St. Joseph Church

Border Patrol vehicle patrols the fence of the international border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. / Credit: Sherry V Smith/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Two more Catholic Charities agencies have announced layoffs in the wake of the Trump administration’s 90-day federal funding freeze.

Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump issued a directive to pause foreign aid for a 90-day review as well as a domestic funding pause designed to prevent federally-funded incentives for illegal immigration. 

The directive has led to a freeze on federal funding for Catholic Charities programs across the U.S., most predominately affecting their migrant and refugee service programs.

This week, Catholic Charities in San Diego and Fort Wayne, Indiana, cut employees amid federal funding cuts to migrant resettlement programs, according to news reports.    

San Diego  

Catholic Charities of San Diego has ceased bringing in asylum-seeking migrants to its Mission Valley Shelter amid funding cuts, according to a local report by NBC. The charity group is laying off more than 70 employees working in its migrant programs, which include a refugee services program and a migrant shelter.

The charity’s CEO, Vino Pajanor, said released employees are being offered other opportunities in the company at programs in the agency that have openings. The company will lay off 42 people in San Diego and 31 in Imperial County at the end of April.

Headquartered less than two dozen miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Catholic Charities of San Diego began operating migrant shelters in April 2021 amid a surge of illegal immigration to the U.S.

Over four years, Catholic Charities of San Diego aided 405,000 migrants from 146 countries. The group received about $9 million of its $46 million budget from the federal government at the peak of the migrant surge, Pajanor told NBC.

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is letting go of 17 employees following funding cuts, according to a local report. The layoffs followed the federal government’s termination of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). 

Last year, the Indiana-based agency resettled 380 refugees in northeast Indiana. The agency received $3 million for the refugee service in 2024. The agency’s reception and placement contract was cut this year, one of nearly 10,000 contracts that were cut.  

The agency’s CEO, Dan Florin, told a local news service that aid to newly arriving migrants will be on pause “for the foreseeable future.”

In recent weeks, Catholic Charities organizations have laid off staff and shut down programs following the 90-day federal funding freeze. 

Local Catholic Charities agencies in Dallas; Syracuse, New York; and Santa Rosa, California, scaled back program operations and laid off employees on account of the freeze. Catholic Charities in Jacksonville, Florida; the panhandle of Texas; and southwest Kansas have also been impacted by the funding freeze. 

Soon after the Trump administration paused the funding, Catholic Charities USA urged the administration to reconsider the freeze, citing the “crucial care” the funding helps provide. 

Last month, the U.S. bishops sued the Trump administration, arguing the suspension of the funding for refugee programs was unlawful. 

People gather on a flooded street after a powerful storm struck the city of Bahia Blanca, 373 miles south of Argentina’s capital, on March 7, 2025. / Credit: PABLO PRESTI/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and the Catholic Church in Argentina expressed their solidarity with flood victims in the city of Bahía Blanca located in Buenos Aires province.

In addition to prayers, the Catholic Church in Argentina has sent material aid to Bahía Blanca, which suffered severe flooding on Friday after 16 inches of rain fell in just a few hours. So far, 16 fatalities have been reported, more than 900 people have been evacuated, and significant damage has been reported.

In a Monday telegram, Pope Francis sent a message of hope and solidarity to the hard-hit community through Archbishop Carlos Azpiroz Costa, OP, of Bahía Blanca.

“Saddened to learn of the natural disaster that is affecting the region of Bahía Blanca, which has [resulted in] so many victims and material damage, I offer fervent prayers for the eternal rest of the deceased,” the Holy Father said in his message.

He also assured his spiritual closeness to the population, beseeching the Lord “to grant comfort to the bereaved and to all those who are suffering in these moments of pain and uncertainty” and prayed that the Lord would also “sustain with his grace” all those committed to searching for the missing and undertaking “the arduous process of rebuilding the devastated areas.”

Finally, Pope Francis assured his prayers to Our Lady of Mercy, that she may intercede for those affected, and sent his apostolic blessing.

The executive committee of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference said it shared “the pain and uncertainty of our brothers and sisters from Bahía Blanca, asking the Lord to alleviate the anguish of those who have been affected in different ways.”

They also prayed that the Lord would “strengthen the volunteers in their dedication to care for the lives of their brothers and sisters” and prayed for the intercession of Our Lady of Mercy, patroness of the Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca.

Azpiroz and his auxiliary bishop, Pedro Fournau, addressed the people “in these hours of anguish” that the city is going through.

“We want to be at the side of those who are suffering the most from the consequences of the storm: to assure our prayers for each of the victims of this flood and to be close to those who have lost a loved one, those who still cannot find the whereabouts of a family member, or those who have seen their homes flooded and have had to evacuate,” they said.

The bishops asked God to grant comfort and “sustain everyone’s spirit to stay afloat together” and encouraged the population to trust in the Lord and offer him “all the pain, uncertainty, fear, or helplessness” in their hearts.

They also urged “mutual compassionate help” at this time. “In the midst of the storm, we want to say with you: We are not alone, God walks with us and never abandons us!” they exclaimed.

Caritas Argentina immediately launched a campaign to address the emergency. A donation can be made at this link. 

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

Members of security forces loyal to the interim Syrian government hold up their firearms as they stand by the Mediterranean sea coast in Syria’s western city of Latakia on March 9, 2025. Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, called for national unity and peace on March 9 amid growing international backlash following the killing of civilians along the country’s coast in the worst violence since the overthrow of former president Bashar al-Assad in the heartland of the Alawite minority, to which the latter belongs. / Credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

ACI MENA, Mar 11, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The Syrian coast in the western part of the country has become a theater for unprecedented unrest since the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011. This past weekend, at least 745 Alawite civilians lost their lives in what the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights described as ethnic cleansing. The clashes have reportedly killed at least 1,000 people.

The incidents unfolded as armed Alawites, opposing the new authorities in the country, killed members of the general security forces. Subsequently, government authorities sent reinforcements to the region and clashes erupted between the two groups. The violence escalated to include looting, random acts of vandalism, and targeting civilians based on sectarian grounds.

Christians, while not targeted specifically for their religious affiliations, were not spared. Some lost their lives simply for living in the region — among them Jihad Bechara, the father of a priest in the coastal city of Banias.

The Latin bishop of Aleppo, Hanna Jallouf, issued a statement on March 7 “supporting the Syrian state” against those who seek to destabilize the country and do her ill, a reference to the Assad loyalists, according to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.

In a joint statement issued the next day on March 8, the patriarchs of Syria condemned acts that threaten civil peace and denounced the “massacres targeting innocent civilians,” emphasizing the “urgent need to put an end to these horrific actions that contradict human and moral values.”

The patriarchs’ statement underscored the importance of Syrian territorial unity and firmly rejected any attempts at division. It also called for “swift measures to create favorable conditions for achieving national reconciliation among the Syrian people and fostering an environment that enables a transition to a state that respects all its citizens, builds a society founded on equal citizenship and genuine partnership, and moves away from notions of revenge and exclusion.”

In his sermon at the Mariamite Cathedral in Damascus, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John X (Yazigi) expressed support for the establishment of a fact-finding committee to hold accountable those responsible for civilian bloodshed and public security violations. 

His call was echoed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which, in its own statement, strongly condemned “the atrocities committed against civilians on sectarian grounds.”

Addressing President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Yazigi remarked: “The sanctity and dignity of individuals have been violated. The chants and slogans being used fuel division, foster sectarianism, and undermine civil peace. Numerous towns and villages have had their homes burned and their possessions looted. The targeted areas are predominantly inhabited by Alawites and Christians, many of whom have fallen victim to these tragic killings.”

He added: “Mr. President, the icon of the Virgin Mary — honored by Muslims and Christians alike — has been desecrated and destroyed. This is not the Syria you envision in the aftermath of the revolution. We call upon you to exercise your wisdom and efforts to immediately stop these massacres and restore security and stability for all Syrians, regardless of their backgrounds.”

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

Father Raffaele Grimaldi, inspector general of chaplains in Italian prisons. / Credit: Almudena Martínez-Bordiú/ACI Prensa

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis decided to open for the first time in history a Holy Door in the Italian prison of Rebibbia during the Jubilee of Hope, a gesture that the prisoners welcomed as a sign of mercy, closeness, and hope.

His visit to Rebibbia set an example of what he called for in the bull Spes Non Confundit: to be “tangible signs of hope for so many brothers and sisters who live in conditions of hardship.”

Father Raffaele Grimaldi, inspector general of chaplains in Italian prisons, emphasized during a meeting with journalists organized by the ISCOM Association near the Vatican that the Holy Father knows “that those who have made mistakes need us to give them a hand so that they can get back on track.”

‘I learned to be a priest’ as a prison chaplain

Grimaldi left the chaplaincy in the Secondigliano prison in Naples — where he served prisoners for 23 years — to coordinate the 230 priests who care for the nearly 62,000 prisoners throughout Italy, of whom 20,000 are foreigners.

From his years as a chaplain, he noted that there were not only ordinary prisoners there “but also those in maximum security, people with a very extensive criminal history.”

The priest emphasized that his service “was for everyone” and that “it did not matter what crime the person had committed, because we should not identify the man who is in prison with his mistakes.”

“My experience in the Secondigliano prison was very intense; it formed me both humanly and spiritually. I always say that by being a chaplain, I learned to be a priest, because I met the weakest, the excluded, and above all, I realized there has to be mercy and forgiveness.”

The priest also emphasized that this has been the “most beautiful experience I have ever had: being with them for 23 years, with their families, trying to be a sign of hope for them.”

“We chaplains are truly convinced that if we help the prisoners, they can regain confidence in themselves,” he said. Grimaldi also noted that the prisoners pray every day for the speedy recovery of Pope Francis and that they were able to listen to the audio message he sent on March 6 from Gemelli Hospital, which they welcomed with hope.

A new culture of acceptance

Regarding the Holy Father’s call to carry out acts of clemency toward prisoners during the holy year, as took place in Cuba in January with the release of 553 prisoners following mediation by the Vatican, Grimaldi commented that when the pope issues a call, “it sets people free.”

“The pope’s appeal is based on the Gospel, an appeal to the conscience and responsibility of others. The pardon and act of clemency that the pope asks for is a call to mercy. We know well that the prisoners are there for reasons of justice, but we must never separate mercy from justice. Otherwise, justice becomes revenge,” he added.

Grimaldi noted that Rebibbia has become a “symbol of all the prisons in the world,” a place that the Holy Father chose “to say to the whole world: Let’s try to take a look at our prisons.”

However, he pointed out that Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to prisoners since the beginning of his pontificate by washing their feet on Holy Thursday and by his continuous appeals for mercy.

In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the priest emphasized that “the role of the laity is fundamental” since it is necessary to “convey a message of acceptance.” 

“The prison door has been opened so that one can cross over and enter the prison. But we must not forget that this door is also open for others to leave. It is not only an entrance but also an exit,” he pointed out.

The priest said his greatest concern is that “when these prisoners leave, they don’t find acceptance or openness. There are still many prejudices and, to be frank, society is afraid to accept those who leave prison.”

The priest emphasized the need to “educate the community and society to be more welcoming and not indifferent to so many problems,” creating a new culture and ending indifference.

He also noted that on April 9, members of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, led by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, will pass through the Holy Door at the Rebibbia prison to celebrate the jubilee.

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

Pope Francis speaks in an empty St. Peter’s Square during a Holy Hour and extraordinary urbi et orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the COVID-19 pandemic. Days later, on March 15, 2020, life as we knew it changed as lockdowns went into effect.

Remembering those early days and the many months that followed brings up painful memories, grief, and anxiety for many, but there were grace-filled moments that punctured the fear and uncertainty.

As the world marks five years since the pandemic began, CNA takes a look back in images at some of the moving moments that showed the grace and mercy of God in action.

U.S. Supreme Court. / Credit: PT Hamilton/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 10, 2025 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit that challenges Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors who have gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction and will consider religious freedom and free speech concerns about the prohibition.

Justices announced on Monday, March 10, that they would hear a legal challenge to a Colorado law that expressly prohibits licensed psychologists and therapists from engaging in what it calls “conversion therapy.” This ban does not apply to actions or statements from parents, clergy members, or others.

State law defines “conversion therapy” as “any practice or treatment” that attempts to change a person’s “sexual orientation or gender identity,” such as efforts to change a person’s “behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

The law states that permitted therapy includes treatments that provide “acceptance, support, and understanding” to help facilitate a person’s “coping, social support, and identity exploration, and development.”

A Christian counselor named Kaley Chiles filed a lawsuit to challenge the law in 2022, arguing that her clients come to her for faith-based counseling, and some are referred by churches or word of mouth. The lawsuit asserts that the law constitutes viewpoint discrimination because it expressly permits therapy that is supportive of gender transitions but prohibits therapy that is rooted in “a religious viewpoint that aligns with her religious beliefs and those of her clients.”

“Chiles’ clients voluntarily and specifically seek her counsel because they want the help her viewpoint provides,” the lawsuit states. “Yet Colorado’s law forbids her from speaking, treating her professional license as a license for government censorship.”

According to the lawsuit, Chiles does not impose her beliefs on her clients. Rather, it states she discusses her client’s objectives and goals and his or her religious and spiritual values to better formulate a unique plan for her client.

The lawsuit states that some clients wish to discuss issues that “implicate Christian values about human sexuality and the treatment of their own body.” It adds that some of her clients are living lifestyles inconsistent with their faith that cause “internal conflict, depression, and anxiety” and desire Christian-based counseling to change their behaviors or eliminate unwanted urges.

Chiles is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is a Christian legal group that has won religious freedom victories at the Supreme Court level in the past. This includes a 2023 Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Christian web designer who refused to design websites for same-sex civil weddings. 

ADF President Kristen Waggoner said in a statement that the Colorado government “has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government’s biased views on her clients.”

“There is a growing consensus around the world that adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria need love and an opportunity to talk through their struggles and feelings,” she continued. “Colorado’s law prohibits what’s best for these children and sends a clear message: The only option for children struggling with these issues is to give them dangerous and experimental drugs and surgery that will make them lifelong patients.”

The lawsuit argues that the Colorado law violates Chiles’ First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. 

“We are eager to defend Kaley [Chiles’] First Amendment rights and ensure that government officials may not impose their ideology on private conversations between counselors and clients,” Waggoner said.

In the past, the Supreme Court has declined to take up lawsuits related to “conversion therapy” bans. In December 2023, the court decided 6-3 to refuse to hear a challenge to a Washington law that is nearly identical to Colorado’s law.

More than 20 states either restrict or outright ban this form of therapy. The Supreme Court’s decision could set nationwide precedent on whether states can restrict or ban so-called “conversion therapy.”

null / Credit: Freedom Studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 10, 2025 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Leaders in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, home to 72 million people, are considering punishing with the death penalty those who allegedly force people into religious conversion — a change that Christian leaders say could harm the state’s Christians, who already are persecuted under the law through false accusations. 

Mohan Yadav, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said March 8 that he plans to amend the state’s anti-conversion law to capitally punish those found to be fraudulently forcing people to convert, adding that “religious conversion will not be tolerated,” reported UCA News, a Catholic news outlet. Christians make up just 0.27% of the population in Madhya Pradesh, UCA News said. 

Madhya Pradesh’s anti-conversion law had already since 2021 resulted in sentences of 10 years in jail for violators. 

Though religious freedom is provided for in the Indian Constitution, anti-conversion laws have been an increasing problem for the tens of millions of Christians in India. In recent years, at least a dozen of India’s 28 states passed laws to criminalize “forced” conversions, most of them in Hindu nationalist party-ruled states from the early 2000s onward. 

In practice, the laws have been used to selectively prevent the practice of the Christian faith in a nation that is roughly 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, and just 2% Christian. The laws have led to the arrests of clergy and sparked acts of violence against Christians.

In particular, in India’s most populous state of northern Uttar Pradesh with a population of 231 million, hundreds of pastors and even senior Catholic priests had been imprisoned on conversion charges.

Despite the dangers for Christians, an Indian Supreme Court hearing last June cast doubt on the legality of Uttar Pradesh state’s anti-conversion laws under the country’s constitution, which in Article 25 provides that Indians have the “right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion.”

In Madhya Pradesh — the state considering the death penalty for alleged forced conversions — a Protestant pastor was in 2019 acquitted of charges held against him under India’s state-level anti-conversion laws. Police had arrested the pastor, his wife, and his 6-year-old son, stripped them of their clothes, beat them, and kept them detained without bail for three days, finally convicting the family of forcing conversion to the Christian faith.

Black smoke billows over the city after drone strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Sept. 19, 2023, amid Russia's military invasion on Ukraine. / Credit: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Mar 10, 2025 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

Since being admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14, Pope Francis has dedicated time to work and pray while being treated for bilateral pneumonia and other medical conditions. And as the world continues to pray for him throughout his prolonged hospitalization, the 88-year-old pontiff has asked people to remember to pray for God’s “gift of peace” for those suffering in the following countries:

Ukraine

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago on Feb. 24, 2022, Pope Francis has never failed to ask people to pray for “martyred Ukraine” and the millions of victims of war who have been killed, injured, or left homeless as a result of the ongoing conflict.

In January, the pope said his “wish for the year 2025” was for the entire international community to end the Russia-Ukraine war that has “caused so much bloodshed in war-torn Ukraine.” Since the outbreak of the war, the Holy Father has called for the release of all prisoners and accessible humanitarian assistance for those in need.

Though official numbers of Ukrainian and Russian war casualties are unknown, the Wall Street Journal reported in September 2024 that an estimated 1 million people have died or been injured since the large-scale Russian invasion. The United Nations has verified that at least 12,600 civilians have been killed and an additional 29,390 civilians injured since February 2022.

“A painful and shameful occasion for the whole of humanity!” the pope shared in his Feb. 23 Angelus message from Gemelli Hospital. “I reiterate my closeness to the suffering people of Ukraine.”

Democratic Republic of Congo

The Congo’s complex humanitarian situation — exacerbated by natural disasters, armed conflicts, and epidemics — has not gone unnoticed for the pontiff who visited the central African nation in 2023.

The Holy Father has often addressed the plight of the Congolese to pilgrims who come to the Vatican to attend his general audiences or to pray the Sunday Angelus with him in St. Peter’s Square.

On Feb. 14, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported more than 21.2 million people in the Congo are in need of aid.

Amid the country’s worsening humanitarian situation after the fall of Goma, in North Kivu, and Bukavu, in South Kivu, to M23 forces backed by Rwandan fighters, Aid to the Church in Need reported Christians have been targeted by armed groups after more than 70 people were massacred in a Protestant church and an additional 100 people taken hostage by terrorists in North Kivu last month.

Myanmar (Burma)

Pope Francis is the first pontiff to visit the majority-Buddhist southeast Asian nation that has been afflicted by heightened political unrest and violence since a 2021 military coup that thwarted the country’s transition toward democratic rule.

Appealing to warring parties to lay down their arms, the pope has asked the international community to remember the country’s elderly, children, sick, and the Rohingya ethnic minority.

More than 18.6 million people, 6 million of whom are children, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to a Feb. 21 report published by United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Sudan

Pope Francis said “the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, is causing the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world, with dramatic consequences in South Sudan too” and during his Jan. 26 Angelus address renewed his appeal to those who are at war in Sudan to negotiate peace and end the hostilities.

In a March 10 report, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the conflict in Sudan has “caused the world’s largest and fastest-growing displacement crisis, with 12.8 million forcibly displaced.” WHO reported the country’s malnutrition rates are “among the highest globally,” with 4.9 million children under 5 and pregnant women “acutely malnourished.”  

Attacks on health care facilities also contributed to the August 2024 outbreak of cholera in the north African nation that has led to 1,500 deaths out of the 55,000 cases reported, according to UNICEF.  

Palestine

The impact of the decades-long political instability and violence in Gaza and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) — two Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967 —  is a concern close to the heart of the 88-year-old pope. 

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, declaration of the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ February 2025 report states more than 100,000 people have been injured in the conflict. According to the report at least 34,399 Palestinians — the majority of them women and children — were killed in Gaza between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024.

While undergoing complex medical treatment at Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father continues to make a daily call to the Holy Family Church in Gaza to check in on their welfare as approximately 600 people are still seeking shelter at the parish.

During a Dec. 6, 2024, Aid to the Church in Need press conference, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, told journalists the pope’s calls are “a very big support” for the community of Gaza.

Israel

Unable to read his Jan. 9 address to the diplomatic corp earlier this year due to a persistent cold, in his prepared speech the pontiff nevertheless stressed his great desire for peace in the country, a permanent cease-fire, and the release of Israeli hostages detained in Gaza.

More than 250 Israelis were taken hostage following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. At least 1,200 Israelis were killed on the same day, according to a BBC report. The attack, which sparked Israel’s declaration of war against the extreme Islamic terrorist group, was strongly condemned by the Holy Father.

​​”My prayerful hope is that Israelis and Palestinians can rebuild the bridges of dialogue and mutual trust,” the Holy Father expressed in his 2025 speech. “So that future generations can live side by side in the two states, in peace and security.”

Praying for harmony and mutual respect among Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Holy Land has been a daily prayer of the pope since the early years of his pontificate. Following his 2014 pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Holy See invited former President of Israel Shimon Peres, President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, and Patriarch Bartholomew I to the Vatican for the Invocation of Peace. 

Sister Giustina Holubets (left) pictured during a commemorations for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Lviv, Ukraine, Oct. 15, 2024. / Credit: Perinatal Hospice - Imprint of Life

Rome Newsroom, Mar 10, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Since 2020, a pandemic and then an active war have caused untold tragedy for Ukrainians, but these circumstances have also allowed the country to confront death and grief in a way it never did before, according to a religious sister who offers palliative care to unborn children and their families.

In Ukraine, “one couldn’t and wouldn’t talk about death before the COVID pandemic,” Sister Giustina Olha Holubets, SSMI, told CNA earlier this month.

The more open a society is about death and loss and grief, she said, the easier it is to know how to respond to a family going through the pain of losing a child in the womb or shortly after birth.

Holubets traveled to Rome to attend a workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life on March 3–4. The scientific academy chose Holubets as the recipient of its 2025 “Guardian of Life” Award. 

A Byzantine Catholic and member of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate, Holubets has degrees in bioethics, psychology, biology, and genetics. In 2017, she founded the nonprofit organization “Perinatal Hospice - Imprint of Life” in Lviv, Ukraine, which she currently leads.

Starting out

Holubets’ work in perinatal care began by chance in 2013. She was back in Ukraine after studying for a master’s degree in Rome, and while working in a medical genetics clinic, she met a pregnant mother whose unborn child had received a fatal prenatal diagnosis. The woman did not want to abort her baby, but she had nowhere to turn to for support in her decision to carry her child to term.

“It has always touched me,” the sister said, “that the Church says, ‘Do not abort,’ but the woman who keeps that child [with a prenatal diagnosis], in reality, feels alone. It’s not enough to say do not abort, but we must give support to the end.”

Holubets noted that when parents receive a life-limiting diagnosis for their unborn child, “society doesn’t understand, and doctors don’t understand what to do either.”

“So, we started, very slowly, to become closer to mothers in this situation,” she explained.

By 2017, Holubets and her collaborators — largely families who have also experienced loss and want to help others in similar situations — realized the question of palliative care in the perinatal period (before and up to a year post-birth) needed a change of mentality on a societal level.

At the Lord’s prompting, the sister and those serving with her started “to speak up about perinatal grief, because no one wants to speak up about this.” They founded the nonprofit and started to commemorate on Oct. 15 Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, inviting families to light candles in the churches and squares.

Some countries also celebrate preborn life on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, established as the International Day of the Unborn Child by St. John Paul II.

Preparing for death

The hospice association does not have a physical center but can be found “where the baby is during the pregnancy: in the womb of the mother,” the sister said. “So we are close to the mother.”

Some of what the organization does includes phone consultations and being present at medical visits and at births if asked. If a priest cannot arrive in time during an emergency situation, Holubets will baptize the baby at the parents’ request.

After birth, volunteers help the family create positive memories about their child by dressing the baby, taking photos, and making prints of their tiny feet. They also continue to walk with the parents in their grief.

“We have discovered that our mothers are prepared to give birth, but we must also prepare them for the death. This is why, then, we enjoy every moment with that baby. So that when there is the death too, the moms can feel more calm because they have done everything they can for their baby,” Holubets said.

In society today, women receive a lot of pressure to abort children with fatal or life-limiting diagnoses. Holubets said in her experience, this is often due to selfishness on the part of doctors, who are unsure how to accompany families in a difficult journey of perinatal loss and grief. Plainly speaking, an abortion is also not registered as a fetal demise.

But women, the religious sister underlined, deserve to have all of the information with all of the options presented to them so they can make the decision. “Because ultimately, she should also take responsibility for the consequences of either an abortion or birth,” Holubets said.

Neither path is easy, she emphasized: “There is always the memory, there is always death — death after an abortion, death after a birth.”

But what happens next changes everything, she added. For one, an abortion does not erase the memory of the child, but for the mother it can lead to depression, difficulty conceiving again, and conflict in her relationships. Women can feel anger toward their husbands or other family members for allowing them to go through with an abortion, casting blame on others for the decision.

On the other hand, if a woman makes the decision to continue the pregnancy and to care for the child for as long as he or she lives, “here too there is the memory, there is death, but the parents remained parents, not those who kill,” Holubets said.

“Moreover, the parents have given all of their love to that baby who existed for that brief period,” she added. Even if the baby dies, “their maternity and paternity continue until the end of life. If another child enters the family, they can speak to him or her about their older sister or older brother, they can show them the photo, there is the spot to visit at the cemetery.”

Grief is always there, but these things help, Holubets said. “Life always has losses; how can we experience them well?” is the question we must ask ourselves.

“So, if experiencing loss in our life is something normal, given to us by the Lord, we must not just resist it but experience it,” she said. “Sometimes you must also seek counsel, give meaning to [loss], provide resources, change the mentality of the society [to show] that it’s normal, it’s not shameful.”

The Swiss Guard honored the soldiers who died in the Sack of Rome during a ceremony in Roman Protomartyrs Square in the Vatican on May 5, 2023. / Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 10, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

The mission of the Swiss Guard, the oldest military corps in the world, is to ensure the security of the pope and protect the cardinals when the chair of Peter is vacant. But what happens when the Holy Father is outside the Vatican walls, as is the case now with Pope Francis in the hospital?

Currently, the Swiss Guard is led by Col. Christoph Graf, and its members are responsible for guarding access to Vatican territory, accompanying the pope on his apostolic journeys, and maintaining order and protocol during papal ceremonies and state receptions.

March 10 marks 25 days since Pope Francis was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome. On Feb. 14, he left St. Martha’s House where he normally resides, suffering from bronchitis that later developed into double pneumonia.

During these weeks, despite the absence of the pope, the Swiss Guards have not left their posts. Eliah Cinotti, the head of press office of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, confirmed to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that “there are no changes in the ordinary service.”

However, he pointed out that because Pope Francis “is not physically present” in the Vatican, “we have a decrease in extraordinary services, such as general audiences, receptions for presidents or ambassadors, or Masses.”

“Despite this, we support some events in the Vatican when necessary, such as [on Sunday] when we were present at the Mass for the Jubilee of Volunteers, even though the Holy Father was unable to participate,” he explained.

During his latest meeting with the Swiss Guard at the Vatican, Pope Francis highlighted the value of its members marrying, having a family and children, emphasizing the importance of family life in their service.

“I like the fact that the guards get married; I like that they have children, that they have a family. This is very important, very important. This aspect has become very important, since the number of guards married with children has increased, and the well-being of families is of fundamental importance for the Church and society,” he said on Jan. 18 at the Vatican Apostolic Palace.

Cinotti emphasized that the Swiss Guard “prays and trusts that our Holy Father will recover soon so he can return to the Vatican as soon as possible.”

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