly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.

In the afternoon, he will travel by helicopter to İznik for an ecumenical prayer gathering near the ruins of the ancient Basilica of St. Neophytus, recalling the First Council of Nicaea, which affirmed Christ as “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”

Back in Istanbul that evening, the pope will meet privately with the country’s bishops.

Saturday’s schedule includes visits to the Blue Mosque and the nearby Hagia Sophia, symbols of interreligious dialogue and Christian heritage. He will meet privately with leaders of other Christian Churches at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem, then join Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I for a doxology and the signing of a joint declaration at the Patriarchal Church of St. George.

The day will conclude with Mass at the Volkswagen Arena, where the pope will deliver his homily.

Lebanon: Prayer at St. Charbel’s tomb and solidarity with a wounded nation

On Sunday, Nov. 30, the pope will visit the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul before departing for Beirut. There he will be welcomed by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun — elected in January after more than two years of political stalemate — and meet with other national leaders.

Lebanon’s confessional political system, established by the 1943 National Pact and reaffirmed in the 1989 Taif Agreement, reserves the presidency for a Maronite Christian, the premiership for a Sunni Muslim, and the parliamentary speakership for a Shiite Muslim.

On Monday, Dec. 1, Pope Leo will travel to Annaya to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf, the 19th-century Maronite monk venerated for his holiness and miracles. Later that morning, he will meet with clergy and pastoral workers at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa and with the Catholic patriarchs at the apostolic nunciature.

That afternoon, he will join an ecumenical and interreligious gathering in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square and meet with young people outside the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké.

The final day of the trip, Tuesday, Dec. 2, will begin with a visit to De la Croix Hospital in Jal ed Dib, followed by a moment of silent prayer at Beirut’s port, the site of the devastating 2020 explosion.

Pope Leo will celebrate the closing Mass of his journey at the Beirut Waterfront before returning to Rome, where he is scheduled to arrive at 4:10 p.m. local time.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

About three-fourths of states scored less than 50% on Napa Legal Institute’s religious freedom index, which measures how well states safeguard religious liberty for faith-based organizations.

The “2025 Religious Freedom Percentage” was part of Napa’s Faith & Freedom Index published Oct. 27. Napa Legal Institute is an organization that assists faith-based nonprofits with legal compliance. 

Alabama scored highest, and Michigan scored lowest.

The report measures a state’s religious liberty in several ways, such as whether faith-based organizations have access to the same public programs and funds as nonreligious groups, whether the state has adopted stronger protections than guaranteed by the First Amendment, and whether employers can operate their organizations consistent with their religious beliefs.

It also considers whether the states protect the free exercise of religion under normal conditions and under a state of emergency such as when states restricted access to religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most states had subpar scores, with about three-fourths failing to reach the 50% mark. Six states scored below the 30% mark, and another 19 states and Washington, D.C., were below 40%. An additional 13 states had scores below 50%. 

Seven states scored between 50% and 60% and another three states scored between 60% and 70%. Only two states scored higher than 70%: Kansas at 79% and Alabama at 86%.

“Faith-based organizations must be free to manage their internal affairs in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs and in ways that further their religious mission,” the report stated.

‘Worst’ states for religious liberty

The worst state for religious freedom was Michigan, which scored 22%, according to Napa. The Great Lakes state was closely followed by Delaware at 25%, Washington at 26%, Maryland at 27%, and Nevada and Hawaii at 29%.

Napa’s report called Michigan “one of the worst places to operate faith-based nonprofits in the United States.” The report cited reasons such as not exempting religious employers from nondiscrimination laws that might implicate their faith and unequal access to public programs and benefits.

In Delaware, religious employers have some protection from nondiscrimination laws implicating faith issues, but not in all situations. The state also does not adequately ensure equal access to public programs and funds, the report said.

For Washington, the report expressed concern about limited freedom for religious employers and unequal access to public programs and funds. In Maryland, the report notes a burdensome audit requirement to keep a charitable tax status and a lack of nondiscrimination exemptions.

“Laws have been enacted that impose restrictions on the religious freedom of nonprofits that serve the public,” the report notes, in reference to low-scoring states. “Such laws threaten to exclude faith-based institutions from the marketplace of charitable services and limit the access of vulnerable populations to needed services.”

Alabama ranks first

Alabama received, by far, the best score at 86%, and the report considers it “one of the best places to operate a faith-based nonprofit in the United States.”

The report said Alabama adopted a constitutional amendment to build on the religious liberty protections of the First Amendment. The state provides exemptions to nondiscrimination laws when faith is implicated and allows equal access to public programs. Still, the report noted a key concern: the Blaine Amendment, which restricts access to public funds.

In Kansas, which scored 79%; Mississippi, which scored 67%; and Georgia, which scored 67%, the states provide exemptions for nondiscrimination laws when faith is implicated and ensure access to public programs. However, they all lack proper access to public funds and have mixed scores on free exercise protections, the report said.

Other states ranking highly in Napa’s report included Florida at 63%, and New Hampshire and Indiana at 59%.

“Even in states with cultures friendly to religious organizations, it is worthwhile to identify areas where there is room to improve the states’ friendliness to faith-based organizations by passing more favorable laws,” the report notes.

Vatican City, Oct 27, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV drew laughter and applause on Oct. 24 when he recalled asking his mother in the 1970s whether she wanted equality with men. “No,” she replied, “because we’re already better.”

The pope shared the memory during a discussion on the role of women in the Church at the opening of the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, a three-day gathering for representatives involved in implementing the global synodal process.

The story, he explained, came from a time when debates about equality between men and women were just beginning to take hold in his native United States. His mother’s response, he said, was not a joke but an affirmation of women’s distinctive gifts. “There are many gifts that women have,” he added, recalling their vital roles in family and parish life.

Pope Leo then described a community of sisters in Peru whose charism is to serve where there are no priests. “They baptize, assist at marriages, and carry out a wonderful missionary work that is a testimony even for many priests,” he said.

But the pope warned that in many parts of the world, cultural barriers still prevent women from exercising their rightful roles.

“Not all bishops or priests want to allow women to exercise what could very well be their role,” he said. “There are cultures where women still suffer as if they were second-class citizens.”

The task of the Church, he added, is to help transform those cultures “according to the values of the Gospel,” so that discrimination can be eliminated and “the gifts and charisms of every person are respected and valued.”

Turning to the wider synodal process, the pope insisted that synodality “is not a campaign, it is a way of being and a way of being for the Church.” He said the goal is not to impose a “uniform model” but to foster a spirit of conversion and communion through listening and mission.

Responding to questions from representatives of the Church in Africa, Oceania, and North America, Pope Leo emphasized the importance of patience and formation.

“Not all things move at the same rhythm or speed,” he said. “Oftentimes, the resistances come out of fear and lack of knowledge.” Without proper formation, he warned, “there are going to be resistances and a lack of understanding.”

On the environment, he called for courage in responding to the “cry of the earth,” urging Catholics not to remain passive but to “raise our voice to change the world and make it a better place.”

Pope Leo XIV signs an Apostolic Letter to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis before presiding over Holy Mass for the Jubilee of the World of Education.

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