In 1993 Marcus Grodi (left) founded the Coming Home Network. It is currently led by his son JonMarc Grodi (right). / Credit: “The Journey Home”/EWTN screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 15, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Coming Home Network will host its first-ever “clergy convert conference” next month to foster fellowship among former Protestant and other non-Catholic pastors and ministers who have become Catholic or are preparing to enter the Church.

In partnership with the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, the network will hold the weekendlong retreat May 30–June 1 in Steubenville, Ohio. The event will be “focused on fellowship among clergy converts, encouragement on the ongoing journey of faith, and on reigniting the fire for living out and sharing the Gospel now as Catholics.”

The conference is scheduled to feature speakers from different religious backgrounds, including Marcus Grodi, former Presbyterian pastor, founder of the Coming Home Network and longtime host of the EWTN program “The Journey Home.”

The Ohio-based Coming Home Network is an organization with the mission “to help non-Catholic Christians, clergy and laity, discover the truth and beauty of Catholicism and to make the journey home to full communion with the Catholic Church.”

Grodi started the network in 1993 “out of the seemingly isolated experiences” he and several other Protestant clergy experienced, according to the Coming Home Network website. 

“Upon leaving their pastorates to enter the Catholic Church, these clergy and their families discovered with surprise that there were many others being drawn by the Spirit to take the same journey ‘home.’” Since then, the network has offered vital support for convert pastors.

The executive director of the network and current host of “The Journey Home,” JonMarc Grodi, Marcus’ son, told CNA that although the network provides resources including its newsletter, published books, and retreats, “the core of the work has always been pastoral care.”

JonMarc said the network has “a team of people on staff who work one-on-one with people,” including a former Baptist pastor, Ken Hensley, who is the director of the organization’s pastoral care team.

“We do have videos, articles, and books,” but JonMarc said what makes the network unique is that when pastors reach out to them, the “pastoral care team will then form a relationship with them and follow them all the way through [to] make sure they have whatever resources they need and then continue to counsel them and mentor them.”

The network prioritizes support for pastors, JonMarc explained, as “many of them lose their job, their income and enter the Church with some uncertainty about their future.”

JonMarc added that the network continues to provide guidance long after such pastors choose to enter the Church. “Even once they become Catholic, even if they get a job, there’s a continuing journey of learning their new identity,” he said.

Regarding the upcoming conference, JonMarc said it is something the network is “hoping to hold every year.”

The organization’s director of outreach, Matt Swaim, told CNA that since the beginning of 2025, 47 pastors have already reached out to inquire about the journey to becoming Catholic, have converted, or are trying to figure out where they fit in the faith.

He said that in 2024, the network worked with 99 pastors, which was almost double the amount it helped in 2022. The network caters to more than 10,000 Coming Home members from more than 200 religious and denominational backgrounds.

A view of the Opera House in the port zone of Sydney. / Credit: Benh LIEU SONG vía Flickr (CC BY-SA 4.0)

CNA Staff, Apr 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Catholic advocates in Australia are warning lawmakers there of the risk that pornography exposure poses to children, including the threat of normalizing forms of violent sexual behavior among young people.

The Parliament of New South Wales recently began public hearings for its inquiry into the “impacts of harmful pornography on mental, emotional, and physical health.”

The Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Issues says the inquiry will particularly focus on “age of first exposure to pornography and impacts of early exposure to pornography” as well as porn’s “impacts on body image” and “the impact of exposure to violent and/or misogynistic pornography on children, teenagers, and young adults.”

Advocates have been warning for years of the detrimental effects of pornography, including the harm it does to young people who consume it. Ubiquitous internet access and universal smartphone access has allowed porn to proliferate over the past several decades and has given children significant access to it.

Among the New South Wales Parliament’s aims is assessing the “psychological and physiological impacts” of so-called “harmful porn” use on “at-risk groups such as children and young people” as well as possible restrictions on porn use.

‘All forms of pornography are harmful’

Several Catholic groups and advocates have weighed in on the parliamentary inquiry. Among them are Deirdre Little, the national bioethics convener of the Catholic Women’s League Australia.

Little spoke at last month’s public hearing on the inquiry. During the event she challenged the inquiry’s classification of “harmful porn.” 

“As Catholic women, we regard all forms of pornography as harmful and that so-called standard nonviolent pornography is not harmless,” she told the committee. 

An evidentiary submission from the Catholic Women’s League cited data showing that children exposed to pornography prior to 12 years old “are statistically more likely to sexually assault their peers” as well as a correlation “between sexually abusive children and their access to the internet.”

The porn crisis goes beyond its directly harmful effects on children, Little told the panel.

“Children are more likely to experience a broken home and parental disharmony in a home where there is repeated adult exposure to even nonviolent standard pornography,” she said.

Porn consumption “is associated with reduced valuation of marriage, regarding extramarital affairs as normal, associated with a mounting use to addiction, associated with escalation to more deviant pornography, the trivialisation of rape and behavioral aggression,” she continued.

A majority of divorce lawyers, she said, say that internet porn “plays a role in divorce.”

Also speaking at the hearing was Catherine Garrett-Jones, the executive director of the Council of Catholic School Parents.

In its own submission, the council cited a recent survey of Australian teachers in which they “expressed despair with the rapid rise of sexualized behaviors which they attributed to early exposure to pornography.”

Parents have reportedly expressed concern to teachers about “the ease with which pornography can be accessed, the lack of parental engagement in managing access to social media as well as the inability of many parents to use technology to block unwanted content being accessed.”

At last month’s hearing Garrett-Jones told the committee that parents have expressed “support for further government regulation around access” to porn.

“I think the request for that comes from parents’ own feelings of inadequacy around how to manage social media,” she said. “It’s growing at a pace faster than they can understand.

“Parents and carers feel helpless, in many ways, to actually do the regulating themselves,” she continued. “They’re unsure of how their kids are accessing some of this material and need support.”

The parents council in its filing further cited links between porn usage and poor body image as well as the “relationship between pornography and violence against women.” 

The parents council called for education campaigns to help “provide users of technology or anyone supervising children who use technology with an understanding of how to mitigate the risks” associated with internet usage. 

The Catholic Women’s League, meanwhile, said parents should “accept responsibility for the purity and protection of children,” including strict monitoring of technology and a familiarity with sexual content blocks and filters. 

Technology platforms, meanwhile, “should be answerable for their role in exposure of children to pornography and for internet grooming of children.”

At the recent hearing Deirdre Little compared the current understanding of pornography to that of cigarette smoking in decades past. 

“We already saw … with cigarette smoking, how it went on for over a generation, two generations, before there was a warning, ‘Well, hang on. This could actually be injurious to your health,’” she noted. 

“At the moment, because there is this acceptance that standard nonviolent pornography is harmless — that there’s harmful pornography and there’s good pornography — [that] tends to normalize it,” she pointed out. 

And “we know that normalizing pornography leads to an escalation in use, and that also leads to an escalation towards other deviancy and violent forms,” she added. 

The coordinator of the Commission for Justice and Peace in Cameroon’s Diocese of Kumbo said that traffickers, who are now capitalizing on the region’s crises, “keep changing their strategies.” / Credit: Justice and Peace Commission of Kumbo Diocese

ACI Africa, Apr 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Cameroon’s Diocese of Kumbo, which is part of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, located in the country’s conflict-affected northwest region has issued an “urgent alert” on a surge of human trafficking in the diocese.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, on April 8, the coordinator of the Commission for Justice and Peace in the Cameroonian diocese said that traffickers, who are now capitalizing on the region’s crises, “keep changing their strategies.”

“The Justice and Peace Commission of Kumbo Diocese has been sensitizing us on issues of trafficking over the years,” said Sister Minkoue Falie, a member of the Congregation de Notre-Dame.

In a statement titled “An Urgent Alert on the Situation of Human Trafficking in the Diocese of Kumbo,” Falie wrote: “The ongoing crises in the two Anglophone regions have increased vulnerability, unemployment, and hardship in our communities. Traffickers are taking advantage of this, and the rate of human trafficking has drastically increased in the past years.”

“We write once again to call your attention to the growing phenomenon of human trafficking taking roots in our diocese,” Falie said, encouraging families whose members have fallen victim to human trafficking to report the matter “as a matter of urgency.”

She continued: “Many of our sons and daughters, friends, and relatives were promised jobs in big companies and are now stranded in Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, etc., always demanding more money for one thing or another as we write.”

“As a matter of urgency, we call on any family whose child or children have fallen victim to get in touch with the diocesan Justice and Peace Office as soon as possible with useful information to enable the office to respond to this worrying issue.” 

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called “Republic of Ambazonia” emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters. 

School boycotts have become common in the Cameroonian region as have enforced moratoriums on public life known as “ghost towns.”

According to a March report, Cameroon’s crisis “has caused over 900,000 people to flee internally and 60,000 people to flee abroad.”

The report indicates that “as of February 2025, more than 500,000 internally displaced people were in Anglophone-majority regions.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that the Central African nation plays host to over 400,000 refugees primarily coming from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Chad, and Niger; more than 17,000 asylum seekers; and over 1 million internally displaced persons “with an additional 658,544 returnees.”

More than 3.3 million people stand in need of humanitarian aid in Cameroon.

In recent years, however, there have been reported instances of former separatist fighters laying down arms, transitioning into professional careers, and advocating for peace.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

From left to right: Pastor of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Father Jeffrey Kirby; Nalin Haley and his parents, Nikki Haley and Michael Haley. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Jeffrey Kirby/screenshot of X post

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 14, 2025 / 19:57 pm (CNA).

Nalin Haley, the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday.

“As parents, Michael and I always prayed that our children would have a faith and relationship with God,” Nikki Haley posted on social media Sunday.

“Today we were so proud to support Nalin in his faith journey as he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, completed RCIA, and received his first holy Communion,” she said of her son.

Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, was born and raised in the Sikh faith but converted to Christianity after marrying her husband, Michael Haley, in 1996. 

In a 2012 interview, Haley said she and her husband “chose Christianity because of the way we wanted to live our life and raise our children.” She was reportedly baptized in a Methodist church but has attended Baptist churches as well. 

Nalin Haley, 23, is a 2024 graduate of Villanova University, a Catholic institution. In 2023 and 2024 he distinguished himself for his steadfast presence on the campaign trail and support for his mother. He is the younger of two Haley children. His sister, Rena, 26, is a pediatric nurse. 

Nalin was received into the Catholic Church by Father Jeffrey Kirby at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Indian Land, South Carolina.

Kirby also posted on social media to celebrate Nalin Haley’s entrance into the Church, writing: “Congratulations to Wiliam Nalin Peter, who was received into the fullness of the Christian faith today! Welcome home, Nalin!”

In addition to serving as pastor at Our Lady of Grace, Kirby is the host of the YouTube channel “Daily Discipleship with Father Kirby” and is a regular contributor to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.

Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt at the CPAC D.C. conference at the Gaylord National Resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. / Credit: DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 14, 2025 / 17:42 pm (CNA).

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, announced that he is introducing new legislation to make Easter a federal holiday so families are able to spend “the holiest day in Christianity” together.

In a thread of posts on X, Schmitt explained why the day should be federally recognized, starting with the fact that “81% of Americans celebrate Easter.”

“But,” he continued, “our current holiday schedule makes it way too difficult for families to celebrate together.”

The new bill is in the earliest stage of the legislation process but states its intent is “to designate Easter Monday as a legal public holiday,” which Schmitt said “isn’t a radical idea.”

“It’s a federal recognition of a tradition that is central to Western civilization — a tradition that’s already recognized as a public holiday in nations across (and beyond!) the West, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe,” Schmitt said.

“It isn’t even novel in America,” Schmitt continued. “We already have a ‘National Day of Prayer,’ signed into law by Missouri’s own President [Harry] Truman. A federal Easter Monday holiday allows Americans to celebrate the most extraordinary day in world history, Easter — the day of Christ’s resurrection.”

Schmitt said that Easter is not a “micro-holiday” but rather a day that “unites more than three-quarters of Americans.”

“For generations, many American school calendars gave students the day off for Good Friday and Easter Monday,” he continued.

Schmitt explained that aside from religious elements, the day off would also create a break when “workers and families need it most.”

“Easter is a floating holiday, it can fall from March 22 to April 25. The only two-month gap in our federal holiday calendar is April-May. An Easter Monday holiday fills the gap.”

Schmitt said federal recognition of the holiday is “Pro-worker. Pro-family. Pro-faith.”

“There are plenty of practical arguments for it, too,” Schmitt said. “Easter weekend already generates around $15 billion for our economy. Making it a three-day weekend could boost that by an estimated 10%-15%, adding up to $2 billion in economic activity while strengthening American families.”

“Our holidays and traditions are part of the story we tell about ourselves. This is not partisan. It’s not a ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat’ holiday. It’s an American holiday, allowing a fuller celebration of the defining moment of the faith that shaped our nation and civilization,” Schmitt said.

Thousands celebrate the beginning of Holy Week on April 13, 2025, with a Palm Sunday procession in Qaraqosh, Iraq. / Credit: Ismael Adnan/ACI MENA

ACI MENA, Apr 14, 2025 / 17:12 pm (CNA).

The streets of Qaraqosh, Iraq — also known as Baghdeda — were filled with joy as residents celebrating Palm Sunday carried olive branches and palm fronds in a grand procession of nearly 20,000 Christians. 

Following the traditional “Teshmeshto” prayer service, the procession set off from the Grand Immaculate Conception Cathedral, led by Bishop Benedictos Younan Hanno, the Syriac Catholic archbishop of Mosul and its dependencies. He was accompanied by local clergy and parish priests, followed by groups of monks, nuns, deacons, catechism students, choir members, church associations, and throngs of faithful.

As they walked through the streets of Qaraqosh, participants sang Palm Sunday hymns in both Arabic and Syriac, waving olive branches and many wearing traditional attire from Qaraqosh and other Christian towns and villages in Iraq.

‘The City of Hosanna’

Speaking to ACI MENA, Father Rony Salim, chancellor of the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul, shared that the bishop has called Qaraqosh the “City of Hosanna” due to its uniquely spirited celebration marked by hymns, prayers, and massive crowds of worshippers.

Salim noted that nearly 20,000 people took part in this year’s procession, including local residents, members of the Qaraqosh diaspora returning home for the celebration, and visitors from other Christian towns and villages across Iraq, drawn by the distinctive Palm Sunday traditions of Qaraqosh. 

“Many Qaraqosh natives living abroad take advantage of the Easter holidays to return home and partake in these celebrations filled with joy, love, and the rich heritage of their ancestors,” he added.

The palm branches carried in the procession — historically used to welcome kings and symbolizing victory and strength — were highlighted by Salim: “We too are strong in our king, Jesus, who triumphed over death. Today we welcome him with palm branches as king, and with olive branches as prince of peace.”

Local volunteers in Qaraqosh helped prepare for the event by gathering branches, decorating the streets along the procession route, and placing symbols of Palm Sunday throughout the town.

Widespread celebrations across Iraq

Qaraqosh wasn’t alone in its celebrations. 

In Erbil’s Ankawa district, the Chaldean archdiocese organized a large Palm Sunday procession for catechism students. A similar procession took place in Alqosh, also organized by the Chaldean Church. In Bartella, the Syriac Catholic and Syriac Orthodox churches held a joint celebration. In every town, the faithful followed the processions carrying olive branches and chanting Palm Sunday hymns.

Qaraqosh’s annual Palm Sunday procession has become one of Iraq’s most iconic Christian celebrations, interrupted only during the years of forced displacement following the ISIS invasion in 2014. Over the years, successive Syriac Catholic patriarchs have participated in the celebration, calling it one of the most beautiful expressions of the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem.

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

Christians processing through the Old City of Jerusalem. / Credit: Adi Marer/Rossing Center

Vatican City, Apr 14, 2025 / 16:02 pm (CNA).

The annual report by the Rossing Center, a Jerusalem-based organization dedicated to interfaith coexistence, documented 111 cases of harassment and violence against the Christian community in Israel and East Jerusalem in 2024.

The report revealed a climate of hostility that, according to one of the study’s authors, Federica Sasso, only represents “the tip of the iceberg of a much larger phenomenon.”

“Many more attacks occur, but they are very difficult to monitor,” she told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

She also noted that the Holy Land “has currently been devoid of Christian pilgrims” due to the war unleashed after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which somewhat mitigates the situation.

“If we were in a normal period of the flow of pilgrims, the number of attacks would probably be much higher,” she explained.

Sasso, who attributed the situation in part to the “growing polarization and radicalization within Israeli society,” emphasized that, although there is some widespread skepticism regarding the effectiveness of making a report, the center is observing a positive trend as religious “are increasingly willing to report incidents.”

Partly due to a “proven track record of dismissing them or releasing suspects without appropriate consequences,” they preferred not to make it public, she said.

47 physical assaults, mostly spitting

Of the 111 reported cases of assault, 47 were physical assaults primarily through “spitting,” a behavior that has evolved from subtle acts to openly aggressive displays. In several areas, especially in the Old City of Jerusalem, priests, nuns, friars, and monks “being easily identified are exposed to these attacks on a daily basis,” Sasso explained. 

According to the report, Christians have reported a “further increase in the frequency and aggressiveness of such episodes [spitting], and, according to the testimonies compiled, priests and nuns living in certain areas of Jerusalem ... now face an almost certain risk of experiencing this type of harassment every time they go out.”

In addition to harassment and spitting, the Rossing Center has certified other violations of the right to religious freedom. For example, Christian religious leaders have been told to remove crosses from public spaces.

The identified attacks include incidents of physical aggression such as spitting, direct assaults, and vandalism against churches and monasteries as well as cases of verbal harassment, which has left the Christian community feeling “increasingly threatened in their own homes,” Sasso said. 

Last year, 35 cases of vandalism and desecration in churches and monasteries were documented, including graffiti on church walls, stone throwing, arson, and defacing Christian imagery. In one particularly serious case, a Catholic retreat house in northern Israel was reported to have been raided, an incident in which “sacred objects were damaged and replaced with Jewish religious objects,” according to the report.

The report notes that responsibility for these acts falls exclusively on individuals identified as Jewish, “primarily young men from ultra-Orthodox and national-religious circles.”

According to the investigation, the climate of radicalization is motivated by “a mixture of nationalist fervor and religious extremism” that drives these groups, especially within the Hardal movement, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector with a nationalist tendency.

The report also cites ignorance of Christianity or prejudice as a reason. In this regard, Sasso pointed out that this is one of the underlying problems in the historical background of Jewish-Christian relations forged over millennia.

“Israel is the only place in the world where Jewish-Christian relations are completely different from those we have in the West; that is, it is the only place where the Jewish population is the majority and Christians are the minority, so it is a completely inverted minority relationship compared to the West,” she explained.

This context contributes to the continued perception of Christianity among Israeli Jews, which is characterized by “certain stereotypes that have been perpetuated even in school curricula.”

That’s why the report’s recommendations make it clear that education is truly essential. “It’s necessary to explain that Christianity is, above all, a religious identity, which must be separated from the historical memory of the Shoah [Holocaust],” Sasso added.

Almost half of Christians under 30 want to emigrate

Beyond the episodes of physical violence, the daily harassment of the Christian community has had a devastating effect, creating a feeling of insecurity and abandonment.

The data show that “pressure” is becoming increasingly evident and has caused nearly 48% of young Christians under 30 to consider emigrating. Of these, 77% attribute their decision to “increasing discrimination and violence” exacerbated by socio-political instability.

In an environment where Christians, who represent just 1.8% of the Israeli population and a modest 4% in Jerusalem, feel increasingly marginalized, the study warns of the possible permanent erosion of their religious rights and freedoms.

In fact, the Rossing Center report warns of their progressive “Judaization” through new settlement policies such as “the plan to build 11,500 housing units in East Jerusalem.” 

According to the report, minority religious denominations also suffer from taxation policies because, although their places of worship benefit from them, their schools, youth centers, and pilgrim hostels are not exempt. Jewish ones are. This has led to numerous disputes between Christian communities — especially the Custody of the Holy Land — and municipal authorities.

In addition to other factors, the Rossing Center report warns of another problem in northern Israel. Organized crime there committed 230 murders last year, particularly affecting Christians in Galilee, who are known for being particularly law-abiding but lack state protection from crime.

The analysis concludes that, without strong measures to promote inclusion and respect, the historic Christian presence in the Holy Land could experience a “significant” decline in the coming years, affecting not only the local community but also the interfaith dynamics in the region, with global repercussions.

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

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. / Credit: Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Apr 14, 2025 / 15:32 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Pennsylvania have expressed shock and offered prayers after a man was arrested and charged for allegedly attempting to murder Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family by setting the governor’s residence ablaze early Sunday morning.

Cody Balmer, 38, allegedly managed to scale an iron security fence and enter the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, quickly setting a fire in a dining room using improvised incendiary devices, police said at a press conference on Monday. Shapiro and his family were able to escape unharmed, but the residence was heavily damaged.

The incident took place in Harrisburg, the state capital. Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg in an April 14 statement said the attack “struck at the very heart of our shared values as a society.”

“I want to unequivocally state that all forms of hate are unacceptable. They have no place in our hearts, our homes, or our communities. Such acts of violence and intolerance threaten the fabric of our society and undermine the principles of love, respect, and understanding that all people of faith are called to embody,” Senior said. 

At a press conference Sunday, Shapiro, an observant Jew who had celebrated a Passover Seder with his wife, four children, and extended family at their home the night before the attack, said he was “overwhelmed by the prayers and messages of support” and vowed not to be deterred if, in fact, the suspect was attempting to intimidate him because of his Jewish faith. 

“No one will deter me, or my family, or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly,” Shapiro said. 

Balmer told police he planned to beat Shapiro with a sledgehammer if he had found him inside the house. Prosecutors have charged Balmer with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, and other crimes, NPR reported. He may face federal charges as well. 

Police have not announced whether they have uncovered a motive for the attack other than saying Balmer “admitted to harboring hatred towards Gov. Shapiro.” The suspect’s mother told the Associated Press that her son “wasn’t taking his medicine” at the time of the attack. 

Harrisburg’s Bishop Senior went on to say that as Catholics, “we must be committed to the eradication of any form of hatred, including antisemitism,” and called on his flock to seek to create an environment where “the God-given dignity of every person is respected.”

“I am saddened that any form of political violence, let alone violence that is motivated by an attempt to suppress or intimidate a family because of their religion, is found in our community — especially at this time that is so sacred to our Jewish brothers and sisters and also to all of us as Christians as we celebrate Holy Week,” Senior continued. 

“Our prayers are with the Shapiro family and their guests, whose faithful observance of the sacred tradition of their faith was grievously violated by this act. We Christians must stand in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters in all circumstances, but especially this year as the observance of the days of Passover coincides with the most sacred days of the Christian liturgical calendar, Holy Week, the week leading us to our Easter celebration.”

Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, in his own statement, similarly called to mind the shared patrimony of the Christian and Jewish people.

“Particularly during this Holy Week for Christians and Passover time for the Jewish people, we focus on the deep love that God has for all of us. We must be deeply grateful that Gov. Shapiro and his family are safe, and we must also pray for an end to violence, which goes against everything good about us as human beings,” Zubik said.

This story was updated April 15, 2025, at 6:06 p.m. ET with the statement from Harrisburg Bishop Timothy Senior.

President Donald Trump speaks with White House groundskeepers on April 8, 2025. / Credit: The White House/Flickr

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 14, 2025 / 15:02 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump issued two messages on Palm Sunday recognizing the importance of the Holy Week leading up to Easter and renewed his calls to protect religious liberty in public policy.

In a post on the social media platform Truth Social and in a White House presidential message, Trump wished Christians a “Happy Easter” and discussed the importance of the celebration for Christians and the nation.

“Christians around the world remember the crucifixion of God’s only begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate his glorious resurrection and proclaim, as Christians have done for nearly 2,000 years, ‘HE IS RISEN!’” Trump said in an April 13 post on Truth Social.

“Through the pain and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we saw God’s boundless love and devotion to all humanity and, in that moment of his resurrection, history was forever changed with the promise of everlasting life,” the president said in the post. 

Trump, who describes himself as a nondenominational Christian, wished fellow Christians “a happy and very blessed holiday” and called the United States “a nation of believers,” adding: “We need God, we want God and, with his help, we will make our nation stronger, safer, greater, more prosperous, and more united than ever before.”

The president also issued a statement through the White House in which he said: “[First Lady] Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of heaven for all of humanity.”

Trump said Holy Week “is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion — and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for his miraculous resurrection from the dead.”

“During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross,” Trump said. 

“In his final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all his creation,” he added. “Through his suffering, we have redemption. Through his death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through his resurrection, we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness — signaling that death does not have the final word.”

The president also urged prayers for “an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved nation” and that the United States “will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in heaven.”

Renewing commitment to religious liberty

In his message released through the White House, Trump also emphasized his support for religious liberty in public policy.

“This Holy Week, my administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government,” the president said. “We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.”

In February, Trump signed an executive order to create a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” within the federal government. The task force is reviewing policies within the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal departments and agencies to identify unlawful anti-Christian policies.

Trump also reversed executive policies from former President Joe Biden’s administration that sought to impose “gender identity” anti-discrimination rules on Catholic entities, which the nation’s bishops had warned would make them ineligible for public contracts.

However, the bishops have feuded with the administration over its cuts to migrant and refugee programs and foreign aid contracts, which supported Catholic nongovernmental organizations both domestically and abroad. The bishops are currently involved in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over some of the funding cuts.

Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks at the annual CPAC D.C. conference at the Gaylord National Resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. / Credit: DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 14, 2025 / 14:32 pm (CNA).

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed into law a bill to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. 

The Keep Kids First Act provides religious freedom protections to both prospective parents and faith-based adoption and foster care organizations to prevent either from having to violate their firmly held religious beliefs during the fostering and adoption processes. 

The act specifies that the state government may not discriminate against adoptive parents based on “refusal to accept or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs” and grants parents the ability to seek legal action against the state for violations. 

“Every child deserves a loving home that can provide them stability and opportunities to grow. Yet other states have put politics over people by excluding caring families and faith-based adoption and foster care organizations from helping children find loving homes,” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen stated in response to the news.

Chafuen praised the act for prioritizing “the well-being of kids by prohibiting state and local government officials from discriminating against adoption and foster care providers and parents simply because of their religious beliefs and moral convictions.”

ADF currently represents families in Vermont and a mother in Oregon who are fighting lawsuits against policies in those states that require prospective foster and adoptive parents to first affirm an adherence to gender ideology before they can foster or adopt children.

Last week, lawmakers in Kansas successfully voted to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a law protecting religious liberty of adoptive and foster parents on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation. More than two-thirds of Kansas lawmakers voted to pass the law prohibiting Kansas Department for Children and Families from enacting policies that would force an adoptive parent or foster parent to affirm support for gender ideology or homosexuality to obtain a license to adopt or foster children.