null / Credit: Krzysztof Slusarczyk/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 9, 2025 / 14:28 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has chosen Catholic media companies Ascension and Word on Fire to publish the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition.

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is a set of daily prayers that priests and religious are obliged to pray and that many lay Catholics also partake in. The prayers are set according to the Church calendar and are composed of psalms, hymns, and readings from Scripture.

In November 2012, the U.S. bishops voted to revise the translation, following English translations of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, and the 2001 Vatican document Liturgiam Authenticam. The approval process was completed in November 2024 and on May 29 of this year, the USCCB sent the completed manuscript to the Holy See for confirmation.

Ascension and Word on Fire, both known for their print, online, and video works, announced Oct. 7 that they will each publish the new version of the Liturgy of the Hours. A release date for the daily prayer will be shared upon final approval from the Vatican. 

The current edition was translated and designed in the 1970s, making the new version the first updated English translation of the prayer in more than 50 years. It has been developed over the past decade by the USCCB in collaboration with the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). 

“Our goal is to create a reverent and beautiful edition that embodies the dignity of the Church’s common prayer. This new translation marks an extraordinary moment for Catholics everywhere,” said Jonathan Strate, president and CEO of Ascension, in an announcement. Strate said Ascension is “honored to serve the Church” by being one of the publishers.

Ascension, known for its popular podcast “The Bible in a Year with Mike Schmitz,” reported publishing the prayers “furthers its mission in creating resources to help Catholics deepen their prayer life, joining the universal Church in encountering the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith.”

“When you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you are uniting your prayer to the entire Church,” Schmitz said in a recent video explaining the Liturgy of the Hours. He added: “It gives us the opportunity to create holy time… by stopping at various moments throughout the day and calling upon the Lord, renewing our mind with his word.”

“This is more than a publishing project — it is a spiritual mission,” Word on Fire founder Bishop Robert Barron said in a press release. “We want to help thousands of priests, religious, and laypeople pray more deeply and more beautifully each day.” The new version, he said, is “a profound service to the Church and to the world.”

Word on Fire has “spent the past three years introducing tens of thousands of Catholics to this rhythm of daily prayer through our monthly booklets,” said Brandon Vogt, senior publishing director at Word on Fire. “This four-volume series is the next step … that will draw countless more into the Church’s ancient prayer, day by day, hour by hour.” 

The Liturgy of the Hours is “the Church’s highest prayer outside the Mass and sacraments,” Vogt said. “Our aim is simple — to create the most beautiful, most prayerful, most accessible edition of the Liturgy of the Hours ever produced.”

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, speaks with EWTN News on Oct. 9, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: EWTN News

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said immigration is a “Gospel issue” before it is a “political issue” in the United States. 

In an exclusive interview with EWTN News reporter Valentina Di Donato, Seitz said the Church has a responsibility to reaffirm Catholic social teaching regarding the preferential option for the poor. 

“It’s always the role of the bishop to speak the Gospel, to reflect on that Gospel and its implications for our daily lives,” the prelate told EWTN News. 

“We have a task to form people based on that teaching of love and mercy and compassion that applies not just in exceptional cases, not just to certain people, but in a special way to the poor and the vulnerable, and that includes immigrants,” he said. 

Speaking about the “inalienable rights” every person is endowed with by God, the bishop said the rights of immigrants should not only be a concern of the Church but should also be “respected in law.”

“While we are not politicians — it’s not our task to develop rules and laws — we are responsible to help form consciences and bring people back to the basic underlying principles, which, by the way, are principles upon which our country was built,” he said.

According to the bishop, U.S. asylum law is not being respected “right now,” as several migrant families living in the El Paso Diocese, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, no longer feel protected and fear deportation. 

“We should practice that [respect for] human dignity when we are dealing with a person who simply fled here because they had no other option,” he told EWTN News.

Having ministered to families who have felt threatened by criminal drug gangs, Seitz said it is unjust to deny asylum or security for those seeking protection outside of their countries of origin, especially when the gangs’ activities are “supported by our drug addiction in the United States.” 

Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV met with Seitz, El Paso Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino, and Dylan Corbett of Hope Border Institute in a private Oct. 8 meeting at the Vatican. 

During the meeting, the bishop shared a four-minute video and handwritten letters from migrant families expressing their faith as well as their fears about the future.

“I said, ‘Holy Father, we’re so happy to stand with you,’” Seitz said, recalling the encounter. “Later on in the meeting [the pope] came back to that and he said, ‘In matters of injustice, the Church has to speak and, in that, I stand with you.’”

Kat Talalas, Amy Ford, Christopher Bell, and Sister Maria Frassati, SV, speak at the Leading with Love Conference at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2025. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA

Washington, D.C., Oct 9, 2025 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

Pro-life leaders from across the country gathered this week to discuss how faith-based ministries are helping to cultivate a society that promotes human dignity and how others can advance the cause.

The Leading with Love Conference at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the Human Life Foundation and the Center for Law and the Human Person at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. It was aimed at “empowering Christians to cultivate a culture of life within their local communities.”

Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, spoke to attendees Oct. 8 about the power of faith-based ministries, including The Guadalupe Project. Lichter founded the initiative in 2022 to provide resources and encouragement to parents within the CUA community.

To cultivate this encouragement, we must figure out how we can “create more of a revolution of love,” Lichter said. “Christ started this revolution of love, but it’s now up to each one of us in our particular time and place.”

“Caring for unborn babies and their mothers is one of the most urgent challenges of our time, Lichter said. “Six out of 10 women who have chosen abortion would have preferred to choose life if they had the emotional and financial support they felt necessary.” 

The Guadalupe Project’s goal was to combat this by “[making] sure every woman on campus knows that resources exist and knows exactly how to find them,” Lichter said. “It’s meant to support all parents on campus, not just students, and not just mothers in unexpected or challenging circumstances.”

“We wanted to foster a culture on campus where each life is celebrated, knowing that a positive, vibrant, and joyful culture of life is truly life-giving in so many ways,” Lichter said.

The initiative “revamped all of the university’s pregnancy resource materials for students” and created “a poster campaign, including one designed specifically for the men’s dorms,” Lichter said.

It also promoted the placement of stickers in every women’s restroom stall on campus with a QR code leading to these pregnancy materials. The campus started allotting more maternity and paternity leave, designating maternity parking spots on campus, providing free diapers and wipes at the campus food pantry, holding maternity clothing drives, and “affirming the goodness of family life and that new babies are a moment to celebrate,” Lichter said.

The 2026 theme for the March for Life is “Life Is a Gift,” Lichter said. The initiative helps carry that out, because “life is something to be celebrated.”

She added: “[Life] is not a burden for which someone needs support, or not solely that. It is really a cause for celebration.” 

Faith-based communities can use The Guadalupe Project as “prototype,” Lichter suggested. She shared that other universities have reached out to talk about the initiative as they were inspired to consider doing something similar.

“We need to make sure that pregnant women never reach the point of despair that drives them into the arms of the abortion clinics,” Lichter said. “We need to meet that moment of loneliness, fear, or emptiness with encouragement and empowerment.”

Hopes and suggestions for faith-based ministries 

Other leaders from prominent pro-life ministries discussed what gives them hope for the future of the pro-life movement, including Kat Talalas of Walking with Moms in Need, Amy Ford of Embrace Grace, Christopher Bell of Good Counsel Homes, and Sister Maria Frassati of the Sisters of Life.

Talalas, who is the assistant director of pro-life communications for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Walking with Moms in Need started five years ago but has already reached countless communities. 

The parish-based initiative is “to the point where we don’t even know a lot of the time what new diocese or parish is starting a Walking with Moms in Need, what new lives are being saved, [and] what new women are being accompanied,” Talalas said. “It’s taken on a life of its own. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit convicting hearts.”

“God guides us, we have each other, and we’re not alone. Just as we tell [mothers] that they’re not alone, we’re not alone in this movement. So what’s giving me hope is seeing the Holy Spirit catch fire and individual people saying: ‘I want to start talking with moms in need,’ and women saying: ‘I can do this,’” Talalas said. 

Talalas said the work all begins with prayer. “It’s sitting in the presence of the love of God, letting him love you, and seeing how the Holy Spirit convicts you … It begins with that individual conviction. If we’re not following God’s law, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing.”

Ford, who leads Embrace Grace, which provides mothers support through local churches, said she has “noticed there’s a lot of people that seem like they have more of an open heart about Christianity, about spirituality … especially with the younger generation.”

She added: “I think that’s something we can all have hope about.”

To get involved, Ford said people need to carry out “the good works that God’s called us to do.” She posed the question: “What strengths and gifts did God put inside each of you that you can do?” 

While Bell’s ministry, Good Counsel, provides services including housing for homeless mothers and children and post-abortion healing services, he said every person can help by simply praying. He specifically called on people to pray in front of an abortion center. 

“If you have done it, do it again. If you’ve never done it, just go ... You don’t have to say anything. You didn’t have to look up. You don’t have to open your eyes. But your presence will mean the world,” Bell said. “The babies who will die there that day will know that you loved them … That’s the most important thing to do.”

Sister Maria Frassati shared that “we could really grow in having more faith in what [God] is doing.”

“The truth is that God is actually really working in so many ways,” she said. “God is faithful, and that really gives me a lot of hope that nothing that you give is ever wasted. Even if you walk with a woman who’s not receptive, there’s really no gift that has been offered to him that he has not kept sacred and precious in his heart.”

Pope Leo XIV meets with Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV addressed immigration policies and respect for vulnerable migrants in a meeting with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and labor leaders at the Vatican on Thursday. 

“Please know of my appreciation for your welcome of immigrants and refugees, especially your support of food pantries and shelters. While recognizing that appropriate policies are necessary to keep communities safe, I encourage you to continue to advocate for society to respect the human dignity of the most vulnerable,” the pontiff said. 

In his meeting with Chicago union leaders, the pope also praised their important work to “enhance the common good and help to create a society where all can flourish.” 

By respecting the dignity of the weak, Leo noted, “you are putting into practice the call of my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, who urged every union to be reborn each day at the peripheries.”

The group traveled to Rome for the Jubilee of Hope. “In addition to passing through the Holy Doors and participating in other spiritual exercises, you are also spending time studying important issues related to the rights and obligations of workers,” Leo said. “I pray that this time may be fruitful for both your minds and hearts.” 

The pope’s remarks came amid an ongoing debate in the U.S. regarding immigration and deportation, with the Trump administration aggressively pursuing severe immigration enforcement nationwide in its first months.  

Chicago has in recent days become the center of protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has lately carried out enhanced enforcement measures in that city against immigrants in the country illegally. The Trump administration has dubbed the undertaking “Operation Midway Blitz.” 

The federal agency has reportedly detained approximately 1,000 immigrants there, using helicopters and aggressive door-to-door enforcement to arrest those allegedly in the U.S. illegally. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has claimed the agents are “making [the city] a war zone.”

Tensions heightened on Oct. 6 when Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an order that prohibited immigration officials from “using any city-owned property in their ongoing operations in Chicago.” The Trump administration has since deployed National Guard troops to the city to protect federal property.

ICE officials have engaged in several high-profile conflicts with residents, meanwhile, including the firing of nonlethal rounds at a Presbyterian minister, who is currently suing the Trump administration over the incident.

Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa looks out at some of the destruction in Gaza. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

ACI MENA, Oct 9, 2025 / 11:55 am (CNA).

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has welcomed the announcement of an agreement to halt attacks in the Gaza Strip and to ensure the immediate release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners — describing it as a first step “that may pave the way to the end of this tragic war.”

In a statement released today, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa welcomed the news “with joy” and called for the full and sincere implementation of the agreement, stressing “the urgent need to deliver humanitarian aid without conditions to the people of Gaza, who are enduring catastrophic living conditions.”

Pizzaballa said the announcement represents “a first step and an initial stage.” He emphasized that the road ahead remains long, “but for now, we must rejoice in this important step, which can restore some confidence in the future and offer renewed hope, especially for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.”

He added: “We hope this will be just the beginning of a new phase in which we start thinking, little by little, not about war but about how to rebuild.”

The agreement follows American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediation efforts. President Donald Trump announced early Thursday via his Truth Social platform that a temporary ceasefire had been reached, including the mutual release of hostages and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The patriarchate, in the statement, called upon everyone to join in the Day of Prayer for Peace declared by Pope Leo XIV, which will take place Oct. 11.

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

A jury awarded $5 million to a New Jersey man who said he was sexually abused in a Catholic school in 1976. / Credit: corgarashu/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 11:14 am (CNA).

A jury in New Jersey has awarded a man $5 million in damages for a sexual assault that occurred at a Catholic school there nearly 50 years ago. 

The Morris County jury ruled unanimously that the plaintiff, a man in his 60s identified as “T.M.,” was entitled to the damages. It held that Father Richard Lott, who at trial last month denied the allegations, was 35% liable for the assault, while the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey was found 65% liable. 

The $5 million represents compensatory damages in the case. The jury will decide on Oct. 14 whether or not the Benedictine order will pay punitive damages, according to local news reports. 

In a statement on Oct. 8, Headmaster Father Michael Tidd, OSB, of the Delbarton School, which is run by the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, said the institution was “extremely disappointed in the verdict.” The statement was cosigned by Administrator Abbot Jonathan Licari of St. Mary’s Abbey, which is also run by the Benedictine monks.

“While the communities of St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton School have genuine compassion for any victim of abuse, we do not believe that the damages awarded in this case are either fair or reasonable, and our legal representatives are considering all legal options,” the statement said.

“The alleged incident in question in this trial occurred 50 years ago, when modern safeguards did not exist at secular or religious schools or other youth-serving institutions,” the leaders said. “That fact cannot be an excuse for abuse of any kind, but it is a truth that must be reflected in the verdict.”

The historic ruling comes several years after hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits were filed against New Jersey Catholic priests and leaders.

The flood of suits came during a two-year period New Jersey provided under the 2019 Child Victims Act to allow victims who otherwise would have been barred by the state’s statute of limitation to file lawsuits.

Thirty-six lawsuits were filed against the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, which faced the highest number of lawsuits among the state’s religious orders.

Disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was named in 10 lawsuits. McCarrick died in April.

Earlier this year the New Jersey Supreme Court said the state government would be allowed to assemble a grand jury to investigate allegations of clergy sexual abuse. 

The Camden Diocese had been embroiled in a yearslong fight with the state over the potential grand jury empanelment, arguing that the state lacked the authority to convene an investigatory panel. 

Shortly after being installed on March 17, however, Camden Bishop Joseph Williams indicated that the diocese would back away from challenging the state, vowing to “do the right thing” by abuse survivors. 

Delbarton School traces its roots to the early 20th century; it officially opened in 1939.

Pope Leo XIV views a display of headlines on his election to the pontificate during a meeting with the MINDS Conference in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 10:44 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday said news agencies have the responsibility to uphold principles that protect a person’s right to access “accurate and balanced” information while avoiding “degrading” practices such as manipulation and “clickbait.”   

In a private meeting at the Vatican with participants of the Oct. 9–10 MINDS Conference in Rome, the Holy Father expressed his desire for greater collaboration between producers and consumers of news content to create a “virtuous circle” that benefits society as a whole. 

“Information is a public good that we should all protect,” Leo said. “For this reason, what is truly productive is a partnership between citizens and journalists in the service of ethical and civic responsibility.”

“Communication must be freed from the misguided thinking that corrupts it, from unfair competition, and from the degrading practice of so-called clickbait,” he added. 

While encouraging people to “value and support professionals and agencies that demonstrate seriousness and true freedom in their work,” the Holy Father said media professionals should uphold the values of transparency, accountability, quality, and objectivity, to earn the trust of citizens.  

During the meeting, the Holy Father also spoke of his high regard for countless journalists, particularly front-line reporters in conflict zones, who work to ensure information is not “manipulated for ends that are contrary to truth and human dignity.”

“In times such as ours, marked by widespread and violent conflicts, many have died while carrying out their duties,” he said. “They are victims of war and of the ideology of war, which seeks to prevent journalists from being there at all.”

“We must not forget them! If today we know what is happening in Gaza, Ukraine, and every other land bloodied by bombs, we largely owe it to them,” he continued.  

Addressing concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on communications media, the Holy Father said people are not destined to live in a world where “truth is no longer distinguishable from fiction” and called for vigilance to guarantee technology and algorithms do not “replace human beings” or remain “in the hands of a few.”

“The world needs free, rigorous, and objective information,” he insisted. 

“In this context, it is worth remembering Hannah Arendt’s warning that ‘the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist,’” he said, citing the German American philosopher’s book “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”

Urging news journalists to “never sell out your authority,” Leo XIV told those present at the morning audience that their “patient and rigorous work” can be a pillar to bring “civility” back into society.  

“You can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. 

“The communications sector cannot and must not separate its work from the sharing of truth,” he added.

Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile during an audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 4, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 09:12 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV sent a letter this week commending Catholic Charities USA for being “agents of hope” to vulnerable people, especially migrants and refugees. 

As migrants and refugees “are not able to rely on their own resources and have to depend on God and the goodness of others, in many ways your ministry makes the Lord’s providence concrete for them,” the pontiff wrote, addressing the 115th annual meeting of the Catholic Charities USA Network, taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Oct. 6–9. 

“Through providing food, shelter, medical care, legal assistance, and many other gestures of kindness, Catholic Charities affiliates across the United States show what Pope Francis often referred to as God’s ‘style’ of closeness, compassion, and tenderness,” he added. 

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), founded in 1910, is a network of 168 independent Catholic Charities agencies across all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. 

CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson said the network is “profoundly grateful to Pope Leo XIV for the apostolic blessing he has imparted upon the Catholic Charities network, and we are inspired and invigorated by the solidarity and encouragement he offered in his letter.”  

In his letter, the pontiff said while those affected by poverty and forced migration face many challenges, “they can also be witnesses to hope not only through their trust in divine assistance but also by their resilience in often having to overcome many obstacles on their journeys.” 

He also pointed out the positive influence many Catholic migrants and refugees have had on different nations, including the U.S., through their vibrant faith and popular devotions. 

“It might be said that through assisting displaced persons to find their new homes in your country, you also act as bridge builders between nations, cultures, and peoples,” Leo wrote. “I encourage you, then, to continue helping the communities who receive these newly arrived brothers and sisters to be living witnesses of hope, recognizing that they have an intrinsic human dignity and are invited to participate fully in community life.”

A voter casts a ballot in the parliamentary election at a polling station in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on May 15, 2022. / Credit: IBRAHIM CHALHOUB/AFP via Getty Images

ACI MENA, Oct 9, 2025 / 08:12 am (CNA).

Lebanon’s diaspora has long been celebrated as the country’s greatest strength, yet when it comes to voting rights their role remains a source of division and unease. 

The most recent cabinet sessions have brought the matter back into sharp focus, underscoring both the fragility of political consensus and the mistrust that continues to paralyze reform. For many Christians, the matter carries a particular weight. Behind the technical arguments lies a deeper fear: that limiting the diaspora’s voice is less about electoral procedure and more about gradually eroding their influence in Lebanon’s fragile balance of power.

Flying home, voting overseas

The right for Lebanese to vote abroad in national elections was first introduced in the 2017 electoral law. Before then, anyone living outside Lebanon had to fly home if they wanted to cast a ballot.

The new law allowed expats to vote from abroad through embassies and consulates. It also created a plan to set aside six seats in Parliament specifically for expat voters: one for each of Lebanon’s major religious communities (Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Sunni, Shiite, and Druze). 

Under that plan, expats would not vote for all 128 members of Parliament (MPs) like residents do but only for six deputies chosen in newly created overseas districts divided by continent.

However, no such constituency was established. The law itself left the mechanism vague, with no clear way to implement it.

As a result, in both the 2018 and 2022 elections, Lebanese abroad voted for the full 128 members of Parliament, just like citizens inside the country. Their votes counted in their original home districts, not in a separate “expat-only” bloc.

Hezbollah pushes to limit diaspora vote

With the next elections set for 2026, there is growing pressure — led mainly by Hezbollah and its allies — to finally activate the six-seat plan and confine diaspora voters to it. 

On the other side, 68 members of Parliament (MPs), representing more than half the chamber — from parties including the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), independents, and others — are pushing to amend the law and make the district-based system permanent. 

Yet Speaker Nabih Berri has so far refused to put their proposal on Parliament’s agenda, leaving the issue unresolved.

Two recent sessions highlighted the deadlock. On Monday, Berri refused to put the amendment on the agenda, prompting Lebanese Forces and Kataeb MPs — the country’s two main Christian parties — to walk out and break quorum. The next day’s session collapsed for the same reason, as boycotts continued.

Hezbollah and its allies have the most to lose from an empowered diaspora, and the numbers from 2022 explain why. Nearly 130,000 Lebanese abroad turned out to vote, triple the figure from 2018, and many of their ballots went to independents and reformists openly critical of Hezbollah’s role in the country. 

Amal-Hezbollah’s share of the expatriate vote slid from 20% to 13%, while the Free Patriotic Movement — Hezbollah’s main Christian partner — sank from 16% to 7%. 

What unsettles the establishment even more is that these voters are not detached migrants but recent emigrants who fled the financial collapse in 2019 and the Beirut port blast in 2020 — a younger electorate with little patience for the old order. With projections that up to 300,000 expats could register in 2026, Hezbollah sees the diaspora not as a distant constituency but as a looming electoral threat, one it hopes to contain through the six-seat plan.

Logistical excuses or political pretexts?

Hezbollah, for its part, does not openly admit that the push for six seats is about limiting the diaspora’s influence. Instead, its leaders frame the issue around “logistical difficulties,” challenges in monitoring voting abroad, and the risk that expatriates could face pressure.

But in an interview with ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, MP Pierre Bou Assi rejected those claims outright. “These arguments are entirely unfounded,” he said. “It is impossible to exert pressure on voters casting their ballots in privacy behind the curtain. From a logistical perspective, the process of voting for 128 MPs has already proven successful, while the feasibility of voting for only six MPs abroad is untested.”

He added that the diaspora itself has been vocal in demanding the right to vote for the full 128 seats and that support for this demand cuts across Lebanon’s political and sectarian lines.

“Undoubtedly, restricting the Christian vote to six MPs is a deliberate marginalization of Christian voices and a reduction of their political impact,” he said. “It is a weakening of true representation and a reduction of Christian participation in real political partnership and in national decision-making.”

According to the Interior Ministry’s latest voter rolls published in 2022, Christians make up about one-third of Lebanon’s electorate overall, similar to their share among residents inside the country. But among registered expatriates, Christians form a clear majority: 53.2%, compared with 20% Sunni, 20% Shiite, and 6.4% Druze.

Assi, who previously headed the Foreign Relations Department of the Lebanese Forces, stressed to ACI MENA that Lebanese abroad are not detached from their homeland. On the contrary, he said, they remain deeply attached to Lebanon and aspire to return or invest in it. 

“The Lebanese abroad possess enormous resources — scientific, intellectual, financial — and their expertise spans many fields. What they ask for above all is stability. This is why, as the Lebanese Forces, we place stability as our highest priority, and the only path to that is by strengthening the state and ensuring that the monopoly over arms and the decision of war and peace rests solely in its hands.” 

Assi underlined that the Christian presence and role in Lebanon is the community’s “very reason for being.” Once stability is secured, he argued, the diaspora will play a decisive role in Lebanon’s prosperity.

Young Christians abroad voice frustration

Lebanese abroad, especially Christians, are increasingly angry at the prospect of losing their full voting rights. Charbel Abi Younes, a 27-year-old political scientist who left for Australia in 2022, said he feels “excluded from the politics of my own country.” If the law confines diaspora voters to six seats, he added, he will not cast a ballot: “It would feel like my own country telling me that I am not a part of it.”

Younes described the push for restrictions as “an attempt by specific sides at consolidating power because they are aware that the immigrant vote would topple them.” 

Reflecting on the wider role of the diaspora for Lebanon’s Christians, he noted: “The Christians of Lebanon have had to rely heavily on the diaspora over the past few years, be it economically through money from overseas or politically through lobbying. I hope one day the Christian community in Lebanon will be strong enough to not need anyone’s help but its own.”

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

Daniël Hussem and Emily Wilson-Hussem are the creators of the new Catholic dating app, SacredSpark. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Daniël Hussem and Emily Wilson-Hussem

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).

When Emily Wilson-Hussem began sharing “matchmaking” posts on Instagram, inviting Catholic singles to share their names and locations to connect with others, she wasn’t expecting that her lighthearted experiment would lead to 12 marriages, 20 engagements, hundreds of dating couples, and even a baby.

The Catholic speaker and digital content creator realized that young Catholics are in search of holy marriages but need help finding one another. This led her and her husband, Daniël Hussem, to create a new Catholic dating app — SacredSpark.

The new matchmaking app blends technology and tradition to foster meaningful online connections with the goal of creating lasting offline relationships.

“Over these years I have seen the difficulty singles [have] to connect with one another, especially of the same age, and a lot of the young single Catholics I met were having a really hard time, and so I felt like a nudge from the Lord,” Wilson-Hussem told CNA.

After seeing the immense response from young people on her matchmaking posts, yet realizing the downfalls of trying to help connect people on Instagram, the Hussems decided to create an app that was intentional and focused on the fact that each user was made in the image and likeness of God.

One of the main features of SacredSpark is its commitment to more meaningful connections between people. To foster that, all profile pictures are blurred. Photos become unblurred once both individuals match with one another. So instead of simply swiping through images of a person, users can record audio messages introducing themselves and other users can listen and determine if they believe there could be a connection.

Hussem explained that this feature was created “because we want to start meaningful connections beyond just the appearance.”

The couple also pointed out that unlike other dating apps that allow users to place filters on things like physical traits, including eye color, hair color, or even height, SacredSpark does not allow for any filters to be placed on physical qualities.

“For us, we want it to be extremely intentional about the person as a whole, not just their physical appearance,” Hussem shared. “If you’re looking at the general scope of a sacramental marriage, are those things — someone’s color of their eyes or the color of their hair or their height — I think those are more superficial things that people can get sidetracked by versus just these intentional things.”

“Our focus is on the image and likeness of God in each person you will connect with on the app. That’s a huge part of the core of what we’re doing,” Wilson-Hussem added.

The app also includes a matchmaking feature, which allows the user to invite a friend or family member to act as a matchmaker on their behalf on the app. Wilson-Hussem explained that this feature was added into the app because of the great success matchmakers had on her Instagram posts. 

“A huge part of the success was a girl saying, ‘I have a brother, Jeff. He’s 31 and he lives in Wisconsin. If there are any great gals out there, I would love to connect you,’” she shared. “I would say at least half of the marriages have been from one person who put one person out there and was linking two other people and we thought, ‘Wow. A, that’s amazing because a lot of people know single Catholics, they have fun with it, but B, our singles need support. They need to feel like people are in their corner.’”

She added: “You can hire a matchmaker for thousands of dollars — a person who has to get to know you, a person who has to look at who you are on paper. The people who have known you your whole life know you best. They know what you’re looking for. So, why don’t we find a way to activate those people and support our singles?”

SacredSpark will be launched and open to the public in mid-October, but interested singles can already sign up to join the waitlist. 

The Hussems said they hope the new app will “relight the hope of Catholic dating.”

“The overall mission is actually to help build up the Church one relationship at a time,” Daniël Hussem said.

“I think a big part of the cultural breakdown is the breakdown of the family, and we want SacredSpark to really be a place, down the road, where we can connect people who will build up the Church because they’ve entered into a sacramental marriage and will build up the family,” Wilson-Hussem added. “The restoration of the family is going to be a huge part of the next many years and we think SacredSpark, hopefully, will play a part in that.”