Northwoods Catholic Churches -- St. Anne, Boulder Junction; St. Mary, Sayner; St. Rita, Presque Isle

Veteran EWTN executive Edwin Lopez is the new executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Commission on Social Communications. | Credit: EWTN

Jan 14, 2026 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Edwin Lopez, who for more than two decades has served as EWTN’s regional manager for Asia-Pacific, has been appointed as the new executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Commission on Social Communications.

Lopez’s appointment was announced during a recollection of CBCP personnel and volunteers in Manila. He is the first married layman to serve in the role.

In this capacity, Lopez, who will continue in his long-standing Asia-Pacific management role at EWTN, will serve as the CBCP commission’s primary operational and coordinating leader, turning the bishops’ pastoral goals into practical projects and activities.

Commenting on the appointment, EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Warsaw celebrated the fact that “Edwin will continue in his leadership role at EWTN while also supporting the CBCP in this important responsibility, further strengthening the Church’s communications at a critical time.”

“We are proud that he has been asked to place his experience and expertise at the service of Church leaders in this new capacity,” Warsaw continued, noting that Lopez is “a strong advocate for the Church in Asia and the Philippines who has served EWTN faithfully for more than 25 years, and his leadership continues to be an extraordinary gift to both the Catholic Church and our global mission.”

For his part, Lopez told CNA: “I hope to contribute what over 25 years in social communications across the Asia Pacific region has taught me: Digital tools can broaden contact and strengthen connection, but they cannot replace relational communion.”

“God did not merely send a message, he sent himself — in person. When we confuse means and end, we deepen the crisis of intimacy; when communion remains the end, even AI and digital media become faithful servants that lead people back to relationships, communities, and the Eucharist,” Lopez emphasized.

Lopez succeeds Father Ildefonso “Ilde” Dimaano, who was tapped by CBCP president Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa to serve as his spokesperson.

Lopez is also a professor in the philosophy and theology department of San Carlos Seminary in Makati City. He holds graduate degrees in business administration, international management, and development communication.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu in 2019. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN

Jan 14, 2026 / 11:45 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s Court of Cassation has cleared the way for the appeal phase of the Secretariat of State funds trial — commonly tied in headlines to Cardinal Angelo Becciu — rejecting last-ditch procedural challenges and accepting the recusal of Vatican Promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi from the case.

In two separate rulings — one brief and another running eight pages — the court closed the remaining disputes that had stalled the appeal proceedings over the Holy See’s investment in a luxury property on Sloane Avenue in London.

The Cassation decisions mean the appeal will proceed without Diddi, and they also uphold the appeal court’s earlier finding that the promoter’s office filed its own appeal improperly and outside required procedures and deadlines. As a result, the appeal phase will now focus primarily on defense appeals — which could at most lead to reduced sentences or even acquittals for some defendants.

The appeal trial is scheduled to resume Feb. 3.

What the Cassation court decided

The case reached the Court of Cassation after a series of procedural clashes in the appeal court, including:

— defense motions seeking Diddi’s recusal following intercepted communications suggesting contacts with individuals involved in the wider case;

— defense arguments that the promoter’s appeal was inadmissible because it failed to follow procedural rules and timelines; and

— a countermove from the promoter’s office seeking to challenge the appeal court itself — effectively attempting to halt proceedings by disputing the court’s authority to declare the promoter’s appeal inadmissible.

The Vatican’s Court of Cassation accepted Diddi’s decision to abstain from the case, a move that effectively ends the push to force a formal ruling against him. In its more detailed ruling, the court reaffirmed that the promoter’s appeal was filed incorrectly and that the appeal court acted properly in declaring it inadmissible.

The court is presided over by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, with Cardinals Matteo Zuppi, Augusto Paolo Lojudice, and Mauro Gambetti among the judges, alongside other members of the panel.

Background: London deal and first verdicts

The broader trial centers on Vatican financial management tied to the Secretariat of State and its London real estate investment. Vatican prosecutors argued that intermediaries worked together to extract money from the Holy See as control of the property shifted between financiers.

Becciu — the first cardinal tried by a Vatican civil tribunal following a decision by Pope Francis — was convicted in the first-instance verdict and sentenced to five years and six months in prison on charges including embezzlement and fraud. Other defendants received prison sentences as well, including Enrico Crasso (seven years), Raffaele Mincione (five years and six months), Cecilia Marogna (three years and nine months), and Gianluigi Torzi (six years). In total, first-instance convictions amounted to about 37 years of prison time, along with an order to confiscate 166 million euros ($193.6 million), though several defendants were acquitted on some counts.

The appeal phase has unfolded in a changed Vatican context after the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV, who has signaled he intends to let Vatican justice proceed without the kinds of papal interventions that marked earlier stages of the case.

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

The image of the Black Nazarene moves through dense crowds during the 30-hour procession in Manila, Philippines, on Jan. 9, 2026. | Credit: CBCP News

Jan 14, 2026 / 11:15 am (CNA).

More than 9.6 million Catholics joined the annual feast of the Black Nazarene, one of Asia’s biggest religious events, seeking miracles and hope on Jan. 9 in the Philippines.

In a fiery homily at the fiesta Mass, Bishop Rufino Sescon Jr. of the Diocese of Balanga called on politicians implicated in infrastructure corruption to resign, declaring “shame on you” as devotees braved a record-breaking 30-hour procession through Manila’s streets.

This year’s Traslacion — the procession of the glass-encased image of Jesus Nazareno — lasted 30 hours, 50 minutes, and 1 second, from Jan. 9–10, the longest procession ever, according to Police Major Hazel Asilo, spokesperson of the National Capital Region Police Office. Last year’s procession lasted 20 hours and 45 minutes and drew about 8.1 million devotees.

“I look at the Nazarene, who carried the cross for us to save us. That’s how we should be — to be tough amid all situations and not to give up,” Maria Christine Rey, a mother of four young children, told CNA.

John Quilaquil, a college student, said the event was transformative despite his suffering from the flu, chronic joint pain, and a severe cold. “This traslacion [Spanish for ‘movement’] is very special to me. Aside from this being the longest traslacion in history, I have a lot of new experiences to cherish in my entire life,” he said, describing how he pulled the carriage rope and climbed behind the cross.

Political corruption condemned

Sescon celebrated the Mass at the Quirino Grandstand before the procession began. In his homily, he called on officials implicated in flood-control projects and infrastructure corruption — purportedly costing taxpayers billions of dollars — to step down. Most projects were considered “ghosts”; either they never materialized or were shoddily built.

“In our country today, some people refuse to step down despite having done bad things or become deadweights or made the poor suffer, even though the country is drowning in floods,” Sescon said. “Shame on you. Please step down for the people’s sake.”

The Metro Manila police deployed over 18,000 personnel to ensure public safety amid the massive crowds. Authorities said four deaths were recorded during the event. Church officials clarified that the photojournalist who passed away on Jan. 9 while covering the event was not considered a casualty of the religious activity, citing a preexisting medical condition.

Cardinal’s message of humility

Before Jan. 9, a nine-day novena of Masses offered by various bishops from the region was prayed. On Jan. 4, Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jose Advincula presided over the fifth novena Mass before traveling to Rome to participate in the first extraordinary consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV.

In his homily, Advincula appealed to devotees’ humility and selfless actions. “Let us ask for this most precious grace — humility and a pure love and devotion that are not about ourselves, but about God,” he said. “True devotion is knowing how to give without needing recognition, knowing how to serve without looking to be praised, and knowing how to love without expecting anything in return.”

Legacy of devotion

The annual religious procession marks the arrival in 1606 of a wooden statue from Mexico depicting a dark-skinned, suffering Christ. Augustinian Recollect missionaries landed ashore on May 31, bringing religious images including the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, showing Christ carrying his cross en route to crucifixion.

The Black Nazarene is a life-size statue sculpted from mesquite wood now enshrined in the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno, popularly known as Quiapo Church. Over decades, it has become one of the most popular objects of devotion for Catholics in the archipelago nation of 116 million people.

“Through the years, the devotion has not waned in its intensity and passion — folk Catholics still experience a profound personal encounter with the image of Christ,” said Father Benigno P. Beltran, a Divine Word missionary.

The main attraction is “traslacion,” a reenactment of the 1787 solemn transfer of the image from its original shrine in Bagumbayan, the present Rizal Park, to Quiapo Church.

Millions of Filipinos joined the procession from Quirino Grandstand along the streets of the Quiapo district during the four-mile journey. Devotees walked barefoot, usually wearing maroon shirts, the color of the Nazarene image. The theme was “He Must Go Up, and I Also Go Down” (cf. John 3:30).

The image returned to its home on the morning of Jan. 10, concluding what is now officially the longest traslacion in the feast’s history. The nine-day novena from Dec. 31 until Jan. 10 was attended by over 9,640,290 devotees, according to Church officials.

Testament of faith

Father Ramon Jade Licuanan, rector and parish priest of the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno, said the feast is a devotion born of suffering, faith, and hope. Many believe the image has miraculous power, making it a beacon of hope.

“Many can relate to the image of the Nazarene: a God who is united in our suffering so that we can be saved from the hardship, pain, and fire that we go through in life,” explained Father Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, CM, president of Adamson University, Manila.

“Some educated people look down on this religiosity as fanaticism or superstition. Others call it ‘opium of the masses.’ Listening to the people who are there, I call it everyday resistance,” he added.

Credit: Lisa F. Young/Shutterstock

Jan 14, 2026 / 10:25 am (CNA).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it is addressing a religious worker visa backlog with rules that will reduce wait times and disruptions in ministry for faith-based communities.

“Under the leadership of Secretary [Kristi] Noem, DHS is committed to protecting and preserving freedom and expression of religion. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure religious organizations can continue delivering the services that Americans depend on,” a DHS spokesperson said in a press release Wednesday. “Pastors, priests, nuns, and rabbis are essential to the social and moral fabric of this country. We remain committed to finding ways to support and empower these organizations in their critical work.”

Under the rule expected to be issued Jan. 14, religious workers in the country on R-1 visas would no longer be required to reside outside of the U.S. for a full year if they reach their statutory five-year maximum period of stay before completing their green card applications.

“While R-1 religious workers are still required to depart the U.S., the rule establishes that there is no longer a minimum period of time they must reside and be physically present outside the U.S. before they seek readmission in R-1 status,” DHS said.

DHS acknowledged the significant demand for visas within the EB-4 category “has exceeded the supply for many years,” citing 2023 changes implemented by President Joe Biden’s State Department. “By eliminating the one-year foreign residency requirement, USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] is reducing the time religious organizations are left without their trusted clergy and non-ministerial religious workers,” according to a DHS statement.

The rule, expected to be issued at 11 a.m. Jan. 14, is effective immediately, DHS said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press conference in December 2025 that the government would reveal its plan “early next month” for religious worker visas that would avoid giving preference to one denomination over another. Rubio noted that the plan would not favor one religion over another and that there would be “country-specific requirements depending on the country they’re coming from.” 

“I think we’re going to get to a good place,” Rubio said at the time. “We don’t have it ready yet. All this takes time to put together, but we’re moving quickly. I think we’ll have something positive about that at some point next month, hopefully in the early part of next month.”

Visas for religious workers allow foreign nationals to work for a U.S. religious organization, through the temporary R-1 visa or a Green Card EB-4 visa, which requires at least two years of membership in the same denomination and a job offer from a qualifying nonprofit religious group.

Rubio had also said in August the administration was working to create a “standalone process” for religious workers, separate from other competing applicants to the employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) category of visas that became severely backlogged after an unprecedented influx in unaccompanied minor applicants — most of which the USCIS has since alleged were fraudulent — who were added to the already-tight category under the Biden administration.

In November 2025, a Catholic diocese in New Jersey dropped a lawsuit filed against the Biden administration’s State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and USCIS, citing knowledge of a solution with national implications.

Since the issue of the backlogged visas started, multiple U.S. dioceses have called for a solution. Priests in the Archdiocese of Boston who are in the U.S. on visas were urged to avoid international travel amid the Trump administration’s immigration policies and deportations.

Priests and other Church leaders have expressed fear of having to leave their ministries and return to their home countries, then endure lengthy wait times before coming back. Church officials have warned that a continuing backlog could lead to significant priest shortages in the United States.

“We are grateful for the administration’s attention to this important issue for the Church and value the opportunity for ongoing dialogue to address these challenges so the faithful can have access to the sacraments and other essential ministries,” a spokesperson for the USCCB told CNA.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens, seen here in 2024, spoke this week in Minnesota on how to heal and to bring grief before God. | Credit: Diego López Marina/ACI Prensa

Jan 14, 2026 / 09:21 am (CNA).

Just miles from Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis — the site of a deadly school shooting during the summer of 2025 — a bishop this week led the local Catholic community in a reflection on how to heal and to bring grief before God.

In a presentation on Jan. 13 at St. John the Baptist Church in New Brighton, Minnesota, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, encouraged the community to pour out their pain to God in faith.

Bookended by Mass and adoration, the presentation, “A Wounded Church: Finding Peace and Healing,” was streamed online.

During the talk, Cozzens discussed how to reconcile faith in God with horror that takes place in a Catholic church, such as the Aug. 27 shooting, which claimed the lives of two children and injured many others.

He noted that God “doesn’t will evil” but that he brings good out of it “always.”

“We were not made for death; we were made instead for eternal life,” he said. “But this is also why trite answers won’t help us when it comes to facing the problem of evil.”

“Jesus was wounded by evil,” Cozzens continued. “We know that, but we also know that Jesus allowed his wounds to become a place of grace, or of life.”

“It’s one of the great mysteries of our faith that Jesus still has his wounds when he rises from the dead,” he pointed out.

Cozzens, who served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis from 2013 to 2021, shared some of his personal struggles with faith that he dealt with as the local Church confronted years of sexual abuse by Catholic leaders.

The bishop talked about the importance of bringing struggles to God in prayer.

In that place of pouring out his struggles, Cozzens has found that “that’s the place where God has to speak.”

“The real thing that’s bothering me — that’s the only place his word can meet me,” Cozzens said.

“It’s actually after pouring out my feelings that then I can receive the truth of what God wants to say to me,” he said. “Because now I’ve opened up the wound and that place is ready, and I see it, and he can speak to it.”

In response to the problem of evil, Cozzens said: “There’s not a simple answer, but there is an answer.”

“God’s answer to evil is the cross,” he said.

Shrine of Christ the King of Peace on Cubilete Hill. | Credit: El Tabor Mexicano-National Votive Shrine of Christ the King

Jan 14, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the Cristero War, also known as the Cristiada, more than 45,000 young people from all over Mexico will participate on Jan. 31 in the National Youth March to the monument to Christ the King on Cubilete Hill in Guanajuato state.

The organizers announced at a Jan. 12 press conference that the activities will begin on the evening of Friday, Jan. 30, with Cubifest, a youth gathering that will take place in the small town of Aguas Buenas and will continue throughout the night. The event will feature performances by nationally known bands.

At dawn on Saturday, a Holy Hour will be held, followed by the official start of the ascent to the Christ the King monument atop the hill.

The day will culminate with the celebration of Holy Mass celebrated by the apostolic nuncio to Mexico, Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, and concelebrated by the archbishop of León, Jaime Calderón Calderón, along with other bishops and priests.

The 2026 edition of the youth pilgrimage coincides with the centenary of the beginning of the Cristero War, one of the most significant episodes in the religious and social history of Mexico.

The conflict originated after the so-called “Calles Law” went into force on July 31, 1926, which tightened restrictions against the Church and led to the Mexican bishops deciding to suspend public worship.

These provisions resulted in a spontaneous armed uprising of Catholics in different regions of the country. The conflict formally ended on June 21, 1929, although the persecution and killings of those who had participated in the Cristero War continued for several more years.

Current persecution

During the press conference, leaders of the Witness and Hope group, responsible for organizing the annual march, stated that one of the purposes of this year’s event is to denounce what they described as a “subtle but growing censorship” against Catholic expression.

They cited attacks on churches, the increase in the number of priests murdered in recent years, and “attempts at reforms that seek to limit religious life” as signs of this censorship.

“We raise our voices against a reality that deeply wounds the soul of Mexico. We are living in times when there is an attempt to silence faith, to silence pastors, and to relegate Christ to the private sphere, as if faith were an obstacle in public life,” they stated.

The organizers noted that this is a form of persecution in which, although the authorities “don’t wear a uniform or carry a rifle, they inflict wounds with the same contempt as in the past.”

“Mexico is not experiencing true secularism,” they said. “It is experiencing a climate that seeks to uproot the presence of Christianity from the social, cultural, and political life of our country.”

They emphasized that the march does not seek to rekindle an armed conflict but rather to demand respect and freedom to proclaim Christ peacefully, “with the cross, the rosary, and prayer as instruments of peace.”

A form of ‘resistance’

In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Rubén Loya, a member of Witness and Hope, said that rather than commemorating a war, the march seeks to remember “the beginning of the Cristero resistance.”

He explained that while war involves armed conflict, “resistance goes far beyond that,” as it includes the testimony of thousands of martyrs who lost their lives for their faith, as well as that of the families who remained in their homes “praying and reciting the rosary for the end of the war.”

He also remembered the priests who continued to celebrate Mass clandestinely during the persecution as an expression of fidelity and hope.

Loya said the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Cristero War aims to be a call for peace and unity, “not as a milestone [marking the beginning] of war but as a moment in which we as a Church come together again and find the transcendent meaning of what we do.”

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

Pope Leo XIV gives the first general audience of 2026 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 7, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 14, 2026 / 06:20 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV urged Christians on Wednesday to set aside time in their daily lives to speak with God in prayer and warned about the harm to one’s relationship with him when this is ignored.

“Time dedicated to prayer, meditation, and reflection cannot be lacking in the Christian’s day and week,” the pontiff said during the catechesis at his general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 14.

The pope devoted the second week of his series of teachings on the documents of the Second Vatican Council to a closer examination of the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum dedicated to divine revelation.

Pointing to the document, he highlighted listening and dialogue with God as foundations of a Christian life.

“From this perspective, the first attitude to cultivate is listening, so that the divine Word may penetrate our minds and our hearts; at the same time, we are required to speak with God, not to communicate to him what he already knows but to reveal ourselves to ourselves,” Leo said.

The Holy Father also drew on the human experience of friendship to warn about the dangers of neglecting one’s spiritual life: “Our experience tells us that friendships can come to an end through a dramatic gesture of rupture, or because of a series of daily acts of neglect that erode the relationship until it is lost.”

“If Jesus calls us to be friends, let us not leave this call unheeded. Let us welcome it, let us take care of this relationship, and we will discover that friendship with God is our salvation,” he said.

The pope insisted that this living relationship with God is cultivated above all through prayer, understood as an authentic friendship with the Lord.

This experience, he explained, is achieved first of all in liturgical and community prayer, “in which we do not decide what to hear from the Word of God, but it is he himself who speaks to us through the Church.” It is also achieved in personal prayer, which takes place “in the interiority of the heart and mind,” and which should form part of every believer’s day and week.

‘Only when we speak with God can we also speak about him’

The pontiff stressed that only from a personal relationship with God is it possible to bear authentic witness to the faith: “Only when we speak with God can we also speak about him.”

Referring to the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum, promulgated by St. Paul VI in 1965, Leo emphasized that Christian revelation is grounded in a living and personal dialogue between God and humanity. Through this dialogue, God reveals himself as an ally who invites each person into a true relationship of friendship.

The pope noted that divine revelation has a profoundly dialogical character, proper to the experience of friendship: It does not tolerate silence but is nourished by the exchange of true words capable of creating communion.

Leo XIV also distinguished between “words” and “chatter,” explaining that the latter remains on the surface and does not create authentic relationships. In genuine relationships, he said, words do not serve merely to exchange information but to reveal who we are and to establish a deep bond with the other.

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

The HDMS Niels Juel (F363) warship, an Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate of the Royal Danish Navy, is moored in Nuuk, Greenland, on June 15, 2025. | Credit: Ludovic MARIN/AFP via Getty Images

Jan 14, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Greenlandic Catholics are reportedly expressing opposition to United States plans to acquire the territory, while Nordic Catholic leaders are waiting to see how the situation develops amid potential U.S. military intervention.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled repeatedly that he wants the U.S. to annex Greenland in some form, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt describing the matter as a “national security priority.”

Utilizing the military to that end “is always an option,” Leavitt said on Jan. 6.

The apparent threat of military action on Greenland touched off a global controversy, with U.S. advocates praising the White House’s ambitions and critics decrying it as an aggressive power move.

Trump on Jan. 11 indicated again that the effort was motivated by security concerns. “If we don’t [acquire Greenland], Russia or China will, and that’s not going to happen when I‘m president,” he told reporters on Air Force One.

‘Too early to make any definitive statements’

A sparsely populated landmass home to about 55,000 permanent residents, Greenland is among the least Catholic territories in the West, with the vast majority of Greenlanders belonging to the Lutheran church.

Catholics in the area are served by the Diocese of Copenhagen, located approximately 2,000 miles east of Nuuk, the most populous city on the island. Though mostly self-administered, the region falls under the authority of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner, CPS, the secretary-general of the Nordic Bishops‘ Conference, told CNA that the bishops — who serve Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland — will be holding a plenary meeting in March.

“By then we expect to have a clearer understanding of the situation,” she said. “It is very likely that the matter will be discussed at that time.”

It is “too early to make any definitive statements,” Kaschner said, though she added that there is some consternation already among Greenland’s small Catholic population, which is almost entirely concentrated in a single parish, Christ the King Church in Nuuk.

“Parishioners in Greenland have expressed concern about the situation involving the United States,” she said. “According to the parish priest, many have said that Greenland is their land, their country, and their home, and that they do not wish to become Americans.”

That sentiment has been echoed by political leaders in Greenland, a territory that has developed a distinct identity quite apart from its North American geography and its European administration.

A Jan. 9 joint statement from the country’s major political parties said bluntly: “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes — we want to be Greenlanders.”

“The future of our country is for the Greenlandic people themselves to decide,” the leaders said, vowing to “independently decide what our country’s future should look like — without pressure, without delays, and without interference from others.”

The territory’s leaders have considerable latitude for self-governance, particularly after a self-rule law in 2009 established local control of the legal system and law enforcement, among other jurisdictions. Greenland is also permitted to seek full independence from Denmark if its people desire to do so.

With Catholic representation on the island sparse, the Church’s role in any future deliberation may be limited. Still, Kaschner said, Church leaders in Europe may develop a stance on the issue in the near future.

“Generally, Catholic leaders in the Nordic countries handle issues like this with caution, stressing respect for local people, existing sovereignty, and the dignity of affected communities,” she said.

Ahead of a clearer picture of the international dispute, she said, “there’s no single official stance beyond a focus on the well-being and wishes of Greenland’s people.”

The Christendom College Women’s Basketball team, with Mary Pennefather, third from left, voices opinions on women’s sports at the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13, 2026. | Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA

Jan 13, 2026 / 18:45 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether to uphold state laws banning transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams, and Catholic athletes outside the court said they hope justices keep the laws on the books.

Mary Pennefather, captain of the women’s basketball team for Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, said: “If these court cases are allowed to happen, then say goodbye to all women’s sports, because then all the transgender athletes will just come and play in the women’s sports and get their national champion championships and NCAA titles from there.”

Standing among her teammates outside the Supreme Court, Pennefather said: “I can work as hard as I can to be good at my sport, and a man can come in and work half as hard, and he will always be bigger, faster, and stronger than me. It totally goes against God’s natural law. He made humans male and female. And now you have these people coming in here and saying, ‘That’s not right,’ that men could be women and vice versa … it’s totally disrupted and disordered, and it’s a breakdown of the family.”

The court heard more than three hours of arguments regarding two cases originating from Idaho and West Virginia in which lower courts upheld challenges by transgender athletes to statewide bans under the U.S. Constitution and federal anti-discrimination law. Supreme Court justices including Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch appeared to back the bans at several points during the oral arguments.

The challenges were brought by two transgender athletes: 15-year-old West Virginia high school student Becky Pepper-Jackson, and Boise State University student Lindsey Hecox of Idaho, who had attempted to withdraw the case but was ultimately denied.

Bishops weigh in

U.S. bishops submitted an amicus brief in support for the petitioners in Idaho v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., stating that if Catholic schools were forced to allow transgender athletes in women’s sports, they would need to halt all athletic programs or stop accepting funding “because allowing such competition would undermine fundamental Catholic teachings regarding the immutable, God-given differences between the sexes.”

Idaho and West Virginia both have laws that ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams at public schools and universities that do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. There are 25 other states that have such laws.

“There are an awful lot of female athletes who are strongly opposed to participation by trans athletes in competitions with them,” Alito said at one point during the oral arguments. He then asked whether girls who express these opinions should be regarded as “bigots.” He added: “Are they deluded in thinking that they are subjected to unfair competition?” He also questioned whether transgender athletes hold an unfair advantage over biological women in sports at other points during the hearing.

Alito further insisted that a definition of sex is necessary in order to prove that transgender athletes are being discriminated against, stating: “How can a court determine whether there’s discrimination on the basis of sex without knowing what sex means for equal protection purposes?” Alito posed this question in response to ACLU lawyers’ position that a definition of sex is not legally necessary.

Kavanaugh emphasized the importance of Title IX and sex-based distinctions, stating: “One of the great successes in America over the last 50 years has been the growth of women and girls’ sports. And it’s inspiring.”

He said allowing transgender people to compete in women’s sports would “undermine or reverse that amazing success and create unfairness.”

“For the individual girl who does not make the team or doesn’t get on the stand for the medal or doesn’t make all-league,” he said, “there’s a harm there, and I think we can’t sweep that aside.”

Gorsuch said “bottom line, sports are assigned by sex because sex is what matters in sports,” adding that separation based on sex “is the fairest and the safest and the most administrable way to assign sports teams.”

“It’s been widely accepted for many decades because it’s necessary for fair competition because, where sports are concerned, men and women are obviously not the same,” he said during the hearing. “If Idaho can’t enforce a sex-based line here in sports, where nobody disputes that biological differences matter, then no line based on biological sex can survive constitutional scrutiny.”

“The court should uphold the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act and reverse,” he concluded.

Outside the court, Matt Sharp, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, highlighted the importance of the court “protecting fairness in women’s sports.”

“If young women are made spectators in their own sports,” Sharp said, “we know they’re going to lose medals, they’re going to lose scholarships, they’re going to have their privacy violated.”

Steve Ward, a board-certified internal medicine physician with Do No Harm, said: “I think this issue is representative of a much deeper concern that I have about the medical profession,” he said. “We’re here to support women’s sports, and that’s certainly important, but to my mind, we really have to think more carefully about what this means for the future of science and scientific research.”

Ward emphasized the importance of scientific research based on “objective and fixed” reality. “All of these great great scientists of the past understood that, that the world could be studied because they had a Judeo-Christian worldview understanding that we live in a world that you can approach and you can make objective observations, perform the scientific method and so forth and reach some type of a conclusion that you can repeat and move forward with, develop technologies and all sorts of things,” he said, adding: “If we discard all of that history in favor of psychological categories, then you really can no longer do science at all, and you have to throw that away.”

Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer and Catholic researcher, urges the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to “return your eyes to Nicaragua” at a Jan. 13, 2026, hearing. | Credit: Photo courtesy of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Jan 13, 2026 / 17:58 pm (CNA).

Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer and Catholic researcher, urged the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to “return your eyes to Nicaragua.”

“In Nicaragua, praying in public is considered a crime,” Molina said at a Jan. 13 hearing in Washington, D.C.

USCIRF heard testimony about freedom of religion or belief violations against Christians following the release of the 2025 USCIRF Annual Report. Witnesses recounted their experiences with religious freedom violations in Nicaragua, China, Nigeria, Algeria, Vietnam, Egypt, Burma, Eritrea, and Pakistan.

In Nicaragua, Molina said, “the measures that must be taken need to be more aggressive. Sanction the army. Impose direct economic sanctions. Bring [President] Daniel Ortega and [his wife, Vice President] Rosario Murillo and their collaborators before international justice and prosecute them for crimes against humanity. This year has proven that it is possible.”

Molina has conducted a study, “ Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” to show “the horrors done” at the hands of the dictators. Molina said since April 2018 she has documented 19,836 attacks “perpetrated by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua against priests, nuns, and laypeople.”

“In Nicaragua, altar boys … are harassed and monitored by the national Nicaraguan police and forced to sign documents whose contents they do not understand. Their parents are harassed and threatened with imprisonment if they speak to the media,” she said.

The Nicaraguan dictatorship “prohibits the entry of Bibles into Nicaragua and also controls the workshops where the images that Catholics use for veneration are made,” she said.

Nicaraguan Catholics are as “afraid as when the disciples of Jesus were afraid after his killing,” Molina said.

In Nicaragua, “the lack of religious freedom has profoundly limited the pastoral work of priests,” she said. “They are literally forced to be careful about how to proceed when they preach for fear of being in prison or exiled.”

Ortega and Murillo have “arbitrarily closed 13 universities and institutes,” she said. “With hatred, they have shut down centers for young people who were studying to become priests, and 304 priests and nuns have been exiled from Nicaragua. They are being expelled or prevented from entering the country.”

Due to the lack of priests now, “there are dioceses in Nicaragua that are surviving only with 30-40% of their priests,” Molina said. “As a consequence, communities in the interior of Nicaragua see their religious practices limited. They can no longer go to confession regularly.”

She added: “It is with urgency that we need to stop the criminals or they will continue to advance, which will eventually reach us in the United States.”

U.S. leadership

“At a time when Christians abroad face attacks simply for their faith, U.S. leadership is critical now more than ever,” Commission Chair Vicky Hartzler said during the Jan. 13 hearing.

Hartzler said in an interview after the hearing: “We want to have more countries designated as countries of particular concern, as special watch lists, that entity is of particular concern. We work tirelessly, constantly visiting with people on the ground, the countries hearing their stories.”

“We are very thankful the president designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern and is starting to take action to help people there,” she said. “But there are many other countries who are repressing their people, and we need to act on those countries as well. The United States has a tremendous amount of influence and opportunity to make a difference, and we should use our voice and our spot in the world to be able to help others.”

The commission also heard from U.S. representatives and senators who shared their support for the mission of USCIRF and legislation to protect religious freedom in the U.S. and abroad.

“The United States is a Christian nation,” said Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia. “We have a unique duty to defend Christians wherever they are being persecuted, and I will never stop fighting for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Rep. Mark Alford, R-Missouri, said China under Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party “does not hide its actions.” He added: “Officials openly tell religious leaders that loyalty to the party is more important than loyalty to God Almighty.” He touted legislation to reinforce China’s designation as a country of particular concern.

Hartzler said: “Religious leaders and laypersons, including Jimmy Lai, faced furious charges of fraud and subversion. In recent years, the government has demolished churches and removed crosses from public view.”

Grace Drexel testified about her father, Pastor Ezra Jin, who is imprisoned in China.

Jin “was arrested by the Chinese authorities, along with 27 other pastors and church leaders from Zion Church; 18 total remained imprisoned,” she said. The October “crackdown represents the largest takedown of an independent Christian population in China since the Cultural Revolution.”

“I urge this commission to recognize that what is happening in China is not merely a domestic matter but a global threat to religious freedom and human dignity,” Drexel said. “If the international community remains silent, we signal acceptance and impunity for such traveling of universal human rights. And unfortunately, what happens in China does not stay in China.”