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“And the enemies of the Lord … shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke” (Ps 36:20)

Lying in State, the Body of Francis Appears to be Turning Dark

(image: Antonio Masiello/Getty Images – cropped)

The body of the late Jesuit apostate Jorge Bergoglio (‘Pope Francis’) has been lying in state inside an open coffin in St. Peter’s Basilica since Tuesday, April 22. Tens of thousands of mourners have been paying their respects.

On Friday evening at 8:00 pm local time, the casket will be sealed. The funeral will take place on Saturday at 10:00 am, followed by a procession to the Basilica of St.… READ MORE

The US president’s new merch has reignited third-term rumors

US President Donald Trump has launched a new line of “TRUMP 2028” merchandise, fueling speculation that he aims to seek a third term in office.

The baseball caps, now available through the official Trump campaign store, feature Trump’s name and the year 2028 embroidered in bold block letters, evoking the iconic “Make America Great Again” look. The shop also offers T-shirts in classic red and navy blue featuring the same slogan – along with a promise to “Rewrite the Rules.”

Last month, Trump said he is “not joking” about potentially seeking a third term, claiming that there are “methods” to pursue another run despite the US Constitution’s two-term limit on the presidency.

https://t.co/9ANjNT4QGt pic.twitter.com/6y5nDVVMI1

Asked by NBC News about a hypothetical scenario in which Vice President J.D. Vance could run and then hand over the office to him, Trump replied: “That’s one. But there are others too.”

Although Trump noted that “it is far too early to think” about 2028, the merchandise rollout has reignited speculation about his future plans. The campaign store has warned of up to ten business days of processing time due to “high demand.”

Trump won the 2024 election by a wide margin against Democratic candidate and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, becoming the second president in US history to serve two non-consecutive terms.

The 22nd Amendment states that no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice. However, Trump allies have floated legal arguments challenging or reinterpreting the amendment’s wording, hinting at potential legal or political strategies to pave the way for a third run.

READ MORE: Bookmakers see 20% chance of third Trump term – media

Earlier this year, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow presidents to serve three non-consecutive terms, though it has so far gained little traction. Amendments to the Constitution require approval by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, followed by ratification from three-quarters of the states.

Israel has argued that The Hague has no jurisdiction over its citizens

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber has instructed a lower panel to reconsider Israel’s objections to the court’s jurisdiction over arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a ruling published on Thursday.

Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for allegedly committing grave atrocities, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare, during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza launched in response to a deadly 2023 raid by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel, which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, argued that the court lacks jurisdiction over its citizens. At the time, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber dismissed Israel’s objections – filed before the warrants were issued – as premature.

However, the Appeals Chamber has now determined that the lower panel “committed an error of law” by failing to adequately address Israel’s arguments, and has remanded the matter for a new ruling.

The directive does not annul the existing warrants but requires the Pre-Trial Chamber to reevaluate the substance of Israel’s jurisdictional objections.

Israeli officials have welcomed the Appeals Chamber’s decision – but criticized it for refusing to suspend the arrest warrants immediately. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated on X that the arrest warrants were issued unlawfully and are “null and void.”

“We said it from the start: The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) doesn’t have, and never had, jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and its former Minister of Defense,” Saar wrote.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accused the ICC of acting “as a political tool serving Israel’s enemies.”

“The decision to revisit the question of jurisdiction exposes the lack of legitimacy behind the political arrest warrants,” Danon said, according to a statement from his office. “Israel will continue to defend itself, in coordination with its partners, and will not remain silent in the face of such hypocrisy.”

The ICC Prosecutor’s Office has acknowledged the Appeals Chamber’s ruling and is currently reviewing the decision, although the timeline for the reconsideration has not been specified. The court had also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes, which was withdrawn in February 2025 following confirmation of his death.

Editor’s Note: This essay is part of a week-long series of essays at Public Discourse reflecting on Pope Francis’s pontificate, his legacy, and the Catholic Church’s future.

Witnessing the tireless dedication of Pope Francis over the last twelve years to those most in need—the poor, the sick, the rejected, those suffering in body and spirit—was an extraordinary gift to me. After his passing, I found myself thinking: How often today does God bless his people with a shepherd, particularly one with significant health challenges, who devotes such intense energy and affection to all that seek his attention?

I have no idea how Catholic prelates can prepare for the task of governing such a large organization in our complex and tumultuous world. Buenos Aires is not an easy place to be bishop: when asked why he never visited his homeland after his election, Pope Francis would joke, “I spent 76 years in Argentina. That’s enough, isn’t it?” But it was his home, and when he became Bishop of Rome, he came to a very different place, both in the culture of its people and in the particular issues that the Church faced there. What a profound cross it must have been for him to be suddenly, and unexpectedly, catapulted from being a subway-riding bishop on the verge of retirement, to steering the universal Church through the perilous waters of sex scandals and the Vatican’s grave financial difficulties. 

Even apart from the perennial challenges of governance, contemporary popes face the perennial task of confronting the needs of the wounded modern world—“smelling of the sheep,” as Francis would say—without becoming of the world. I especially appreciated the pope’s focus on fighting clericalism and raising up the laity and their contributions to the Church. On one hand, clergy need to learn how to leave in the laity’s hands the political and other temporal responsibilities that are the latter’s proper domain; on the other hand, the laity should often be called to assist the clergy in matters of the latter’s own proper responsibilities of Church government. Harmonizing these apparently dueling needs is no easy task; it is especially difficult when coupled with the challenge in any large organization—like the Church—of finding and training the right people to assume positions of leadership.

Pope Francis also devoted much of his pontificate to the challenge of implementing a culture of love in support of the truth in contemporary culture—a culture that does not grasp what authentic love is, because we treat love as a commodity. Many people—young people especially—are eager for caritas in veritate, and the pope sought to teach it to them through many of the themes of his pontificate: accompanying others, recognizing the concrete circumstances that we fallen human beings can find ourselves in, and always being witnesses to God’s infinite mercy. 

Learning to Find Friends in Unexpected Places

The occasion of the pope’s passing gives us a chance to reflect on the lessons he has left us on how to give witness to truth and love in the modern world. What is the path forward—for the Church and for all people of goodwill? Following the pope’s example, we should ask how God is calling ordinary men and women to engage with the world today—a world in which people, particularly young people brought up amid a culture of chaos and confusion, are calling out for meaning and purpose. The question is especially urgent for those of us, like myself, who grew up in very different circumstances, often with more support than what many young people today have. I was blessed to be raised by a hard-working father who revered his wife, and a loving and deeply God-fearing mother, who both generously gave themselves to me and my six siblings. Not everything was great: I was raised in a small, poor town in Mexico’s Sonoran desert—now the cradle of the Caborca drug cartel. But on the whole, I had a very happy childhood. My young adult years were similarly fortunate. I earned advanced degrees, moved to the United States where I enjoyed enormous opportunities, and, thanks to the intervention of a friend and one of my brothers, I was rescued from going down the wrong path. I found a better way to which God was calling me, in Opus Dei. 

The spirit of Opus Dei, a part of the Catholic Church, encompasses many ideals, one of which is the commitment to finding God in the parts of life where he might at first seem most distant. Pope Francis himself expressed this ideal very well in an audience of his I attended in November 2014:

When the Lord invites us to become saints, he doesn’t call us to something heavy, sad . . . quite the contrary! It’s an invitation to share in his joy, to live and to offer with joy every moment of our life, by making it become at the same time a gift of love for the people around us. If we understand this, everything changes and takes on new meaning, a beautiful meaning, a meaning that begins with little everyday things. For example: a lady goes to the market to buy groceries and finds a neighbour there, so they begin to talk and then they come to gossiping and this lady says: “No, no, no I won’t speak badly about anyone.” This is a step towards sainthood, it helps you become more holy. Then, at home, your son wants to talk a little about his ideas: “Oh, I am so tired, I worked so hard today. . . .”—“But,” [you tell yourself,] “you sit down and listen to your son, who needs it!” . . . [T]his is a step towards sainthood. . . .  These are little things, but many little steps to sanctity. Every step towards sainthood makes us better people, free from selfishness and being closed within ourselves, and opens us to our brothers and sisters and to their needs.

Eventually I came to see that one area of secular life where people needed more help finding God’s truth was, paradoxically, in academia—in institutions of higher education ostensibly devoted to truth. I made my way to Princeton, New Jersey, where I helped start the Witherspoon Institute and the Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education (FEHE). I saw these as means to help students and professors rediscover higher education’s vocation to truth-seeking—and perhaps, from knowing the truth, to eventually find its Author. 

But I soon discovered another truth that Pope Francis recalled frequently throughout his papacy: that even those who seemed far from God, at least outwardly, could teach me a thing or two. One such person was my good friend, Princeton Professor Robert “Bob” Hollander. I got to know Bob through our common interest in tennis, which we regularly played together. I learned much from him during our after-game conversations about many things unrelated to religion. Bob eventually told me he was atheist, which for a young, zealous Christian like me was unacceptable. At first I asked myself, “Do I want to spend so much of my time with a heathen?” But I resisted my initial impulse to quit our friendship, and years later I came to realize what a good decision that was. Bob eventually had a profound, positive impact on me, because he helped me understand friendship better, thereby bringing me closer to the truth and to God. More practically, he gave me invaluable counsel at crucial moments, without which Witherspoon and FEHE might never have come to be.

Not many years after I came to the Princeton area and befriended Bob, I read an article that discussed Princeton University’s desire to expand its humanities offerings. I saw this as an opportunity for me to start contributing directly to higher education, by finding money to support Princeton’s effort. I was an engineer by training, not a humanist, so I could contribute little in the way of academic expertise; but I did have a lot of experience raising money for nonprofit work, from my time in Opus Dei. I went to Bob with an idea and a proposal: What if I could obtain a grant to support a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton’s Humanities Council? Would Princeton be interested? Bob’s response was immediate: We can make this happen. 

And it did happen, but by a path that I would not have expected. Bob helped organize a lunch with Alexander Nehamas and Carol Rigolot—respectively the Chair and Executive Director of Princeton’s Humanities Council—along with Bob, and myself, to talk about the possible grant. I felt myself surrounded by people who were, in Pope Francis’s words, “on the margins” of God’s Kingdom—people who were quite secular and perhaps even in personal disagreement with Christian teachings. At the time Opus Dei was known for being “ultraconservative,” and therefore I felt the need to mention this fact to them, in case they feared it might cause controversy. 

But my fear turned out to be unfounded. Nehamas and Rigolot welcomed the proposal for the fellowship, which was filled first by the late Michael Sugrue in the 1997–98 academic year. Nehamas found Sugrue to be “an exceptional teacher-scholar,” and he and others expressed sincere gratitude to me for helping bring him to Princeton. The experience was such a success that the Humanities Council eventually developed the fellowship into Princeton’s Society of Fellows, which today offers some of the most prestigious and sought-after opportunities in the academy. By taking this risk, Bob and I helped spur a renewal of humanities teaching at Princeton.

I later asked Bob why people who did not share my fundamental beliefs about truth would have gone along with my idea. He thought they simply didn’t care what I believed. He quipped after one of our tennis matches, “Luis, you are not a threat around here because you are Mexican, you are an engineer, and you didn’t go to Princeton.” I laughed hard. All the same, I think that particular experience revealed something that Pope Francis had been trying to remind us of: that the desire for truth is in everyone, and that if we present our interest in truth joyfully, even those who disagree with us might still recognize us as friends.

The things I learned from this experience planted the seeds in my mind for bigger projects. Five years later, in 2003, Robert P. George and I launched the Witherspoon Institute. Our idea was to sponsor teaching and research that we thought was urgently needed in academia but did not yet fit into its priorities. A particular area of concern to us was research on the importance of the traditional structure of the family to the well-being of children and all of society. Perhaps the most famous such project that we sponsored was the 2012 New Family Structures Study of Mark Regnerus. Through the use of good-faith and reason-based empirical methods, Regnerus did an enormous service to our understanding of the family, despite suffering a great deal of ideologically motivated backlash, thanks to Witherspoon’s support. And despite criticism, the research still stands today. Over time more and more people are coming to recognize its truth.

In 2013, Robby George and I founded the Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education (FEHE) to help students pursue truth through authentic friendship and robust intellectual life. Among the numerous related projects in which I have been involved, none gives me greater satisfaction than the Stanford Civics Initiative (SCI), which I helped Josiah (“Josh”) Ober to found and develop. Although in the end my contribution to the project was minor, I’ve been blessed by the deep and lasting friendship I developed with Josh as a result—a friendship as unexpected as that which I made with Bob.

I would have been able to do none of these things had I not, as Pope Francis exhorted us, taken the chance to befriend a man like Bob, even though on the surface we might have seemed unsuited for one another. Bob gave me practical guidance without which my ideals would not have become a reality. But more importantly, he reminded me that even people who seem far from God still bear the dignity of being made in God’s image. Even though they may not recognize God—or at least appear not to do so—they are still made for him, and for truth, which they are always seeking in one way or another. I think that the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus articulated this point quite well:

For paradise we long. For perfection we were made . . . This longing is the source of the hunger and dissatisfaction that mark our lives . . . This longing makes our love and friendship possible, and so very unsatisfactory. Hunger is for . . . nothing less than perfect communion with the . . . one in whom all the fragments of our scattered existence come together . . . we must not stifle this longing. It is a holy dissatisfaction. Such dissatisfaction is not a sickness to be healed, but the seed of a promise to be fulfilled.

The desire for truth can become a powerful bond of friendship—“intellectual friendship” as we say at Witherspoon and FEHE—as my friendship with Bob showed me. The experience also taught me to expand my heart, to understand better the mystery of what it means to be a person. Without this man, an atheist, I would have been a lesser human being. And, of course, Bob benefited from my friendship in turn: not just by the friendship itself, but from participating in the good it did for higher education—whether directly, in the Society of Fellows, or indirectly in the projects to which the Society gave rise: Witherspoon and FEHE. And then there were the occasional discussions about religion that we would have after tennis. I still maintain the hope that, when he died, the memory of those conversations helped him, in some mysterious way, to go to God. 

Building Blocks for Civic Engagement in a Secular World

Pope Francis, it seems to me, was trying throughout his pontificate to urge Christians to find their “Bob” who might be out there—someone who, despite appearing to be far from God, is still searching for truth and friendship, has much truth to impart in turn, and has much good to do in the world that he might not do without our help. Bob taught me a great deal, but two things seem especially worth noting, since they were also close to the pope’s heart. They are what I call building blocks for civic engagement in our secular world. 

The first is that which the Church proclaimed in Dignitatis Humanae and reaffirmed under Pope Francis. That every human person, even if he is an atheist like Bob, has an ineradicable dignity, because he is a being 

“endowed with reason and free will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility.” At the same time every person is “impelled by nature” to seek truth, and we should strive not to let appearances distract us from this deeper reality. And yet, “[t]he truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power.” Therefore man cannot fulfill his “moral obligation to seek truth” unless he be free, “[enjoying] immunity from external coercion as well as psychological freedom.” 

In other words, the best context for bringing others to truth is precisely through the kind of intellectual friendship that Bob and I had. 

The second truth is something I learned through my work with Witherspoon and FEHE (which were inspired by what Bob and I achieved at Princeton University): namely, how vital the man-woman traditional family structure is for society. I also realized how important intellectual friendship was for defending the family. On one hand, the best way to make the case for the family is by appealing to truths that all people can understand—in this case, the truths of social science—and we must be confident that people will respond to truth. At the same time, that truth has to be presented well, by being framed in love. We need to be patient with those who disagree on fundamental truths about marriage and family, and we must strive to express ourselves in ways that will win them over. We need to show them that we care about these truths not to impose ourselves on others, but to serve others out of love. We must show our interlocutors that we love and respect them because they, like all people, are God’s children, just as I tried to draw Bob to God above all by being his friend.

Truth and charity should go hand in hand. One cannot love others unless that love is grounded in truth, just as love cannot make a family unless it be grounded in the truths of human nature. At the same time, the deeper one understands the truth, the more one loves it and other people—who are made for truth—and the more easily one can express truth winsomely, because of one’s confidence in its truth. 

It is not enough to have the truth and to be able to argue logically for it, although all that is necessary. As Pope Francis reminded us, it is also vitally important to teach truth by the example of one’s love for others—by “accompanying” them along the difficult journey of life, as the pope liked to say. If we are to move forward toward a more just society, we must learn to accompany one another along the difficult, often surprising, and deeply rewarding path toward truth.

For his willingness to answer God’s call and the call of the Church, and for his faithful service until the end, I am grateful to Pope Francis.

Image by Gabriel Sozzi and sourced from Wikimedia Commons.

Officials in Kiev fear a “worst-case scenario” in which Washington cuts off all aid, according to the German tabloid

Kiev is bracing for a “worst-case scenario” in which US President Donald Trump cuts off all American support, German tabloid Bild has reported, citing anonymous sources within the Ukrainian government.

Trump has reportedly increased pressure on Ukraine to quickly accept Washington’s “final offer” to resolve the conflict. He has also warned that if negotiations between Moscow and Kiev stall, the US may “take a pass” and withdraw from its role as a mediator.

“We are preparing for the worst-case scenario… and that means an end to US support,” an unnamed government insider told the paper.

Another Ukrainian diplomat reportedly said “What is on paper and what is being signaled to us in the negotiations is unacceptable.” 

The US president has been pushing for a resolution to the conflict, while also seeking a minerals extraction agreement with Ukraine to help offset the billions of dollars Washington has spent on military and financial aid. Trump temporarily halted military supplies and intelligence sharing with Kiev following a public dispute with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House in February.

On Wednesday, Trump reiterated that Zelensky – who he once described as a “dictator without elections” – has been “more difficult to deal with” than Russian President Vladimir Putin. The remark came after Zelensky publicly rejected a reported provision of the US peace framework, insisting earlier this week that Kiev will not even discuss formally recognizing Crimea as Russian territory.

According to Bild, some officials in Kiev hope that Trump’s personal jabs at Zelensky were merely his way to apply pressure. “Our hope was that it was Trump’s negotiating tactic,” the outlet cited a Ukrainian government insider as saying. The report added that Kiev is now trying to renegotiate with Washington while simultaneously seeking support from its European sponsors.

Kiev is still receiving weapons pledged by the previous US administration, but no new aid packages have been authorized since Trump took office, Zelensky said on Monday. His recent pleas for additional Patriot batteries and missiles have also gone unanswered.

Moscow has maintained that it is open to peace talks, provided its core security demands are addressed. It opposes any NATO presence on Ukrainian soil and has demanded that Kiev recognize Russia’s new borders and abandon its plans to join the US-led military bloc. Moscow has condemned the continued flow of Western weapons as detrimental to any lasting peace.

READ MORE: White House accuses Zelensky of megaphone diplomacy

The Russian government has also said it will not accept a temporary freeze of the conflict, which would only lead to renewed hostilities later on, citing Ukraine’s multiple violations of an Easter ceasefire and an earlier US-mediated moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure as proof of Kiev’s untrustworthiness.

The selection process for the next United Nations Secretary-General, set to replace António Guterres in 2026, has ignited debate over a push to prioritize female candidates, effectively sidelining men.

And they’re reportedly all radical abortion activists.

Informal discussions within the UN General Assembly and Security Council, as outlined in a letter from General Assembly President Philemon Yang, emphasize appointing a woman for the first time in the UN’s 80-year history. This follows a 2015 resolution urging gender balance and regional rotation, with feminist groups and some member states, including France, arguing that a female leader is overdue after eight male predecessors.

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The process, governed by the UN Charter, involves the 15-member Security Council recommending a candidate for General Assembly approval, with permanent members (U.S., Russia, China, France, UK) holding veto power. Names like Amina Mohammed (Nigeria), Kristalina Georgieva (Bulgaria), and Michelle Bachelet (Chile) have surfaced as potential female contenders, though no formal nominations are yet public.

Here’s more:

The race to select the next UN Secretary-General of the United Nations is well underway. All the frontrunners are women, and they are well-known abortion advocates.

The undisputed front-runner for the UN’s top job is Michelle Bachelet, a two-term president of Chile who led the UN agency for Women as well as the UN human rights office. She is a known champion of abortion rights and gender ideology and has been described as the Hillary Clinton of Latin America.

As president of Chile, she successfully shepherded a multi-year campaign to legalize abortion in Chile. As head of UN Women and the highest UN human rights official she streamlined abortion promotion in the UN bureaucracy as well as the promotion of transgender rights, including self-identification.

She issued a scathing attack against the U.S. Supreme Court after the 2022 Dobbs decision. In that case the court declared abortion was an issue that each American state should legislate democratically and not a constitutional right. Bachelet called the decision a “huge blow to women’s human rights and gender equality” and said that “abortion is firmly rooted in international human rights law and is at the core of women and girls’ autonomy.”

Given her track-record Bachelet is the preferred candidate of the feminist left.

The post Top Candidate to Lead United Nations is a Radical Abortion Activist appeared first on LifeNews.com.

The Divine Mercy plenary indulgence is probably the most powerful grace you can receive all year.

The feast of the Divine Mercy is the first Sunday following Easter Sunday. This year, however, is uniquely different since Pope Francis has died.

In addition to the indulgenced act, one must fulfill the three usual conditions: Go to confession, receive Holy Communion, and pray for the Pope's intentions.

But how do we fulfill the usual plenary indulgence conditions after a Pope has died?

Pope Francis has died, but you may still pray for his intentions, which apply to fulfilling these normal conditions.

How to Obtain a Plenary Indulgence on Divine Mercy Sunday Following Pope Francis' Death

In Saint Faustina’s diary, Jesus explains how to obtain the unique graces on Divine Mercy Sunday:

What makes the Divine Mercy Sunday Plenary Indulgence so unique?

To obtain a plenary indulgence throughout the year, the individual must be detached from all sin, which is very difficult.

However, Jesus does not require complete detachment from sin with the special graces he offers on Divine Mercy. This is the only time complete detachment from sin is not required.

How to obtain complete remission of all sin on Divine Mercy Sunday

1) Go to Confession before or on Divine Mercy weekend

2) Receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy weekend 

Father Chris Alar of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception also explains in a great video how souls can obtain the incredible graces Jesus offers us on Divine Mercy Sunday.

He describes how Divine Mercy Sunday is one of the greatest feasts of the year.

Listen to his explanation below:

Click here if you cannot see the video above.

Pope Saint John Paul II’s Vatican Decree for Divine Mercy Sunday Indulgences

The Vatican Apostolic Penitentiary Decree entitled, “Indulgences attached to devotions in honor of Divine Mercy,” also grants an indulgence to those who fulfill the specific requirements 20 days before or after Divine Mercy Sunday. 

These graces are separate from the special graces Jesus describes to Saint Faustina in her private revelation.

Here’s how to do it:

1) Go to Confession (20 days before, on, or after Divine Mercy Sunday)

2) Receive Holy Communion  (20 days before, on, or after Divine Mercy Sunday)

3) Pray for the Pope's intentions 

4) In any church or chapel, recite an Our Father, Creed, and a prayer to the Merciful Jesus (i.e., “Merciful Jesus, I trust in You!”) in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, or, participate in services honoring the Divine Mercy devotion.

One must approach the indulgence with a spirit “completely detached from the affection for a sin,” both mortal and venial.

The Church also allows the ill or those who cannot attend church to obtain this indulgence.

One may fulfill the three usual conditions as described above as soon as possible, along with reciting an Our Father, Creed, and prayer to the Merciful Jesus.

Click here for more information about Divine Mercy indulgences.

Merciful Jesus, I trust in You!

Tennessee Right to Life expresses extreme disappointment that Governor Lee signed into law HB0533/SB0449. The Governor received significant opposition to the bill but, in the end, decided to turn a blind eye to the many legitimate concerns about the legislation.

The bill, which narrowly passed in the House, establishes a “right” to contraception and IVF. Although the bill may have seemed well-intended, it opens a Pandora’s box and could have many unintended consequences.

Tennessee Right to Life and other pro-life groups and individuals are concerned that the law gives no consideration for human embryos that are destroyed if unused in the IVF process and expressed these concerns to the Governor. Unlimited numbers of embryos can be destroyed or discarded under this “right.”

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However, this is not the only problem with the law, it also:

• Offers no consideration for the oversight for minors either in the contraception or IVF section.
• Could negate the rights of parents to oversee their children’s wellbeing around contraception and even IVF (including egg harvesting).
• Could give Planned Parenthood an unlimited “right” to spread their deadly agenda to children without their parents’ knowledge.
• Could establish a right to paid surrogacy.

Pro-Life Tennesseans are frustrated by the Governor signing this bill, especially after contacting his office to voice their concerns and letting him know that anti-life organizations supported it, including Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.

“The governor’s signature indicating his full endorsement of this bill casts doubt on his pro-life convictions. He could have allowed the bill to go into law without his signature. Instead, he turned his back on those who trusted him to do the right thing.”

“We will give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t realize the ramifications of this legislation, but we fully expect him and his administration to address these many concerns in the 2026 session,” said Stacy Dunn, President, TN Right to Life.

The post Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Creating a “Right” to IVF appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a pregnancy resource center network and an organization of Christian employers filed a motion Thursday to intervene in Samuels v. Trump for the purpose of protecting the authority of a U.S. president to direct executive branch policy and thus to fire senior federal officials who reach their position of authority by presidential appointment.

In the case, a former federal official and agency head is suing the Trump administration after the president fired her for refusing to follow an executive order that calls for the federal government to end harmful gender-identity policies. ADF attorneys explain in the motion that the Constitution requires that the president be able to set policy for the executive branch and thus to terminate the employment of federal officials who impose harmful gender-identity mandates.

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“Government officials are appointed to serve the people of America, not impose their divisive ideologies,” said ADF Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake. “Commissioner Samuels has a history of defying constitutional authority in favor of her agenda, and executive oversight allows the president to supervise and remove officers of the executive branch. We believe the court should hear from employers who benefit from President Trump’s actions, which is why we are urging the court to allow them to intervene.”

In 2024, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member Jocelyn Samuels voted to impose policies that misinterpret Title VII and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which force employers to facilitate and promote gender-identity ideology and abortion procedures. Shortly after, Trump signed relevant executive orders on Inauguration Day that Samuels refused to follow, leading to her job termination.

Christian Employers Alliance, represented by ADF attorneys, sued to challenge the EEOC mandates in January 2025. CEA and Choices Pregnancy Centers of Greater Phoenix are now asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to let them intervene in the case to keep Samuels from regaining her job and imposing illegal policies that burden their religious beliefs.

The post Christian Pregnancy Centers Support a President’s Ability to Fire Federal Officials appeared first on LifeNews.com.

The ACLJ is taking action to defend the constitutional rights of a peaceful pro-life advocate who was threatened with criminal charges for simply exercising his First Amendment freedoms in Carbondale, Illinois.

On April 16, our client Brandon, a sidewalk counselor and founder of Gospel for Life, was peacefully advocating for life with pro-life signs in the public area near an abortion clinic. As part of his outreach, he used small temporary signs similar to a yard-sale sign that read “Please don’t abort your baby” or “Free baby supplies” to women in crisis pregnancies.

That’s when Carbondale officials stepped in – not to protect free speech, but to suppress it.

A city employee, under direction from the city attorney, ordered our client to remove the signs, claiming they violated a local sign ordinance. When Brandon respectfully explained that the signs were legal and he had a right to engage in constitutionally protected speech, the city employee responded bluntly: “No, you don’t.”

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Despite Brandon’s full compliance with Carbondale Ordinance 15.4.10.8 – including placing the signs more than 20 feet from any curb – the city escalated the situation. Police officers were called in. Threats of citation and criminal charges followed. Brandon’s pastor called us for help, and we were able to intervene immediately on behalf of our client and prevent an arrest or a citation from being issued.

However, more troubling, when Brandon tried to follow up the next day and inquire about obtaining a sign permit as a nonprofit, he was told by the same city employee who threatened to pull up his signs that no such permit existed – despite the ordinance explicitly providing for one. This was not only misleading but also a blatant misrepresentation of the law.

Let’s be clear: The First Amendment protects the right to speak out in public spaces – especially on matters of public concern. The courts have consistently struck down vague ordinances and arbitrary enforcement that chill free speech. Carbondale’s actions here are not only unconstitutional – they’re dangerous.

As we outlined in our formal demand letter to the City Attorney, we are calling for:

• Written assurance that Brandon may continue his peaceful pro-life advocacy, including the use of compliant temporary signs;
• Access to the proper permitting process for nonprofits as outlined in the city’s own ordinance; and
• Confirmation that signs promoting free resources from pro-life Pregnancy Resource Centers will not be misclassified as “commercial.”

The ACLJ is committed to standing with sidewalk counselors, pro-life advocates, and every American whose constitutional rights are under attack. Brandon was not disrupting traffic, blocking access, or inciting unrest. He was offering compassion, hope, and alternatives – something the First Amendment was designed to protect.

We will not let cities like Carbondale, Illinois, weaponize vague laws or bureaucratic red tape to silence and retaliate against the pro-life message. If the city does not immediately cease it’s unconstitutional activity, we will file a lawsuit.

Stand with us. Share this story. And pray for continued courage for pro-life heroes like Brandon.

LifeNews Note: Jordan Sekulow is the Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

The post Man Threatened With Criminal Charges for Holding Pro-Life Sign appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Estonia’s parliament had earlier passed legislation that could force the country’s Orthodox Church to sever its historic ties with Russia

Estonian President Alar Karis has refused to sign a controversial law targeting the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church (ECOC), saying it violates the constitution. 

The ‘Amendment to the Churches and Congregations Act,’ passed by parliament earlier this month, would have barred religious organizations in the Baltic state from being governed by foreign bodies deemed a security threat. It specifically prohibited ties enshrined in foundational documents with such entities. The draft law was widely seen as aimed at forcing the ECOC to cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The ECOC had previously been required to revise its charter and remove any mention of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In a statement on Thursday, Karis claimed that the Moscow Patriarchate “undermines the sovereignty and democracy of states,” but warned that the amendment in its current form contradicts the constitution by “disproportionately restricting freedom of association and religion.” 

He argued that an ambiguous ban on foreign ties could trigger legal disputes and lead to similar curbs on all associations, including political parties.

The ECOC thanked Karis for his “principled stand” and expressed hope for continued dialogue with authorities, emphasizing its canonical ties are no threat to national security.

“Throughout its history in Estonia, our Church has demonstrated loyalty to the Estonian state and respect for its people, upholding democratic values – foremost among them, the freedom of religion,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

The changes were introduced in response to the Moscow Patriarchate’s support for Russia’s military operation against the Kiev regime, local broadcaster ERR reported earlier.

Estonia’s former interior minister, Lauri Laanemets, who initiated the bill, had previously threatened to shut down monasteries that refuse to cut ties and even threatened to classify the ROC as a terrorist organization.

In August 2024, the EOC revised its charter and removed references to the Moscow Patriarchate, but Laanemets insisted the move was insufficient.

The ROC has condemned the draft law as discriminatory against the 250,000 Orthodox believers in the EU member state, stressing that the ECOC has never engaged in politics or jeopardized public safety.

Moscow has described the legislation as “unprecedented in its aggression and legal nihilism,” and urged Tallinn to end religious discrimination.

Although most Estonians are not religious, around 16% identify as Orthodox Christians and 8% as Lutherans, according to government data. Estonia was part of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991, and Russian speakers constitute about 27% of its population.

Dear OnePeterFive donors, supporters and readers, As the conclave looms over the Church and everyone is asking questions about what’s next, we at OnePeterFive want to begin preparing for Sacred Heart Month. Last year we promoted the Sacred Heart flag for June and shared photoshops of everyone’s efforts. Whoever becomes the next Pope, the Sacred Heart is still King over June and every…

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