Posted on 09/2/2025 22:30 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Pontifical Missions Society USA National Director Monsignor Roger Landry speaks during a panel at the 2025 EWTN Family Celebration. / Credit: EWTN/Screenshot
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 2, 2025 / 19:30 pm (CNA).
The team that led the Eternal Word Television Network’s (EWTN) coverage of this year’s conclave reflected on the significance of having a pope from the United States, along with the intense preparation and excitement that surrounded the network’s historic coverage during a roundtable discussion at the 2025 EWTN Family Celebration.
The 1,600-seat capacity Capital One Hall in Tysons, Virginia was the venue for this year’s celebration. The Aug. 30 event featured talks from various EWTN personalities and a closing Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington,Virginia and the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.
During an afternoon panel discussion, the Pontifical Missions Society USA’s National Director, Monsignor Roger Landry, recalled announcing Leo’s papacy on EWTN during live conclave coverage: “I had the chance to announce that history has been made in the Vatican: Not only do we have the 267th Peter, we have the first successor of Peter born in the United States of America.”
Reflecting on the election of the first American pope, Landry said “The Church needs some of the particular gifts God has given to Americans: our directness, our capacity to confront rather than run away from problems, our general optimism, [and] our can-do attitude.”
“All of these things are necessary, complemented by his missionary spirit, his deep faith, his Augustinian heritage,” Landry said of Pope Leo XIV. Landry said Americans and the whole Church are “very lucky to have him.”
“The Holy Spirit did his job,” he continued. “Now it’s time for us as Americans not just to say we’ve exported Robert Francis Prevost to the Apostolic Palace, but we’ve got to help him, as Americans, fulfill his mission.”
Meanwhile, EWTN News President Montse Alvarado said the most emotional part of the coverage was the announcement of "Habemus papam," which means "we have a pope,” and said she had “tears running down my face” when it was announced.
“It was a moment of just incredible joy to know that we had a new Holy Father,” she said.
Alvarado noted the significance of the whole world waiting to see the white smoke appearing from the chimney. “That chimney exposed a lie and that lie it exposed is that Christ and the Catholic Church are irrelevant,” she said.
Paola Flynn, Vatican correspondent for Spanish-language EWTN Noticias, called the coverage “a beautiful experience” and noted the interest among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
EWTN News Vice President Matthew Bunson noted “the unique position of EWTN to cover an event like this.” “We bring this tradition [of Catholicism], not just a pop culture [perspective]” like much of the coverage does. He noted that EWTN’s coverage operates “to bring the faith,” rather than to present coverage based on a “secular cultural mindset.”
During the gathering, other network personalities such The Doctor Is In host Dr. Ray Guarendi and EWTN News In Depth host Catherine Hadro, also addressed the audience.
Guarendi, a clinical psychologist who has authored several books on parenting, spoke about raising children. His talk mixed in humor with advice and expressed concern over the lack of discipline by many parents today. “Love without discipline is child abuse,” he noted.
He also addressed the suffering of parents whose children fall away from the faith. Speaking of the perfection of Jesus Christ, he asked the crowd, “Could he get most people to follow him?” to which the crowd responded in unison, “No.” He warned parents to not fall into the trap of blaming themselves, thinking they can be better than Christ himself.
Hadro, who gave birth to her first child Lily in January, discussed her spiritual journey and her struggle with being unable to become pregnant in the first six years of her marriage, noting “God is united to us in our sufferings.”
She said that through this journey she learned “a child is good, but a child is a pure gift.” She said “no one is entitled to a child” and “you can’t plan parenthood,” so “I found myself a beggar in prayer — I may not deserve a child, but I desired one.”
Hadro spoke about the spiritual impact of traveling for pilgrimages in deepening her faith and helping her through that ordeal, which included a trip to Lourdes and Lisieux in France. Nine months after placing a prayer intention for a child in the crib of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and after years of continued prayer, Hadro became pregnant with Lily. She said she thanked God for “this most abundant gift, this most undeserved gift.”
“We named her Lily in honor of St. Joseph, who’s often depicted holding a lily flower, but of course also Lily as a tribute to St. Thérèse, as she is our own little flower,” Hadro said.
Many people who attended the celebration said they came to see the network’s personalities in person and expressed a strong love for EWTN Foundress Mother Angelica, who died in 2016. Several attendees also emphasized the need for a Catholic perspective in the news.
Hugh Kelly, from Maryland, told CNA he decided to attend because of “everything that’s going on in the world, particularly attacks on Christianity, particularly attacks on Catholicism.” He said he has become more active in professing his faith and highlighted the need for Catholics to profess “the beauty of the Catholic Church, the importance of the Catholic Church, and prayer.”
He expressed concern about some media personalities and public officials criticizing prayer in the aftermath of the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting, saying that rhetoric is “diabolical, whether they know they’re being diabolical or not.”
David DeRegis, who traveled to the celebration from Syracuse, New York with his wife Michele and their son Matthew, told CNA “we follow EWTN and we think the world of Mother Angelica and Father Joseph Mary Wolfe.”
“[It’s] wonderful work that this ministry does and it’s worth every mile we traveled,” he said.
Pamela, who declined to give her last name, told CNA that she and her husband Michael are “really glad that we came,” noting they watch EWTN to get “the Catholic perspective on the news.”
Her husband added that he frequently watches reruns of Mother Angelica’s show, saying “she put the ‘wit’ in ‘witness,’ and I really miss her.”
Posted on 09/2/2025 16:40 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Crisis Response Canines dog Axel visits with community members in Minneapolis after the deadly Annunciation Church shooting there, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. / Credit: Gloucester Township Police
CNA Staff, Sep 2, 2025 / 13:40 pm (CNA).
Police from a New Jersey township brought a K-9 unit to the Minneapolis area as part of a supportive visit after the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church on Aug. 27.
The shooting, which was carried out during a Mass for the parish’s parochial school, killed eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski while injuring approximately 20 others. The killer took his own life after the shooting.
In a Facebook post on Sept. 1, the Gloucester Township Police Department said that police Chief David Harkins initially reached out to Diocese of Camden Bishop Joseph Williams, who is from Minneapolis and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in 2002.
The chief and the bishop coordinated for the police force’s K-9 “Crisis Response Canines” team to travel to Annunciation Catholic Church to "visit with the parishioners” in the aftermath of the shooting.
Photos shared on the police force’s Facebook page showed K-9 unit dog Axel, a Rottweiler, with members of the Minneapolis church community.
“We are deeply grateful to have been asked by the bishop and his presbyterate to be present with the parishioners and community during this difficult time,” Crisis Response Canines said in the Facebook post.
Crisis Response Canines is a nonprofit group that sends certified K-9 dogs throughout the country to comfort individuals who have experienced trauma or tragedy.
The group says on its website that it has worked to “establish a nationwide network of canine crisis response teams who can be deployed immediately where they are needed most.”
Among the group’s recent deployments of dogs includes a fatal car accident in California, the Florida State University shooting in April, and a police line-of-duty death in Virginia Beach, Virginia in February.
Posted on 09/2/2025 15:32 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square from the popemobile during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
CNA Staff, Sep 2, 2025 / 12:32 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of September is for our relationship with all of creation.
In a video released Sept. 2, the Holy Father asked the faithful to pray “that inspired by Saint Francis, we might experience our interdependence with all creatures who are loved by God and worthy of love and respect.”
According to a press release, this month’s video was made in collaboration with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
In the video, Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention.
Here is Pope Leo’s full prayer:
Lord, You love everything You have created,
and nothing exists outside the mystery of Your tenderness.
Every creature, no matter how small,
is the fruit of Your love and has a place in this world.
Even the simplest or shortest life is surrounded by Your care.
Like St. Francis of Assisi, today we too want to say:
“Praised be You, my Lord!”
Through the beauty of creation,
You reveal Yourself as a source of goodness. We ask You:
open our eyes to recognize You,
learning from the mystery of Your closeness to all creation
that the world is infinitely more than a problem to solve.
It is a mystery to be contemplated with gratitude and hope.
Help us to discover Your presence in all creation,
so that, in fully recognizing it,
we may feel and know ourselves to be responsible for this common home
where You invite us to care for, respect, and protect
life in all its forms and possibilities.
Praised be You, Lord!
Amen.
The video prayer intention is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.
Posted on 09/2/2025 11:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
The disciple John and Jesus in the new animated movie “Light of the World.” / Credit: Salvation Poem Foundation
CNA Staff, Sep 2, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
A new 2D-animated movie, told through the eyes of Jesus’ beloved disciple John, will be released in theaters on Sept. 5, taking viewers from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to his passion, death, and resurrection. “Light of the World” is the first movie from the Salvation Poem Project, a nonprofit ministry and independent studio that crafts stories to share Jesus Christ with the world.
Brennan McPherson, producer of the film, told CNA in an interview that his team chose to tell the story from John’s perspective because he was likely the youngest disciple so they believe his perspective is the most relatable.
“Telling it from the perspective of a young teenager — young kids want to age up and they see themselves in that. Teenagers are going through those formative years, so they relate with it. And then adults know what that formative time in their life was like. So it made it more appealing to a full family,” he explained.
He added that the filmmakers “wanted to show how the Gospel changed a young boy’s life and how it can still change our lives today.”
For the filmmakers — who also create other forms of faith-based media — projects such as this one are an “an act of worship.”
“We’re nerdy animation lovers, and we wanted to make a beautiful animated film that honored God, that told the truth about the Gospel, and that could be used as a tool to share our faith with people in a way that’s nonthreatening and that is not just compelling but genuine and respectful towards the audience,” McPherson said.
“What we’re trying to give people is an experience of the goodness of Jesus and let that resonate on a heart level so that they can fall in love with him,” he added.
When deciding what parts of Jesus’ ministry to include in the film, McPherson explained that filmmakers were trying to answer the question “How do you tell the basic big fundamental beats that make the Gospel totally clear to someone who’s had zero background?”
With this in mind, all of the choices “were through the lens of how do we make the actual structure of the story basically symbolize the Gospel itself, show the Gospel in action, as opposed to just telling us about it.”
He also emphasized the importance the filmmakers gave to “the biblical accuracy, the theological accuracy, [and] making it accessible for children.”
As for what he hopes viewers will take away from the film, McPherson said he hopes “that they will see Jesus is beautiful and fall in love with him and decide to follow him with their lives.”
“We wanted to give people a very clear emotional experience of the Gospel so that it just poured into their hearts. We’re so busy in this culture these days that it’s hard to get people to stop and really think about the claims of Jesus, really consider who he was and whether or not he was true,” he said. “And so this is our way of just basically like, ‘Hey, this is the most beautiful thing to us. That’s what we want to spend our time making art about, and we hope that you see what we see in it.’”
Posted on 09/1/2025 10:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: GBALLGIGGSPHOTO/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Sep 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
A recent study found that the rate of mental-health-related hospitalizations doubled for women who had abortions compared with women who gave birth.
The study, published this summer in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, compared abortions with other pregnancies in hospitals in Quebec, Canada, between 2006 and 2022, tracking data on women for up to 17 years.
The study, which compared more than 1.2 million women who gave birth in Quebec hospitals with more than 28,000 women who had abortions, found that “rates of mental-health-related hospitalization were higher following induced abortions than other pregnancies.”
Abortion was associated with a number of mental-health-related difficulties including hospitalization for psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide attempts, the study found.
This association was especially high for women who were younger than 25 years at the time of their abortions, as well as for patients who already had an existing mental illness.
The risk of mental health hospitalization was highest within five years of the abortion. The risk decreased gradually after the five-year point, but only after 17 years did the risk begin “to resemble” pregnancies carried to term, according to the study.
Tessa Cox, senior research associate at the think tank Charlotte Lozier Institute, said the study was “particularly powerful.”
“This recent study out of Canada, which has more comprehensive health care data than the U.S., adds to a mounting body of research suggesting that abortion can harm women’s mental health,” Cox said.
“The abortion industry downplays the evidence, so the fact that this new study included more than a million women and took prior mental health and other related factors into account makes it particularly powerful,” she told CNA.
“Women deserve to have all the facts — and women and men who have been harmed by abortion need to know that forgiveness and healing are possible,” Cox said.
Another scholar called the study “robust,” noting that it followed the data over an extended period of time and had constants that enabled the information to be more accurate.
Michael New, senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at The Catholic University of America, noted that the study “provides strong statistical evidence that abortion increases the risk of a range of mental health problems.”
New said the study had many strengths, including its large sample size, the way it tracked women over an extended period of time, and how the authors analyzed data from an extended period of time.
This method was rare, according to the study, which noted that “large population-based studies with long-term follow-up are rare yet necessary to understand the mental health needs of women post abortion.”
New called this study’s results “robust,” noting that this study stands firm against criticism that similar studies have faced.
The study is one of several that have investigated correlation between mental health challenges and abortion.
“While other research has found that women who obtain abortions are likely to suffer from mental health disorders, critics of these studies have argued that women with mental health problems are more likely to obtain abortions in the first place,” New said.
“Most importantly it holds constant whether or not the women in the study had been hospitalized with mental health problems in the past,” he said of the Canadian study.
Posted on 09/1/2025 07:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: mikeledray/Shutterstock
Denver, Colo., Sep 1, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
As the U.S. celebrates Labor Day, Catholics have a wealth of resources in biblical interpretation, Church teaching, and social thought that address the nature of work and the place of the worker in society and in God’s creation.
But are Catholics, and others, aware of these resources?
One Catholic leader considering such questions is Father Sinclair Oubre, a priest of the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas. He is the spiritual moderator of the Catholic Labor Network, a Catholic association that promotes Catholic teaching about work and labor unions. It also supports labor organizing.
“All work, no matter what the work is, is essential,” Oubre likes to say. In his view, if a woman in janitorial work at a major software company does not show up to clean the toilets and empty the trash, all production in the office will nosedive.
Centuries of Catholic teaching about labor can be found compiled in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published in 2004 by the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace. It dedicates its entire sixth chapter to human work and labor, its place in God’s plan, its role in society, and the rights and duties of workers.
“The Compendium gathers together in one place those rights that are found in Catholic social teaching, whether it’s Rerum Novarum or Quadragesimo Anno, or Centesimus Annus, and synthesizes them,” Oubre told CNA, referring to the respective encyclicals of popes Leo XIII, Pius XI, and John Paul II.
“It’s a beautiful reflection on human work in the world and a very mature and in-depth discussion of the place of work, the place of labor, and the communal nature of it,” Oubre said.
Oubre said Catholic teaching is a challenge regardless of people’s political views.
“It’s a challenge to the right, but it’s also a challenge to the left,” he said. Catholicism encourages those on the political right not simply to pray novenas and commit themselves to spiritual actions. It is a challenge not to leave other questions about work and labor to the market.
For the political left, Catholic social teaching “means you have to enter into a more intimate relationship with your Church and your relationship with Jesus and not just be as a social justice person by throwing a couple of little quotes around. It requires you to enter into that deeper spiritual relationship.”
Oubre stressed the importance of starting from the view of Catholic spirituality, not only social justice, because if we don’t, our approach “becomes ideological and polemic.” The spiritual approach “brings us closer to Jesus Christ.”
“No matter how dirty, how uncomfortable, how awful the job is, we are participating in God’s ongoing creation. It’s important that we do that job in a way that gives glory to God,” Oubre said.
The Compendium’s reflection on work begins with its biblical aspects: There is a human duty to “cultivate and care for the earth” and other good things created by God, it says. Work existed before the fall of Adam and Eve, and it is not a punishment or curse until the break with God transforms it into “toil and pain.” However, God’s rest on the seventh day of creation is the sign of the “fuller freedom” of the “eternal Sabbath.”
The life of Jesus Christ is a mission of work, from his early life helping St. Joseph in the work of a carpenter to his ministry of preaching and healing, and most of all in his redemptive labors on the cross.
The Compendium presents human labor as a way of supporting oneself and one’s loved ones, but also a way to serve the needy. Work is a way to make God’s creation more beautiful, since humankind shares in God’s art and wisdom.
“Human work, directed to charity as its final goal, becomes an occasion for contemplation, it becomes devout prayer, vigilantly rising towards and in anxious hope of the day that will not end,” the Compendium says.
God’s rest on the seventh day of creation, the Compendium says, means men and women must enjoy “sufficient rest and free time that will allow them to tend to their family, cultural, social, and religious life.”
The Compendium outlines and explains the many rights of workers: the right to rest from work; the right to a working environment that is not harmful to a worker’s health or moral integrity; the right to unemployment protections; the right to a pension and insurance for old age, disability, and work-related accidents; the right to social security for working mothers; and the right to assemble and form associations; the right to just wages and remuneration; and the right to strike.
Labor unions play a “fundamental role” in serving the common good and promoting social order and solidarity, though they must not abuse their role in society or become simply arms of a political party.
“The recognition of workers’ rights has always been a difficult problem to resolve because this recognition takes place within complex historical and institutional processes, and still today it remains incomplete,” the Compendium says. “This makes the practice of authentic solidarity among workers more fitting and necessary than ever.”
Catholic teaching has a lengthy paper record. But as in other areas, there is a challenge to practice it.
“What I find over and over again that the Church — our Church — gives us wonderful documents of guidance… and we never go back and read them,” Oubre told CNA.
He cited the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 1996 pastoral letter “Economic Justice for All,” which says the Church should be a model for labor rights and treating workers justly.
However, Oubre said that in his experience Catholic parishes often neglect to provide unemployment insurance to employees if the law allows them to opt out. Catholic institutions often act as “at-will” employers in which management can fire employees for any reason. They may show preferences for nonunion labor over unionized labor when planning and funding construction projects.
“You’re going to undercut the guy who has actually followed the Church’s teachings in regards to work by hiring somebody who may be not offering medical insurance for his employees,” the priest lamented.
For Labor Day, Oubre encouraged parishes, dioceses, and other institutions to make sure to adopt policies that put Catholic labor teaching into practice.
This story was first published on Sept. 4, 2023, and has been updated.
Posted on 08/31/2025 11:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
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CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
The Sisters of Life have launched a new website providing resources and support for women considering an abortion, women seeking healing after having an abortion, and women whose children have an adverse prenatal diagnosis.
Vis Center is named after the Latin word “vis,” which means “force” or “power.” “As women, we know that real power is unleashed when you feel listened to,” the website states.
The website includes several testimonial videos of women sharing their personal stories about finding themselves in unplanned pregnancies and the joy they found in deciding to choose life, as well as women sharing their stories of finding healing after undergoing an abortion.
“As Sisters of Life, we care about you, the whole you — body, mind, and soul. That’s why we offer a holistic approach to pregnancy, because we know that before being a medical issue, it’s a spiritual issue — it’s an issue of the heart,” the website reads.
“We believe that a woman should be empowered to move in freedom, not in fear, and that’s why we stand in solidarity with every woman who is pregnant.”
Sister Virginia Joy, SV, told CNA that while they’ve had a website for many years, “it needed to be updated” as the sisters “are always trying to reach women in crisis with a loving response and practical assistance.”
Sister Virginia Joy explained that walking with women who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies or are in need of healing after undergoing an abortion is crucial because “God entrusts us to one another.”
“To walk with these women, to listen to them, to love them and assist them in whatever way we can, whether it be through prayer or more active service, is the only appropriate response,” she added.
“We desire this website to bring hope into a situation where so many women feel alone and tempted to despair,” Sister Virginia Joy said. “We have had pregnant women in difficult circumstances say that when they read our brochure or looked at our website they felt hope for the first time in their pregnancy.”
“One woman captured it well when she said, ‘Everyone has been for abortion, no one has been for me,’” she recalled.
“We desire to be for them. It is a tremendous privilege to walk with these women, to listen to them, and to love them.”
The Sisters of Life was founded in 1991 by Cardinal John O’Connor in New York. It received formal approval as a religious institute in 2004. In addition to taking vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty, the Sisters of Life take a fourth vow — to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
The sisters currently serve in the dioceses and archdioceses of New York; Denver; Albany, New York; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto.potpoal
Posted on 08/31/2025 09:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
Soprano Catherine Wethington sings during a live performance of “Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa” at Carnegie Hall. / Credit: Richard Termine
CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A live musical performance celebrating the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta will be taking center stage at the Music Center at Strathmore in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6 after a successful performance at the historic Carnegie Hall in New York.
“Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa” highlights the life and legacy of Mother Teresa, especially her service to the poor through the order she founded — the Missionaries of Charity.
The live musical event is conducted by Dante Santiago Anzolini and features the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, baritone Sean Michael Plumb, and soprano Catherine Wethington, who also curated the show.
In 2019, Wethington was invited to sing in a chamber music festival in the Balkans, which included a concert in Skopje, Macedonia — the hometown of Mother Teresa. There she visited a museum about the life and legacy of the beloved saint and was introduced to a piece of music titled “Divine Waltz, Hymn to Mother Teresa,” which was commissioned by Dijana Toksa for the saint’s 2016 canonization ceremony at the Vatican.
The piece, composed by Genc Tukiçi, uses a poem written by Mother Teresa upon leaving her homeland to accept her call to ministry and was built off a motif composed by her cousin, Lorenc Antoni. Wethington was invited in 2023 to be the soprano soloist for the piece’s Albanian premiere commemorating the 20th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s beatification.
“The experience of performing this piece in Tirana and recognizing that St. Teresa continues to have a revolutionary impact on people’s lives today led me to create a program that celebrates her journey, her courage, and her faith,” Wethington told CNA in an interview.
The first half of the musical program focuses on Mother Teresa’s ministry to the sick and dying, and the belief that death is not the end but leads to something greater. The second half focuses on the saint’s earthly life — her childhood, her time in India, and her Catholic faith.
“The program is a combination of sacred and secular works that either place us in the physical location of her journey or highlight a part of her life from youthfulness to faithful struggle to global inspiration,” Wethington explained.
The soprano said she hopes “that people walk away from the evening recognizing that her message can impact our communities today, especially as we are surrounded by so much suffering.”
She added: “It’s tempting to place Mother Teresa on such a lofty pedestal that her impact seems beyond our reach. Her greatness didn’t spring from perfection, it grew from perseverance, faith, and relentless compassion in the face of overwhelming need.”
“Her most famous words ring like a challenge across the decades: ‘Small things done with great love will change the world.’ This isn’t mere sentiment, it’s a call to action,” Wethington said. “Her message was elegantly simple: love without condition, serve without pride, act without expecting reward. In doing so, she proved that even one gift, fully given, can transform the world. We can transform the world, too.”
Tickets to the performance in Washington, D.C., can be found here.
Posted on 08/30/2025 12:00 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
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CNA Staff, Aug 30, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
The United States is seeing the highest number of executions in more than a decade, with 30 executions so far in 2025.
CNA has released three new interactive maps to show where each state in the U.S. stands on life issues — the protection of unborn life, assisted suicide, and the death penalty. The maps will be updated as new information on each issue becomes available.
Below is an analysis of the map that shows where each state stands on death penalty laws as of August 2025.
The United States is split on the death penalty, which is also known as capital punishment. Twenty-three states have the death penalty, while 23 states have abolished it. In the remaining four states, executions have been temporarily paused via executive action, but the death penalty has not been abolished.
Of the states that have abolished the death penalty, Michigan took the lead, becoming the first state to abolish the death penalty in 1847. Alaska and Hawaii — both newer states — have never had the death penalty.
Five states (Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah) allow the death penalty via firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection.
The federal death penalty can be implemented for certain federal crimes in all 50 states as well as U.S. territories.
A total of 16 federal executions have occurred since the modern federal death penalty was instituted in 1988.
The federal death penalty was found unconstitutional in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Furman v. Georgia in 1972, but it was later reinstated for certain offenses and then expanded by the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994.
In 2024, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men but left three men on death row.
Alabama: The death penalty is legal in Alabama. The state has one of the highest per capita execution rates in the nation, with 81 people executed since 1976.
Alaska: Alaska has never had the death penalty. Capital punishment was abolished by the territorial legislature two years before Alaska became a state. Hawaii and Alaska are the only states to have never had capital punishment in state law.
Arizona: The death penalty is currently legal in Arizona but has been paused for various reasons throughout the state’s history. In 2025 executions resumed in Arizona following a three-year pause.
Arkansas: Arkansas allows the death penalty if a defendant is found guilty of capital murder, defined as the premeditated and deliberate death of another person. In 2025, Arkansas became the fifth state to use nitrogen gas for executions.
California: California has had a moratorium on its death penalty since 2019.
Colorado: In 2020, Colorado abolished the death penalty.
Connecticut: In 2012, Connecticut abolished the death penalty for future crimes.
Delaware: The Delaware Supreme Court found capital punishment to be unconstitutional in 2016, and in 2024 Delaware repealed the state’s death penalty laws.
District of Columbia: The District of Columbia does not have a death penalty. It was repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981.
Florida: Florida allows the death penalty for first-degree murder and other capital felonies, including sexual battery. Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 ended requirements for juries to vote unanimously for capital punishment. DeSantis also signed legislation allowing capital punishment in the case of sexual battery of children.
Georgia: Georgia law allows the death penalty in cases where the defendants are at least 17 years old and commit certain homicides; for instance, if the method of homicide was depraved or if the defendant committed the murder in a public place threatening other people.
Hawaii: Hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1957 when it was still a territory, prior to becoming a state. Hawaii and Alaska are the only states to have never had capital punishment in state law.
Idaho: Idaho is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squads. In 2023, the state allowed this method due to a shortage of lethal-injection drugs. The method can be used if the state cannot obtain lethal-injection drugs.
Illinois: Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.
Indiana: In Indiana, the death penalty is legal in some murder cases with “aggravating circumstances” for someone 18 or older who is not intellectually disabled. Lethal injection is the only method of execution that is legal.
Iowa: Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965. Though some capital punishment proponents have attempted to bring it back over the years, none have succeeded.
Kansas: The death penalty is legal in Kansas, but the state has not executed anyone since 1994. Kansas has abolished and reinstated the death penalty several times.
Kentucky: The death penalty is legal in Kentucky for those convicted of murder with aggravating circumstances.
Louisiana: The death penalty is legal in Louisiana.
Maine: Maine abolished the death penalty in 1887.
Maryland: Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1984.
Michigan: Michigan was the first state — and the first government in the English-speaking world — to abolish the death penalty. It abolished capital punishment in its constitution in 1847.
Minnesota: In 1911, Minnesota abolished the death penalty via the state Legislature.
Mississippi: Mississippi is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad.
Missouri: Capital punishment is legal in Missouri, typically for first-degree murder with aggravating factors.
Montana: The death penalty is legal in Montana.
Nebraska: Though Nebraska lawmakers have debated abolishing the death penalty in recent years, it remains legal.
Nevada: The death penalty is legal in Nevada in first-degree murder cases with at least one aggravating circumstance.
New Hampshire: New Hampshire abolished the death penalty in 2019 after the state Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of the repeal bill.
New Jersey: New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007.
New Mexico: New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009.
New York: In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals declared New York’s death penalty law unconstitutional.
North Carolina: The death penalty is legal in North Carolina for first-degree murder cases with an aggravating factor. The state law has 11 aggravating factors, including for sexual offenses, cruelty, and murder of a witness or law enforcement officer.
North Dakota: In 1973, North Dakota abolished the death penalty.
Ohio: In 2020, Gov. Mike DeWine declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Ohio.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma has the highest per capita state execution rate, with 127 executions from 1976–2024. Oklahoma is one of five states to allow capital punishment by firing squad.
Oregon: Executions have been paused as Oregon has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2011.
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on executions since 2015.
Rhode Island: Rhode Island abolished the death penalty in 1852. The state briefly reinstated it in 1872, but it never carried out another execution.
South Carolina: South Carolina is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad.
South Dakota: In South Dakota, the death penalty is legal only in cases where someone dies. Those who are declared insane or those with mental disabilities cannot be sentenced to capital punishment.
Tennessee: The death penalty is legal in Tennessee. In 2022, Gov. Bill Lee placed a moratorium on capital punishment for review of lethal injection protocols, but executions recently reopened.
Texas: Texas has the second-highest per capita state execution rate, with 101 executions from 1976–2024.
Utah: Utah is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad, and it has been requested twice in recent years. States with this option usually allow defendants to choose, as some say it is less painful and more instantaneous than lethal injection, which at times has taken hours to cause death.
Vermont: Vermont abolished the death penalty in 1972 after the U.S. Supreme Court — for a brief period of time — declared the punishment unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia.
Virginia: Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021.
Washington: In 2018, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, citing racial bias and arbitrariness. In 2023, capital punishment was formally removed from state law.
West Virginia: West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965, though there have been attempts to reinstate it in recent years.
Wisconsin: Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1953, one of the first states to do so.
Wyoming: The death penalty by lethal injection is legal in Wyoming. It is not allowed if the person is mentally incapacitated or pregnant.
Federal: The death penalty is legal on a federal level in the United States of America. The Trump administration restored the death penalty on Jan. 20, 2025, via an executive order.
In 2018, the Vatican developed the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, with Pope Francis updating the Catechism of the Catholic Church to reflect that the death penalty is “inadmissible” in the contemporary landscape.
Previous teaching in the catechism issued during the pontificate of St. John Paul II permitted the death penalty in “very rare” cases, saying that “cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today ... are very rare, if not practically nonexistent” (CCC, 2267, pre-2018).
Posted on 08/30/2025 11:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: Trevor Owens via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:
Brandon Vaidyanathan, a professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, has received a $3.89 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a “first-of-its-kind, large-scale international study of beauty,” the university announced.
“The project will serve as a powerful catalyst to spur scholars, practitioners, and communities to take beauty seriously as a force for good in the world,” Vaidyanathan said.
Titled after a question posed by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Can Beauty Save the World? Aesthetic Engagement Among the Spiritual But Not Religious,” will center on understanding how experiences of beauty generate “a sense of meaning and transcendence” the university indicated.
St. Louis University has announced its College of Philosophy and Letters and its Catholic Studies program will host a yearlong program, “The Pope Leo Series on AI and the Social Teachings of the Church.”
The series, which launched on Aug. 27 with an event on AI and the future of work, will consist of a monthly panel examining AI from a different aspect of Catholic social teaching and will feature a variety of academic experts on the subject, according to a press release.
Future panels will examine how AI affects education, health care, warfare, how man relates to God, and society and human relationships.
Held in the university’s Catholic Studies Center, all panels will be free to the public. A representative of the university told CNA the series will be recorded but not livestreamed.
“The goal of this series is to promote integration and interdisciplinary dialogue about artificial intelligence and its impact through sustained shared reflection on the social teaching of the Church, using as a springboard a Vatican document recommended by the new pope: Antiqua et Nova,” the university stated.
Wake Forest University and Lilly Endowment Inc. have awarded Villanova University $822,258 to go toward its “Educating Augustinian Character” project and to support the creation of an “Augustinian Ambassadors” program for undergraduates.
The grant will also benefit efforts “to make Augustinian character formation deeper and more accessible,” according to a press release from the university.
“This grant gives us the capacity to expand our efforts to advance our formative programming in a way that’s robustly Augustinian while also bringing in the fruits of a larger national conversation around universities and character education,” said one of the program’s co-directors, Anna Bonta Moreland.
Villanova is the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV, who is an Augustinian religious.
