President Donald Trump’s administration says Nov. 3, 2025, that it will partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits after several states sued to force a court order. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 / 17:08 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump’s administration will partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown as Catholic nonprofits are working to accommodate people’s needs through charitable giving.

Food stamp benefits from SNAP came to a temporary halt Nov. 1 after Congress failed to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown or approve a stand-alone SNAP funding bill.

Several states sued, which led a federal court to order the administration to fully or partially fund the program. According to a Nov. 3 court filing, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to drain the SNAP contingency fund to ensure some benefits are received this month.

The contingency fund can supply Americans on food assistance with about $4.6 billion in funds, which is about half of the $9 billion that was expected to be given. It is unclear when the benefits will show up on recipients’ Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards.

Neither the USDA nor the White House responded to a request for comment.

As the shutdown reached its 34th day on Nov. 3, lawmakers were still disagreeing over extending taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and providing funding for a wall on the southern border, food assistance, and military pay. Most of the 2.9 million civilian federal workers are not receiving paychecks.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, questioned the USDA inspector general nominee John Walk on Oct. 30 about why the contingency fund wasn’t being used, which prompted the litigation from states.

“There’s nothing legally stopping the administration from making emergency food assistance funds that they’re just sitting on available for Georgia kids and families in November,” Warnock said. “But even as we debate what to do about these ACA subsidies, it is indisputable that the USDA under the Trump administration is choosing to pull hungry children into this fight.”

Filling the gap

Catholic organizations that provide food assistance to low-income people have been trying to fill the gap amid the funding losses. Catholic Charities USA launched a national fundraising effort Oct. 30 to “come to the aid of our vulnerable brothers and sisters during this time of dire need,” according to a news release.

Donations made through the new portal “will be used to buy and ship food directly to Catholic Charities agencies throughout the country that operate food pantries, soup kitchens, food delivery programs and a variety of other initiatives to support those facing hunger or food insecurity,” the news release noted. 

Some local Catholic Charities affiliates told CNA last week that they were committed to helping families in need access food but expressed concern that their organizations may be unable to fully supplement the billions of dollars in lost funding.

John Berry, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the United States, said in a statement on Oct. 31 that the funding loss was “a bipartisan moral failure” and alleged that both parties “weaponized the defenseless.”

“This crisis is not a distant tragedy: It is right in front of our face in the look in a mother’s eyes as she worries that her innocent children may soon feel the ache of an empty stomach,” Berry said.

“Its roots run deep in the decisions of policymakers who have chosen partisan brinkmanship over human dignity, and the consequences demand an urgent moral critique through faith and reason,” he said. “This is not a partisan failure. Ironically, it’s one of the few times that both sides of the political aisle have managed to do something together — morally fail in their efforts to appeal to their supporters.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an Oct. 28 statement urged lawmakers to find a solution that reopens the government and funds SNAP.

Broglio called the funding loss “unjust and unacceptable” and “catastrophic for families and individuals who rely on SNAP to put food on the table.” He said it “places the burdens of this shutdown most heavily on the poor and vulnerable of our nation, who are the least able to move forward.” 

The shutdown is already the second-longest government shutdown. Unless it is quickly resolved, it will likely surpass the longest government shutdown, which was 35 days long and occurred during Trump’s first term.

Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez of Uruapan, a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán, was murdered Nov. 1, 2025. / Credit: Uruapan Municipal Government

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 14:49 pm (CNA).

After Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán, was assassinated Nov. 1, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference strongly condemned the act, calling for the government to address the root of the violence plaguing the country.

The murder occurred during the Day of the Dead celebrations in the city’s main square, when an armed man approached the mayor and shot him at point-blank range. The assassin was killed at the scene.

Manzo, who died minutes later, had repeatedly denounced the presence of criminal groups in the area and requested support from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch to curb organized crime.

In a September interview, Manzo had denounced the fact that the violence is caused not only by gangs but also primarily by “criminal groups, very powerful cartels.”

The mayor said at the time that he felt afraid. “I don’t want to be just another mayor on the list of those executed, those whose lives have been taken from them. I don’t want the municipal police to continue becoming statistics, nor the honest and honorable working citizens who are victims of this social cancer,” he stated.

According to the Mexican new outlet Notus, 10 mayors have been assassinated in the country since Sheinbaum was elected on Oct. 1, 2024.

The security cabinet, headed by Harfuch, reported on Nov. 2 that the mayor had been assigned a security detail since December 2024; however, “the assailants took advantage of [Manzo’s]  vulnerability during a public event to plan the attack.”

Manzo’s murder follows that of Bernardo Bravo Manríquez, which occurred on Oct. 19. Bravo was president of the Citrus Growers Association of the Apatzingán Valley and had spoken out about the pressure exerted by organized crime on agricultural producers.

Combatting the roots of violence

In a Nov. 2 message, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference denounced the presence of “armed groups that control public life” in certain communities across the country.

“Gang-controlled checkpoints on roads, land seizures, and constant threats against producers, merchants, and government officials reflect a serious weakening of the constitutional order that governments at the municipal, state, and federal levels are obligated to guarantee,” they stated.

The bishops demanded “determination and astuteness” from the authorities to stop not only the murders of public officials but also the threats against the lives of “thousands of citizens whose freedoms are violated daily as they move about and carry out their commercial and recreational activities.”

They urged authorities to “confront the lack of rule of law” in the country. “Today, it is no longer enough to apprehend the murderer: We must combat with determination the cause of all these murders,” they stated.

The conference also expressed its solidarity with those who, “even amid contexts marked by violence, remain faithful to their mission of proclaiming the Gospel.” 

Their “silent and courageous dedication,” the statement continued, “is a living sign of Christ’s presence among his people, reminding us that light is never extinguished in the face of darkness.”

Finally, the prelates prayed that Our Lady of Guadalupe “would guide our hearts and intercede for us so that together we may achieve the peace, freedom, and development that our Mexico deserves.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: ShutterstockProfessional, Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 11:37 am (CNA).

The Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, Oct. 31, making it the 41st U.S. diocese to seek court-supervised reorganization in the wake of clergy sexual abuse claims.

Bishop Robert Marshall Jr., who has led the 50-parish diocese in central Louisiana since 2020, announced the petition in a letter and video posted to the diocese’s website. 

“As your bishop, I apologize to abuse survivors for the harm, pain, and suffering they experienced and continue to experience in their lives,” Marshall wrote. “This action is occurring because some past priest-perpetrators sexually abused minors, actions that are evil, sinful, and go against everything the Church and the priesthood represent.”

Eighty-five survivors have already filed claims, according to the diocese, with more expected after the court sets a bar date. More than half the allegations date to the 1970s or earlier; nearly every named perpetrator is deceased. 

A 2021 Louisiana law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations, triggering the surge in claims. The law allows victims to pursue civil damages indefinitely for abuse occurring on or after June 14, 1992, or where the victim was a minor as of June 14, 2021, with a three-year filing window (which ended June 14, 2024) for older cases.

The diocese lists $16.7 million in assets and $9.5 million in liabilities. It pledges $4 million plus limited insurance proceeds to a victim compensation trust. “The diocese believes it can contribute $4 million to a plan trust that will be used to compensate abuse survivors,” according to the frequently asked questions section of the diocese’s website.

Chapter 11 will freeze all pending lawsuits and funnel them into one court-supervised settlement. “Without a structured process of this kind, funds would be exhausted in the first settlements or cases that go to trial, leaving nothing for all the other claims waiting to be heard,” the diocese explained.

Parishes, which are separately incorporated from the diocese, remain untouched by the bankruptcy filing. Restricted donations, including the annual diocesan appeal and seminarian funds, are protected, and daily Masses, parish schools, and charities continue uninterrupted.

The bankruptcy filing comes as the diocese, experiencing declining numbers of priests, seminarians, and Mass attendance, is in the midst of a reorganization plan launched in 2024 titled “Together as One Church: Embracing the Future of Hope.” The plan will entail “closures and reconfigurations” of parishes and missions, according to the diocese.

In this context, Marshall, after consulting the priest council, finance council, and the Vatican, called the Chapter 11 filing “the most prudent course.”

The case, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana, is projected to last 18 to 24 months and cost $1 million to $2 million in fees — far less than larger dioceses.

In 2019, the diocese published names of credibly accused clerics and has adopted the U.S. bishops’ safe environment policy. “We remain committed to transparency,” Marshall said.

The Alexandria filing follows the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ $230 million settlement last week.

Pope Leo XIV leads the Church’s commemoration for his papal predecessor and 142 other bishops who died in the past year on Nov. 3, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 3, 2025 / 11:04 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Monday presided over a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in suffrage for the late Pope Francis and for deceased cardinals and bishops.

One day after celebrating Mass for all the faithful departed at Verano Cemetery in Rome, the Holy Father led the Church’s commemoration for his papal predecessor and 142 other bishops who died in the past year.

In the presence of members of the Roman Curia and hundreds of Catholic faithful, the pope said his first Mass commemorating the Church’s deceased cardinals and bishops had the “savor of Christian hope” because their ministry had guided many “on the path of the Gospel.”

“Dear friends, our beloved Pope Francis and our brother cardinals and bishops for whom we offer the Eucharistic sacrifice today have lived, witnessed, and taught this new paschal hope the Lord called them to,” Leo said in his Nov. 3 homily.

“The Lord called them and established them as shepherds of his Church,” he said. “Through their ministry they — to use the language of the Book of Daniel — have led many to righteousness.”

Though saddened by their deaths, Leo said their guidance and teaching helped transmit Christ’s “wisdom, justice, sanctification, and redemption” to the Church’s faithful spread throughout the world.

“We are saddened, of course, when a loved one leaves us,” he told the congregation. “As Christians, we are called to bear with Christ the weight of these crosses.”

“But we are not saddened like those without hope, because even the most tragic death cannot prevent Our Lord from welcoming our soul into his arms and transforming our mortal body, even the most disfigured, into the image of his glorious body,” he said.

Entrusting the souls of Pope Francis and the deceased prelates to God, Leo prayed for their intercession and “spiritual encouragement” for Christians “who are still pilgrims on earth.”

Using the Book of Psalms, Leo at the end of his homily prayed: “Hope in God; I will still praise him, the salvation of my face and my God.”

The outside of the reconstructed Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia, Italy, is lit up with lights in celebration of its reopening on Oct. 30, 2025. / Credit: Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia

Rome Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia, Italy, reopened for worship this weekend after a four-year project to rebuild the 13th-century edifice leveled by an earthquake in 2016.

Archbishop Renato Boccardo of Spoleto-Norcia dedicated the newly rebuilt church on Oct. 31, the eve of All Saints’ Day. The basilica marks the birthplace of St. Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine order and the father of Western monasticism. He is also a co-patron saint of Europe.

Nine years ago on Oct. 30, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake — the last in a series of deadly earthquakes to hit central Italy between August and October 2016 — almost completely destroyed the basilica, leaving only the facade standing.

An adjoining monastery of Benedictine monks, who were the caretakers of the basilica at the time, was also destroyed in the October 2016 earthquake.

The reconstruction of the basilica and crypt began in December 2021 and used as many of the original materials as possible while incorporating earthquake-resistant design and handicap accessibility. The project cost 15 million euros (about $17 million).

“The restoration of this important monument, of great historical and artistic value as well as a vibrant center of Benedictine spirituality, represents the visible sign of the demanding journey of religious rebirth undertaken in recent years by the entire diocesan community,” Pope Leo XIV said in a message sent for the basilica’s dedication.

In his homily at the Oct. 31 dedication Mass, Boccardo said: “The doors of the basilica open today to welcome all who come here to draw light and strength for the journey of Christian life.”

“As believers, we are well aware that a splendid building is not enough to make it God’s house among the homes of men,” he said. “Only a community that, as each day passes, passionately lives a sincere search for what is true, good, and just in his eyes will be able to have the Lord close to it.”

“Woe to us,” he continued, “if we limit ourselves to offering him the beauty of this church if it does not correspond to the beauty of a people who are built around the Word and the Eucharist, who build fraternal relationships, who are committed to a more welcoming and merciful society toward all, who tirelessly seek the wisdom that distinguishes good from evil, who separates what builds from what destroys, what remains from what passes away, and who engage in a daily exercise of Christian love.”

A Benedictine monastery was built in Norcia in the 10th century but was shuttered by the Napoleonic Army in the 1800s. A group of American monks refounded the community in Norcia in 1999.

Following the 2016 earthquake, the monastic community moved to a former Capuchin monastery approximately 1.5 miles east of the town. They completed the rebuilding of the earthquake-damaged property outside of Norcia in mid-2024, and the community was elevated to the status of an abbey.

The Abbey of San Benedetto in Monte is known for its beer brewing and for being a vibrant center of Benedictine spirituality in the central Italian region of Umbria.

St. Martin de Porres. / Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Nov. 3, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican brother who lived a life of humble service and charity and became the first Black saint of the Americas.

Here are seven fascinating facts about this inspiring saint:

1. His father refused to acknowledge him.

De Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. He was the son of a Spanish nobleman and former Panamanian Black slave. His father, Don Juan de Porres, refused to publicly acknowledge the boy as his own because Martin was Black, like his mother. Being biracial would prove challenging for Martin de Porres throughout his life. 

2. He started practicing medicine before he was 13.

De Porres served as an apprentice to a doctor, and before the age of 13 he began to learn the practice of medicine. He would eventually become a barber, which at the time performed minor medical and surgical procedures like pulling teeth or emptying abscesses. 

3. He faced discrimination as a Dominican.

De Porres entered the Dominican order in 1603. Becoming a Dominican brother proved to be challenging for de Porres because a Peruvian law at the time prevented people of mixed race from joining religious orders. Therefore, he lived with the community and did manual work, earning himself the nickname “the saint of the broom” for his diligence in cleaning the Dominicans’ quarters.

Eventually he was allowed to enter the order, despite the law, and worked in the infirmary tending to the sick and among the impoverished of Peru. “I cure them, but God heals them,” de Porres would say when curing the sick. He also had the task of begging for alms that the community would use to clothe and feed the poor. He also established an orphanage and planted an orchard from which those in need could freely take a day’s supply of fruit. 

4. He levitated and bilocated.

De Porres was deeply prayerful, so much so that many of the brothers witnessed him levitating in intense prayer and embracing the crucified cross. De Porres reportedly also had the gift of bilocation, and some of his contemporaries said they encountered him in places as far off as Japan even as he remained in Lima. Some claimed he had appeared to them supernaturally behind locked doors or under otherwise impossible circumstances. 

5. He refused to eat meat.

De Porres loved animals. He refused to eat meat and ran a veterinary hospital for sick animals that seemed to seek out his help. Portrayals of the saint often include cats, dogs, and even the rats to whom he showed compassion.

6. He is the patron saint of multiple manual labor occupations.

De Porres was known for the various assignments he carried out and which earned him the title of patron saint of barbers, the sick, and street cleaners. On the 50th anniversary of St. Martin de Porres’ canonization, Father Juan Anguerri, director of the St. Martin de Porres Home for the Poor, said: “These are often thankless tasks, but yet through his humble service, St. Martin sent a message to revitalize these jobs.”

7. He was canonized more than 300 years after his death.

Martin de Porres died on Nov. 3, 1639, at age 60. He was canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 16, 1962. At his canonization Mass, John XXIII called him “Martin of Charity.” 

This story was first published on Nov. 3, 2021, and has been updated.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass commemorating the faithful departed at Rome’s Verano Cemetery on Nov. 2, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

Celebrating Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed at Rome’s Verano Cemetery, Pope Leo XIV invited Catholics to contemplate death “not so much as a recollection of the past but above all as a hope for the future.”

The pope said the Christian vision of death is not one of despair or nostalgia but of confident expectation rooted in the resurrection of Christ. “Our Christian faith, founded upon Christ’s paschal mystery, helps us to experience our memories as more than just a recollection of the past but also, and above all, as hope for the future,” he said in his homily.

He encouraged the faithful not to remain “in the sorrow for those who are no longer with us” but instead to look forward “towards the goal of our journey, towards the safe harbor that God has promised us, towards the unending feast that awaits us.”

“This hope for the future brings to life our remembrance and prayer today,” the pope continued. “This is not an illusion for soothing the pain of our separation from loved ones, nor is it mere human optimism. Instead, it is the hope founded on the resurrection of Jesus who has conquered death and opened for us the path to the fullness of life.”

Pope Leo emphasized that love is the key to this journey. “It was out of love that God created us, through the love of his Son that he saves us from death, and in the joy of that same love, he desires that we live forever with him and with our loved ones,” he said.

He urged Christians to anticipate eternal life by practicing charity in their daily lives. “Whenever we dwell in love and show charity to others, especially the weakest and most needy, then we can journey towards our goal, and even now anticipate it through an unbreakable bond with those who have gone before us.”

“Love conquers death,” he said simply. “In love, God will gather us together with our loved ones. And, if we journey together in charity, our very lives become a prayer rising up to God, uniting us with the departed, drawing us closer to them as we await to meet them again in the joy of eternal life.”

Concluding his homily, the pope invited those mourning loved ones to turn to the risen Christ as their sure source of comfort and promise. “Even as our sorrow for those no longer among us remains etched in our hearts, let us entrust ourselves to the hope that does not disappoint,” he said. “Let us fix our gaze upon the risen Christ and think of our departed loved ones as enfolded in his light.”

“The Lord awaits us,” he added. “And when we finally meet him at the end of our earthly journey, we shall rejoice with him and with our loved ones who have gone before us. May this promise sustain us, dry our tears, and raise our gaze upwards toward the hope for the future that never fades.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV leads the faithful in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in reciting the Angelus on Nov. 2, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 10:50 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV issued urgent appeals for peace and humanitarian access in Sudan and Tanzania on Sunday, decrying escalating violence that has left civilians dead and aid blocked in parts of Africa.

“With great sorrow I am following the tragic news coming from Sudan, especially from the city of El Fasher in the war-torn region of North Darfur,” the pope said after leading the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Nov. 2. He condemned “indiscriminate violence against women and children, attacks on unarmed civilians, and serious obstacles to humanitarian aid,” and called for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors.

“I renew my heartfelt appeal to all parties involved to agree to a ceasefire and to urgently open humanitarian corridors,” he said, urging the international community “to act with determination and generosity” to support relief efforts.

Turning to Tanzania, the pope expressed sadness over deadly clashes following recent elections, encouraging citizens “to avoid all forms of violence and to follow the path of dialogue.”

The pope also greeted pilgrims from Italy and abroad, including youth and religious groups, and said he would celebrate Mass that afternoon at Rome’s Verano Cemetery in remembrance of the faithful departed.

“In spirit, I will visit the graves of my loved ones, and I will also pray for those who have no one to remember them,” he said. “Our heavenly Father knows and loves each of us, and he forgets no one.”

Earlier, before the recitation of the Angelus, the pope reflected on the meaning of All Souls’ Day, telling the faithful that “the resurrection of the crucified Jesus from the dead sheds light on the destiny of each one of us.”

Quoting from the Gospel of John, he said: “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.” From this, the pope explained, “the focus of God’s concerns is clear: that no one should perish forever and that everyone should have their own place and radiate their unique beauty.”

He linked this hope to the previous day’s feast of All Saints, calling it “a communion of differences that extends God’s life to all his daughters and sons who wish to share in it.” Citing Pope Benedict XVI, he described eternal life as “being so immersed in an ocean of infinite love that time, before, and after no longer exist.”

Concluding his reflection, the pope invited Christians to live this day as a remembrance filled with hope. “Let us commemorate, therefore, the future,” he said. “We are not enclosed in the past or in sentimental tears of nostalgia. Neither are we sealed within the present, as in a tomb.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credi: cinemavision/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican on Saturday named St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church. The 19th-century English saint — a former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism — joined 37 other saints who have been given the same honor.

Born in London and baptized into the Church of England in 1801, Newman was a popular and respected Anglican priest, theologian, and writer among his peers prior to his conversion to Catholicism in 1845. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1847 and later made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.

As a Catholic, Newman deepened and contributed to the Church’s teaching, thanks to his broad knowledge of theology and his keen insight into modern times, grounded in the Gospel. His body of work includes 40 books and more than 20,000 letters.

He died in Edgbaston, England, in 1890. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on Sept. 19, 2010, and canonized by Pope Francis on Oct. 13, 2019.

What is a ‘doctor of the Church’?

The title “doctor of the Church” recognizes those canonized men and women who possessed profound knowledge, were superb teachers, and contributed significantly to the Church’s theology.

Traditionally, the title has been granted on the basis of three requirements: the manifest holiness of a candidate affirmed by his or her canonization as a saint; the person’s eminence in doctrine demonstrated by the leaving behind of a body of teachings that made significant and lasting contributions to the life of the Church; and a formal declaration by the Church, usually by a pope.

While their teachings are not considered infallible, being declared a “doctor” means that they contributed to the formulation of Christian teaching in at least one significant area and this teaching has impacted later generations. 

Not quite half of the saints revered as doctors in the Catholic Church are also honored in the Orthodox church since they lived before the Great Schism in 1054.

The most recent doctor of the Church to be named was St. Irenaeus of Lyon, with the title “doctor unitatis” (“doctor of unity”), in 2022. Pope Francis had previously in 2015 named as a doctor of the Church St. Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century priest, monk, mystic, and poet beloved among Armenian Christians.

Other notable saints who are doctors of the Church include St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Francis de Sales, among others.

This story was first published on Aug. 1, 2025, and has been updated.

The Sister Servants of Mary hold a procession with the statue of Our Lady of the Assumption at Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Hospital in Newbury Park, California. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick

CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When a 93-year-old Catholic father from New Orleans had a stroke, he knew he was prepared to die.

Clinton Jacob attended adoration and Mass daily and was “rarely without a prayer book or rosary in hand,” according to his daughter, Kim DeSopo.

“[He] never spoke of death with fear or sadness,” she told CNA. “He would simply say, ‘I’ll be going home.’”

But not everyone feels prepared for death.

The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, is a Catholic community of sisters who dedicate their lives to caring for the sick and dying in New Orleans and around the world. As nurses, they are at the bedside of the dying through the long nights, whether their patients are lifelong Catholics or have never thought about religion.

The sisters often encounter patients as well as family members who are struggling to accept “an illness or imminent death,” Sister Catherine Bussen, a Servant of Mary, told CNA.

“Many times, there is a need for reconciliation within the family, for a return to their faith, for acceptance of their condition, etc.,” Bussen said.

As medical professionals, the sisters provide physical treatment, but they also walk with their patients throughout their illnesses, encouraging patients and families “always with the hope of eternal life,” Bussen said. 

DeSopo, Jacob’s daughter, called the sisters for support. The next day, Bussen arrived at their doorstep, and every night for two weeks, she sat at Jacob’s bedside. 

Bussen’s presence was “a gift,” DeSopo said. “Sister Catherine brought peace and calm into a time filled with stress and sorrow.”

“Her prayers, patience, and care provided comfort not only to my father but also to my mother, who could finally sleep knowing someone trustworthy and compassionate was by his side,” DeSopo said, recalling Bussen’s “selfless dedication” and “unwavering faith.” 

Bussen was with Jacob when he died on Sept. 26, 2024. She prepared his body, cleaning him and sprinkling him with holy water, and then prayed with his wife and daughter.

“I will never forget the care and dignity she gave him, even after his final breath,” DeSopo said.

Mary at the foot of the cross 

“I was sick and you visited me.”

This Scripture verse, Matthew 25:36, summarizes the charism of the Servants of Mary, according to Bussen. 

When they care for the sick, they care for Christ.

The sisters will care for anyone in need, preferably within the sick person’s own home. In those who are suffering, the sisters “discover Jesus carrying his cross,” Bussen explained. 

“By caring for the sick, we believe that we are caring for Christ himself, who still suffers today in the suffering mystical body of Christ,” she said.

Founded in Madrid, Spain, in the 1800s, the sisters care for the sick and dying in Louisiana, Kansas, and California as well as throughout Central and South America, Spain, France, England, Italy, Cameroon, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They run a hospital for the poor in Bamenda, Cameroon, as well as two missionary houses in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The sisters look to Mary as an example as they accompany those who are suffering.

“Although we are not able to take away someone’s cross, we are present to them, offering all to the Father, like Mary did at the cross of Jesus, that all suffering may be redemptive and fruitful,” Bussen said.

“Every one of us sisters would tell you that it is an absolute privilege to be able to enter into the intimacy of a family’s home, listening to the dying, praying with them, and encouraging them on the final stage of their journey as their soul passes into eternity,” she said.

“Our Catholic Christian faith is a beautiful comfort during these times because it is all about looking forward to the promised life to come, the whole goal of our lives, eternal life,” Bussen said.

One woman from New Orleans received news no one wants to hear — she had a terminal illness. Though she was not religious, she knew she needed help and did not know who else to turn to, so she called the Servants of Mary.

As they cared for her and helped her deal with her terminal diagnosis, the sisters learned the woman was “completely alone in the world,” said Bussen, who took care of her. Other people from the surrounding Catholic community volunteered to stay with her.

During that time, the woman found a home in the Catholic Church and received the sacrament of baptism.

Her “anxiety was transformed into peace,” said Bussen, who was with her as she died.

“As the end drew near, she had a new faith family,” Bussen said. “She was no longer alone.”

Remembering the dead 

The life of a sister Servant of Mary is “contemplative in action.” 

The sisters unite “our prayer life with our work — going about what we are doing, in all the business of daily life, in a prayerful spirit,” Bussen said.

The sisters have time set aside for prayer and work, “but these two aspects cannot be separated from one another,” she continued. “The grace and light received in prayer flows into our work and ministry, and everything we experience in our ministry is taken to prayer.”

Throughout the year, the sisters take special care to remember the dead. 

In November especially, Bussen said the sisters “remember all our patients who have died with us by placing their names in our chapel and offering Masses for their eternal happiness.”

“Even after a patient has passed,” she said, “and they no longer need physical care, our ministry continues by praying for their soul.”