“Canada now has the world’s largest and fastest-growing euthanasia program,” the bishops wrote. “The percentage of ‘MAID’ [medical assistance in dying] deaths is increasing annually and accounts for 5.1% of all deaths in 2024 (or 16,499 Canadians). Since its legalization, an estimated 100,000 Canadians have died by euthanasia or assisted suicide.”

The bishops added:

As disciples of Christ, we affirm that every human life is a gift, holds profound dignity and value, and is part of a human community. In contrast, euthanasia and assisted suicide, whatever their motives or means, consist in intentionally causing or hastening the death of a person who is sick, suffering, disabled, or dying in order to eliminate suffering. Such acts can never be morally acceptable, for they are gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to God, the Creator and Lord of life.

True compassion does not answer suffering with death, but accompanies those who suffer with hope, presence, palliative care, and relief of pain. Together with healthcare professionals, patients, and families, our faith teaches that we must strive for proportionate treatment options that neither unduly prolong nor intentionally hasten death, but instead offer life-affirming and compassionate care.

First, a fire was set inside the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Tinure, which is part of Drogheda. Two weeks later, St. Augustine’s Priory in Drogheda was vandalized.

President Trump characterized the consecration as “a powerful moment in our national story and a poignant reminder that America has always been guided by the loving hand of God” and described the Feast of the Sacred Heart as “a joyful celebration of God’s boundless love for all His creation.”

The president also noted that June 12 marks the 39th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech and St. John Paul II’s homily at the Westerplatte Peninsula in Gdansk, Poland. The president concluded:

As Catholic Bishops consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this 250th year of our Independence, we recommit ourselves, like President Reagan and Pope Saint John Paul II, to defending our spiritual identity and great civilizational inheritance. Above all, we pray that America will continue for the next 250 years, and beyond, to be a land of faith, a country of miracles, and a light and glory to all nations.

“We are called to rediscover the profound meaning of travel: not as an escape from reality, but as a journey towards creation, towards others, and towards God,” Archbishop Fisichella wrote. “It is indeed necessary to preserve the vision of the person as a relational being, free, capable of wonder, and the bearer of an inalienable dignity that no algorithm will ever be able to fully capture.”

The prelate’s message, dated May 26, was released on June 11; World Tourism Day is commemorated on September 27.

Since 2023, the Dicastery for Evangelization has issued the Vatican’s message for World Tourism Day; previously, the message was issued by the Pope (until 2004), the Secretary of State (2007), the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples (2006, 2008-2016), or the Dicastery for Promoting Human Development (2017-2022).

Pope Leo XIV encouraged the Canary Islands’ bishops, priests, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers to embrace the cross and to cultivate a Eucharistic spirituality.

Under the revisions, the Charter will remain focused on the sexual abuse of minors, amid calls for a revised charter to address the sexual abuse of adults. A motion by Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kansas, to delay a vote on the proposed revisions failed by a 126-73 margin.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Mass of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Gran Canaria Stadium last evening (video 1, video 2) and encouraged his hearers to be transformed by the humble love of the Sacred Heart.

Pope Leo XIV departed from Barcelona on June 11, the penultimate day of his apostolic journey to Spain, and arrived in the Canary Islands (video 1, video 2).

The consecration, offered during the nation’s 250th anniversary year, took place during a Mass in Orlando, at the Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Universe (video).

“In a culture that prizes independence and self-reliance, we gather publicly to acknowledge that our deepest identity and our truest hope come, not from ourselves but from the Lord,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore preached. “Today we place the Church in the United States, and this nation we love, into the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

In preparation for the consecration, three archbishops offered reflections on the Sacred Heart.

“The Colorado Catholic Conference, as the united voice of the Catholic Bishops of Colorado, objects to the use of Pope Leo XIV’s image and words to imply endorsement of [Manny] Rutinel,” the conference stated. “Furthermore, the position of Rutinel on abortion, especially Rutinel’s recent co-sponsorship HB26-1335 and HB25-129, is direct participation in the grave evil of abortion and violates Catholic Church teaching.”