January 28, 2025 // National
News Briefs: February 2, 2025
Pope Clears Way for Beatification of Georgia Martyrs
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has formally recognized that five Franciscan missionaries ministering in what is now the U.S. state of Georgia were killed for their faith. By signing the decree in the sainthood cause of the Georgia martyrs on Monday, January 27, the pope cleared the way for their beatification, although a date for the ceremony was not announced immediately. The Spanish Franciscans Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añón, Antonio de Badajoz, and Francisco de Veráscola were killed between September 14 and September 17, 1597, after Father de Corpa told a young Indigenous man, Juanillo, who was heir to a Guale chiefdom, that as a baptized Christian he could not take a second wife. Juanillo and a band of his men killed the priest with a stone hatchet at the Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tolomato, which is near modern-day Eulonia, Georgia. They then went after the other Franciscan missionaries living and ministering along the Georgia coast. Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah, the diocese that includes the missions where the five friars were martyred, thanked all the people who worked to promote their sainthood cause for more than 40 years. “May Venerable Friar Pedro de Corpa and Companions intercede for families everywhere and inspire husbands and wives around the world to live out the sacrament of marriage with love, truth, and fidelity,” the bishop wrote in a January 27 statement.
Trump Pardons 23 Pro-Life Activists
WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – President Donald Trump pardoned 23 pro-life activists convicted of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinics (FACE) Act on Thursday, January 23, the day before the national March for Life in the nation’s capital. The activists, many of whom Trump said were elderly, had been convicted for blocking access to abortion clinics. “This is a great honor to sign this,” said Trump, arguing they should never have been prosecuted. The Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based public interest firm, had submitted requests for pardons for 21 activists, including prominent Catholic figures Lauren Handy and Father Fidelis Moscinski. Two additional individuals, Herb Geraghty and Jay Smith, were also pardoned. Many of those pardoned were still incarcerated, with some, like Handy, serving long sentences. Father Fidelis in a statement thanked Trump, but also criticized the president’s position that states should decide abortion policy as “morally incoherent.” Steve Crampton, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, hailed the pardons as a victory for freedom, allowing pro-life activists incarcerated under the FACE Act to “enjoy the freedom that should have never been taken from them in the first place.”
Vance Spars with U.S. Bishops on Immigration Policy
WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Vice President JD Vance questioned the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, accusing the bishops’ conference of prioritizing federal funding more than “common sense immigration enforcement.” Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, January 26, Vance said, “As a practicing Catholic, I was heartbroken by their statement,” referencing the bishops’ condemnation of Trump’s executive orders on immigration. Vance criticized the USCCB for receiving more than $100 million annually in federal funds for refugee resettlement, suggesting financial motives influenced their stance. He defended Trump’s policies, including controversial measures allowing wide latitude for immigration raids on schools and churches, saying they aim to protect public safety. Officials with the USCCB have voiced concerns about the humanitarian impact of such policies, emphasizing human dignity and calling for bipartisan immigration reform. In a statement on Sunday, January 26, regarding its work with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which did not name Vance, officials with the USCCB highlighted the Catholic Church’s long-time partnership with the federal government to serve refugees. “Every person resettled through USRAP is vetted and approved for the program by the federal government while outside of the United States,” the statement said. The USCCB added that while it receives federal funding to do its work with refugees “these funds are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs,” but “nonetheless, this remains a work of mercy and ministry of the Church.”
Supreme Court Takes Up Case on Oklahoma Charter School
WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Officials with the U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday, January 24, that it would take up a case concerning the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City’s effort to establish the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would be the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school if it survives the challenge. If the high court ultimately sides with the school, the case could result in allowing public dollars to directly fund religious schools for the first time, a departure from longstanding norms about legal interpretation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. A state school board in Oklahoma had voted in June of 2023 to approve an application by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to establish the St. Isidore school. Proponents of that effort argued the proposed Catholic school met all criteria for approval as a charter school and should not be discriminated against for its religious identity. But some education activists and other opponents called it a violation of the separation of church and state and objected to the use of public funds for the school, filing a lawsuit asking a state court to block them.
Pro-Life Chair Praises House
WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The pro-life chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops lauded U.S. House passage of a bill on Thursday, January 23, that would require life-saving medical attention for babies who survive abortion attempts. But Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, also decried the U.S. Senate’s “stunning failure” to pass a similar bill the day before. House Bill 21, called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, states that “If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws.” The bill says health care professionals are obligated to give survivors of an attempted abortion the same medical care as any other infant born through regular childbirth. They are also required to immediately transport and admit such children to hospitals. And medical personnel are mandated to inform federal or state authorities if they have knowledge of anyone failing to comply with the stipulations of the bill. The House measure passed 217-204 after two roll calls. The Senate version failed in a 52-47 vote on Wednesday, January 22. A 60-vote majority is needed to pass.
Pope Says Catholics Will Accept Common Date for Easter
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s willingness to accept a proposal for a common date for celebrating Easter in the West and the East. Noting that in 2025 the date coincides on the West’s Gregorian calendar and the East’s Julian calendar, Pope Francis said that “I renew my appeal that this coincidence may serve as an appeal to all Christians to take a decisive step forward toward unity around a common date for Easter. The Catholic Church is open to accepting the date that everyone wants: a date of unity,” he said on Saturday, January 25, during an ecumenical evening prayer service at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

About 5,500 people attend the National Prayer Vigil for Life Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Jan. 23, 2025, the evening before the annual the March for Life. (OSV News photo/Mihoko Owada)
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