Pope Leo highlights the grave humanitarian crisis in eastern DR Congo, where violence has forced many to flee, and expresses solidarity with those affected by extreme weather in southern Africa.

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During his Angelus address this Sunday in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV calls on Christians to remain vigilant, to focus on what is essential, and to never forget how precious we are in God's eyes.

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As the Church marks the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Edmund Power reflects on the theme: ‘A light to the nations’.

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Sunday, January 18, 2026 | Second Sunday in Ordinary Time |  John 1:29-34 Friends, in our Gospel today, John the Baptist gives witness to the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ baptism. Baptism is the moment when the Holy...

Jan 17, 2026 / 11:00 am (CNA).

Father Travis Moger has been a Catholic priest for just nine months, and his journey to ordination was a unique one. A former Baptist pastor and Navy chaplain, he was ordained in May 2025 in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, seven years after he, his wife, and his son entered the Catholic Church.

“I didn’t come into the Church in order to be a priest; God used prayer to draw me to the Catholic Church,” Moger told EWTN News reporter Julia Convery.

During a military campaign as a Navy chaplain, Moger; his wife, Amelia; and his son, Mark, all separately began to feel the call toward Catholicism. While Moger was away, his wife had begun attending RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which is now called OCIA — the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults).

Father Thomas Falkenthal, Moger’s former Navy chaplain supervisor, witnessed the seeds being planted in Moger’s heart.

“He was connecting with the liturgy. The Catholic Mass was certainly far from his tradition. I could tell it was touching him,” Falkenthal shared with Convery.

“He didn’t realize it, but all the way back home in the United States his wife, Amelia, was going to RCIA and preparing to join the Catholic Church. So when he came home from that deployment, they both had something to share with each other. Now I think that’s an amazing movement of the Spirit to keep that couple so close," Falkenthal said.

“It was definitely a God thing definitely to draw her towards the Catholic Church,” Moger added.

After a five-year journey of study and conversion, Moger, his wife, and his son were received into the Catholic Church on Easter Sunday 2018.

“I entered the Church not knowing if there would be a path to the priesthood for me,” Moger shared.

Bishop Mark Brennan of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston explained that Pope Francis eventually granted Moger a dispensation from the usual requirement of celibacy for the Catholic priesthood, allowing him to be ordained a priest.

The bishop also pointed out that he believes having a desire for a family is a trait that makes a good priest.

“When I was a vocations director, I always looked for would this man make a good husband and father? If he would, then he’d probably make a good priest,” Brennan said.

Moger also highlighted this trait as one that allows him to have a unique perspective into his now-spiritual fatherhood.

“There’s something about being able to bring a child into the world and then nurture them and you’re fully invested in another person. And I think that experience does inform the way you look at spiritual fatherhood and the way you look at God’s fatherhood,” Moger said.

Moger’s son, Mark, told EWTN News that his father’s newly found spiritual fatherhood has brought a “deeper spirituality” into their family.

Maddy Cordle, Moger’s daughter, added: “I’ve had the privilege of watching his conversion from the beginning — same with my mom and my brother —and I just got to watch how it brought them so much closer to each other in their marriage, together as a family, but also really, really strengthened their relationship with God.”

“To him there’s nothing more important than the impoverished and the cast aside. That’s his charism and you’ll see it throughout his ministry,” Mark added.

Despite his unconventional journey to the priesthood, Moger sees it as the result of saying “yes” to God.

“God honors it when we start moving in the direction that he’s leading us, trusting that he’s going to work it out,” he said.

Jan 17, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Francis Rooney, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, said Pope Leo XIV’s papacy marks a period of opportunity for the Church in the U.S. in an interview this week with “EWTN News In Depth.”

The former diplomat and congressman highlighted Leo’s measured approach to diplomacy in light of U.S. involvement in Venezuela. “He’s always calm, he’s always careful, and he’s very judicious in his comments," Rooney said in a report that aired Jan. 16.

“The Holy See has a long tradition of intervening in hostage situations and situations of marginalized people or people under great stress and change, like a regime change,” Rooney said.

The Vatican’s move to host opposition leader María Corina Machado this week, he said, likely had diplomatic intentions to strengthen her standing.

“I think it’s predictable that [Pope Leo XIV] would want to shore up her position on the international stage as well as he can,” Rooney said. “So a pre-Trump meeting with the Holy Father is a global expression of her importance right now.”

Reacting to a speech by Pope Leo to diplomats at the Vatican, during which the Holy Father lamented that “peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good,” Rooney pointed out that while Leo does not do so in the same manner as Pope Francis, “he speaks very clearly and says a lot of the same things.”

“[Leo’s] willing to call out bad activities by world leaders. He’s willing to call out the actions of Trump undermining the post-World War II order and creating potential consequences of bad actions by other people like North Korea, Russia, China,” he said, adding: “He’s not at all like Pope Francis. He’s calm, deliberate.”

Rooney served as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 to 2008. He was a Republican member of the U.S. House from Florida from 2017 to 2021.

“The Church has a love-hate relationship with the United States. They resent our power, but they love our money, and they love our number of Catholics in the United States,” he said. “So this is an opportunity for Pope Leo to close that gap, earn more respect for the United States for the important role it plays in the Church, and also in Latin America.”

U.S. President Donald Trump met with Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Jan. 12. Rooney, whose congressional Florida district included Fort Myers and Naples, speculated the closed meeting likely revolved around immigration.

“We have Alligator Alcatraz down here near where we live, and a lot of migrants are being kicked out of the country who have no criminal record,” Rooney said. “I think most Americans would agree that we need workers. If theyve been living here a long time, some of their kids have gone to school with our kids, they should be able to stay and have an orderly rational plan for citizenship like President George W. Bush tried to accomplish but didn’t get it done.”

“On the other hand, if they’re criminals, they should go. I don’t think anybody would argue that we shouldn’t police the border and have a strong border,” he said, concluding that Coakley and the president likely “spoke about that a great deal.”

Today, January 17, 2026, is the Memorial of St. Anthony of the Desert (our parish patron saint).  Attached below is an article from a recent issue of The  Word Among Us regarding St. Anthony.  This article is being shared with...

Jan 17, 2026 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Catholic clergy and lay people reported a stronger devotion to the Eucharist after the National Eucharistic Revival.

This week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released the report for the National Eucharistic Revival Impact Study. Done in collaboration with the National Eucharistic Congress corporation and Vinea Research, the study surveyed nearly 2,500 lay Catholics, clergy, and Church staff during the summer and fall of 2025.

The online survey asked questions about revival promotion, participation, and impact one year after the initial National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress. The price tag of the Eucharistic congress was more than $10 million, organizers said.

“Never in my tenure of working for the Church have I seen such deep impact,” said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress, in a press release. “The fruits of the National Eucharistic Revival are real, lasting, and will continue to shape the life of the American Church for years to come.”

The revival, sponsored by the USCCB, launched in June 2022 with the mission to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist.”

The three-year initiative, which concluded in 2025, included the 10th National Eucharistic Congress and the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in 2024 and 2025.

In a Jan. 16 interview on “EWTN News In Depth,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens, chair of the National Eucharistic Congress, said he was “extremely heartened” by the results of the study.

“I had a sense that the revival had a big impact on people and especially on our Church,” he said. “But it was great to see that confirmed by the data and to see some of the actual statistics.”

Impact on clergy members

Of 249 clergy members of priests and deacons surveyed, 49% reported feeling “more encouraged’ since the revival began. Specifically, 38% said they feel “somewhat more encouraged” and 11% said they feel “significantly more encouraged.”

Nearly half, 48%, said they feel “more comfortable encouraging others to share their faith.”

The research found the revival “refocused clergy on the Eucharist,” with the majority reporting changes to their pastoral approach since 2021. The report found that 70% of clergy reported a stronger “focus on the Eucharist in teaching [and] ministry,” and 69% said they have a stronger “emphasis on evangelization and outreach.”

Clergy also reported personal advancements with their relationship with the Eucharist. More than half (51%) said their “time spent in personal adoration” is stronger now than it was in 2021.

“I was so grateful when I saw that priests found it encouraging. They were encouraged by this opportunity to focus on the Eucharist,” Cozzens said. “I know so much more preaching and encouragement about Eucharistic devotion happened in our parishes during this time.”

“If our priests are encouraged and they’re drawing closer to Jesus in the Eucharist, that’s going to help our people so much, and it’s going to help our Church so much,” he said.

Impact on lay Catholics

Among 1,758 of the lay Catholics surveyed, 874 were labeled as “national participants” who attended the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, National Eucharistic Congress, or both.

“We wanted Catholics to come together and to experience more deeply a profound love for Jesus in the Eucharist, and then from that, to be sent out on mission,” Cozzens said. The study “showed that anyone who attended one of our National Eucharistic Pilgrimages or National Eucharistic Congress said they were 50% more likely to do outreach, to share their faith, to do some act of service.”

“I think the thing that most stood out to me is that we accomplished our goal,” he said. “Our goal was really to bring about a missionary conversion of Catholics.”

Another 425 of lay Catholics were “local participants” who took part in local processions, small groups, and revival-specific Holy Hours. Most (83%) of the laypeople surveyed who participated at the national or local level said their “overall level of faith” is stronger now than it was in 2021.

The other 459 laypeople surveyed were “nonparticipating contacts” who did not participate in any revival activities. Most came from the USCCB’s newsletter distribution list and they were aware of the revival but not involved. Even though they did not directly participate, 79% reported their “overall level of faith” was stronger following the revival.

When asked to compare their faith practices with those in 2021, lay Catholics overwhelmingly reported praying more, attending adoration more frequently, and going to confession more often.

The research took a deeper look at how lay Catholics’ faith evolved, examining the changes in the level of “importance” of faith-related activities over the last three years. The greatest growth in importance was observed in volunteering and spending time in Eucharistic adoration.

In 2021, 57% of lay national participants reported “spending quiet time in Eucharistic adoration” was “very important” or “extremely important” to them. Following the revival, the number had jumped to 76%. There was also an increase for local participants with a rise from 65% to 82%. Among those who did not directly participate, there was the largest increase from 49% to 69%.

Continuing to spread the ‘fire’

The bishops have confirmed that the country’s second National Eucharistic Congress of the 21st century will take place in 2029.

“As we continue to strengthen the core of our faith and those people who are committed, and they begin to draw closer to Jesus from Eucharist, what the study showed is that they get on fire, and then they start to spread that fire,” he said.

“It’s the way Jesus worked himself. Jesus certainly did preach to crowds, but most of the time he spent with his 12 apostles and with those people who were with him. Because if he could convert and strengthen them, then they could go out and convert the world,” he said.

“I think that’s really the goal of the whole Eucharistic movement that we have now is strengthening those people so that they can become the witnesses that we’re called to be,” he said.

Jan 17, 2026 / 08:16 am (CNA).

Abortions in England and Wales hit a record high as use of the abortion pill continues to rise.

The number of abortions jumped 11% from 2022 to 2023, going from 250,000 to 270,000 according to figures from the Department of Health.

Almost 90% of these abortions were done via abortion pills, and most were performed on very young unborn children, usually aged two to nine weeks. Surgical abortions have been decreasing for the past two decades, according to the Department of Health

The abortion rate is estimated to be at 12.3 per 1,000 women in 2023, almost doubling the 2013 rate, which was 7.1 per 1,000 women. About 40% of women who had abortions in 2023 in England and Wales had already had an abortion in the past.

Pregnancy support line takes 1.3 million calls in 2025

Heartbeat International’s pregnancy support helpline broke records with 1.3 million calls in 2025, according to a recent report by the group.

The Option Line tripled the number of calls it received in 2025 --- calls which, more than 90% of the time, come from men and women who are at risk for abortion, according to the organization.

Via its High Risk Response Network, Option Line helps connect those in need to local pregnancy help centers for prompt telecare consultations, as well as in-person visits. According to Heartbeat International, 9 out of ten callers show up for virtual consultation appointments, and three in four callers show up for pregnancy help appointments after they call.

Gov. Newsom rejects abortionist extradition request

California Gov. Gavin Newsom refused to extradite a California abortionist who allegedly provided abortion pills to a man who coerced his girlfriend into having an abortion.

Newsom on Wednesday rejected Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s indictment for abortionist Remy Coeytaux, who was charged with criminal abortion in Louisiana after Rosalie Markezich’s boyfriend allegedly ordered abortion pills from him and forced her to take them. Newsom said in a statement that he would “never be complicit with Trump’s war on women.” 

South Carolina lawmakers introduce bill to ban coerced abortion 

South Carolina lawmakers introduced several pro-life bills at the start of this year’s legislative session, including a bill to protect women from coerced abortions. 

The bill would make it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion, with penalties up to one year in prison and $5,000 in fines, or higher if she is a minor or if the perpetrator is the father of the child.

This bill was among several other newly-introduced pro-life bills, including a bill to protect unborn children after conception. The Life Begins at Conception Act, sponsored by Sen Matt. Leber (R-District 41), would protect unborn children after conception unless they were conceived by rape or incest. Legislators also introduced a bill that would ban chemical abortion pills.

Lawmakers also introduced a bill to classify abortion drugs as a controlled substance. This bill, if passed, would make possession without a prescription a felony, while exempting pregnant women from prosecution.

Another bill would make it a felony to pay for or reimburse the cost of an abortion for a South Carolina resident and would criminalize donating to organizations who fund women crossing state lines for abortions. Another bill would permanently bar abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid funds for any services, codifying a 2017 executive order. 

Jan 17, 2026 / 08:00 am (CNA).

For decades, India was the most affordable and trusted destination for Bangladeshis seeking medical treatment abroad. Among them were thousands of Catholics who relied on Indian hospitals — many run by Christian institutions — for lifesaving care. But following political unrest in Bangladesh in July–August 2024 and the subsequent strain in relations with New Delhi, tightened Indian visa policies have sharply reduced access, leaving Catholic patients and families struggling both medically and emotionally.

An average of 3.6 million Bangladeshis used to travel to India annually for tourism, medical treatment, and business. Since Aug. 5, 2024, however, the number of Bangladeshi travelers — especially medical patients — has dropped dramatically, largely due to stricter visa procedures.

“I wanted to go to India for treatment of my heart disease, but I did not get a medical visa,” said Mita Corraya, a Catholic from Dhaka. “My cousin recovered after receiving treatment at Christian Medical College Vellore. Sadly, I was not given a visa.”

Corraya told EWTN News that she is now receiving similar treatment in Dhaka, but at a much higher cost. “So far, my treatment has cost nearly 1 million taka [about $8,101]. If I had been able to go to India, it would have cost around 500,000 taka [about half],” she said.

Cancer patients among the most affected

The visa complications have hit cancer patients particularly hard. Rina Gomes, a Catholic from Tejgaon parish in Dhaka, said she has been unable to return to India for follow-up care for breast cancer.

“I went to India for treatment in May 2024,” Gomes said. “Now I cannot go back. The political relationship between India and Bangladesh has become worse, and ordinary people are suffering. This should be stopped.”

Bangladesh ranks 10th globally among countries whose citizens seek medical treatment abroad. According to health sector data, 51% of Bangladeshi patients travel to India, followed by Thailand and Singapore at 20% each. Smaller numbers go to the United Kingdom (3%), Japan and Malaysia (2%), and China and the United Arab Emirates (1%).

More than half of Bangladeshi patients traveling abroad go primarily for diagnosis and medical checkups. Among those seeking treatment, heart disease, kidney ailments, cancer, and cataract surgeries are the most common reasons.

‘People are suffering because of politics’

“Previously, many patients traveled to India on tourist visas and consulted doctors,” said Dr. Edward Pallab Rozario, a Catholic Bangladeshi family medicine specialist and certified diabetologist as well as a children, skin, VD, sex, and burn physician. “Now they must apply for medical visas. About 80% receive approval, but 20% do not.”

Rosario explained that Indian hospitals remain popular because of their affordability and patient-centered approach. “Patients tell us Indian doctors spend time with them and listen carefully. The cost is also lower. That is why people still want to go, despite the difficulties.”

Beyond medical care, visa restrictions have strained family relationships within Bangladesh’s small Catholic community, which has long-standing cross-border ties with India.

A Telugu Catholic living in Dhaka, who requested anonymity, told EWTN News that members of his family live in Andhra Pradesh. “One of my sisters married there, and two studied there. We used to visit once a year, but now we cannot get tourist visas.”

“My mother has become ill because she has not seen her daughters for more than a year,” he said.

He also described the distressing case of a Christian student who failed to obtain a visa extension in India and attempted to cross the border irregularly. The student was arrested and jailed by Indian authorities. “Community leaders are working for his release,” he said.

He urged both governments to improve relations. “People are suffering because of politics. This should not happen.”

Trade tensions deepen uncertainty

The strain in bilateral relations has extended beyond visas into trade, further impacting livelihoods in Bangladesh.

Following political changes on Aug. 5, 2024, India imposed trade restrictions. On April 8, it canceled transshipment facilities that allowed Bangladesh to export goods to third countries via Indian airports. India later imposed phased restrictions on Bangladeshi exports through land ports, affecting garments, processed food, jute products, cotton-yarn waste, plastic goods, and wooden furniture.

Bangladesh responded by halting yarn imports from India through land ports on April 15.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported goods worth $760 million to India during the first five months of the current fiscal year (July–November), compared with $810 million in the same period last year — a decline of 6.68%.

Exports of processed food products dropped by 13%, while jute and jute products fell by 37%.

‘Economics should not be mixed with politics’

Economists warn that continued restrictions could further weaken Bangladesh’s export capacity.

Khandaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told EWTN News that Bangladesh has limited export markets, making India strategically important.

“Even after Bangladesh restricted yarn imports, imports from India increased,” he said. “But after India imposed restrictions, Bangladeshi exports declined. Economics should not always be mixed with political issues.”

Kamruzzaman Kamal, director of marketing at PRAN-RFL Group, Bangladesh’s largest processed food exporter, said rising logistics costs have reduced profitability. “There are additional costs at land ports, and many products are no longer viable,” he told EWTN News. “We want initiatives to strengthen bilateral relations and reopen land ports.”

Hope for dialogue

Despite the current strain, business leaders in India have described the trade crisis as temporary. Economists on both sides argue that dialogue is essential — not only to revive trade but also to reduce the human cost borne by patients and families.

For Bangladesh’s Catholic minority, the crisis is deeply personal.

“We do not want conflict,” Corraya said quietly. “We only want treatment, dignity, and the chance to live.”