Catholic Nutshell News: Thursday 4/2/26
Topics include: Longshot bill to revoke Mifepristone; Observing the First Friday devotion; Investigation into Noelia Castillo’s euthanasia; & Lent ends on Holy Thursday, not Easter?
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Today's sources include Aleteia, EWTN News, National Catholic Register, The Pillar, CatholicVote, John Eldredge, and ChurchPOP. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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OSV News
Longshot bill to revoke Mifepristone’s FDA approval
By Kate Scanlon, April 2, 2026
Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, offered his support to legislation that would revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone for abortions. However, the bill faces long odds in Congress. The Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, introduced in March by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., would end the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug commonly, but not exclusively, used for first-trimester abortion. Bishop Thomas wrote in an April 1 letter to those lawmakers, “Catholic teaching holds that all human life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death and that both the life of the mother and the preborn child possess equal, inherent dignity.” the path forward for the legislation was not clear, as President Donald Trump indicated as a candidate for president in 2024 he would veto a national abortion ban if one reached his desk.
CatholicVote
Observing the First Friday devotion on Good Friday
By Hannah Hiester, March 30, 2026
This April, the first Friday of the month also falls on Good Friday — the one day of the year when the Church does not celebrate Holy Mass. For those who observe the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the first Friday of each month, this coincidence does not pose an obstacle to fulfilling their obligations. The First Friday devotion has roots in the private revelations given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun who lived in the 17th century. As CatholicVote previously reported, the nun related that Jesus showed her His Heart “on fire with love, pierced, bleeding, and crowned with thorns” and said, “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love; and in return I receive from the greater part only ingratitude.” Over time, a formal structure developed for observing this special devotion to console the Sacred Heart of Christ.
Crux
U.S. orders investigation into Noelia Castillo’s euthanasia
By Fionn Shiner, April 2, 2026
The Trump administration has ordered the US embassy in Madrid to investigate the “many systemic human rights failures” surrounding the death of Noelia Castillo, the 25-year-old woman who died by euthanasia last week after nearly two years of legal battles with her father. Of particular concern for Washington is the way that the police and judiciary handled the multiple sexual assaults that Castillo said she suffered in her life before she tried to commit suicide in 2022, leaving her in a wheelchair and paraplegic. “We are deeply concerned by allegations that Ms. Castillo was repeatedly sexually assaulted while under state care and that no perpetrators have been brought to justice,” the cable reads. “We are also aware of reports that Ms. Castillo expressed hesitancy to undergo euthanasia in her final hours, but that these indications were ignored,” the cable also states.
The Pillar
Australia also sees a surge in adults entering the Church
By Peter Rosengren, April 2, 2026
Samuel Carden, an Australian high school student preparing for graduation, is just one face of a counter-cultural phenomenon quietly growing across Australia and around much of the world – more and more people from widely differing backgrounds, many young and male, seeking to enter the Catholic Church. This year, Carden is one of about 60 adults in the Diocese of Sandhurst who will enter the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. Last year, that figure was just 10. The Archdiocese of Sydney will see 457 people joining the Church this Easter. In a February press release, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP said the steep increase from 2025 – catechumens this year are up by 35% and candidates by 95% on last year’s figures – is “proof that the Holy Spirit is active and alive.” Figures from the Catholic Inquiry Centre, an office of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Centre for Evangelisation, show similar trends in other dioceses across the country.
Aleteia
Lent ends on Holy Thursday, not Easter, but fasting remains
By Philip Kosloski, March 30, 2025
Lent is a penitential season in the Catholic Church that spans 46 days, as the 40-day fast excludes the six Sundays within it. Additionally, the season of Lent ends right before a mini liturgical season that lasts three days before Easter. Not everyone notices this little season, but it is the most important of the year. Technically speaking, the Easter Triduum, also known as the “Sacred Paschal Triduum,” begins at sundown on Holy Thursday. The Roman Missal simply states that, “the Mass of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated in the evening, at a convenient time, with the full participation of the whole local community and with all the priests and ministers exercising their office.” Prior to that, the liturgical texts are situated within the holy season of Lent. The Triduum is also considered a single Mass, even though it spans three days. While some might say that your Lenten resolutions end on Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper also begins the “Paschal Fast.” Traditionally, many Catholics prolonged their Lenten fasting from Holy Thursday until the end of the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.
Angelus News
Pro-life leaders condemn Title X grants to Planned Parenthood
By Kate Scanlon, OSV News, March 31, 2026
The Trump administration signaled it would provide another year of Title X grant money to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, the day before those funds were set to expire. The move prompted condemnation from leaders of pro-life groups. Title X grant funds, part of a federal program that subsidizes family planning, are provided to eligible groups for up to 5 years. The fourth year’s funding concludes March 31, and the fifth round of funding starts April 1. The Trump administration previously froze about $27.5 million in federal family planning grants to groups including Planned Parenthood as part of its probe into diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, sometimes referred to as DEI, within federal agencies. However, it quietly released Title X family planning funds to Planned Parenthood in December, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to drop its lawsuit that sought to restore the funds.
National Catholic Register
Churches still barred from making political endorsements
By Amira Abuzeid/EWTN News, April 1, 2026
A federal judge in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to allow churches to endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exempt status. The case, which challenged the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 law that prohibits 501(c)(3) nonprofits from endorsing political candidates, was filed in August 2024 by the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), two Texas churches, and Intercessors for America. The plaintiffs argued that the Johnson Amendment violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion, is unconstitutionally vague under the Fifth Amendment, and infringes on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The U.S. Department of Justice attempted to dismiss the case in the last weeks of the Biden administration. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Department of Justice shifted their positions and sided with the plaintiffs, arguing that the Johnson Amendment should be read narrowly when applied to churches.
EWTN News
Supreme Court grills both sides in ‘birthright citizenship’
By Tyler Arnold, April 1, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday considered whether President Donald Trump’s executive order denying citizenship to children of parents without legal immigration status complies with the Constitution. The amendment guarantees citizenship to any person born in the country and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The April 1 arguments, which Trump attended, focused on the meaning of the latter phrase and on Supreme Court precedent from the 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark decision. In February, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) petitioned the Supreme Court to consider the moral implications of Trump’s order, saying it will determine “whether the law will protect the human dignity of all God’s children.” Solicitor General D. John Sauer, who defended the government, noted the motivation for the 14th Amendment was to guarantee citizenship to “the newly freed slaves and their children” after the abolition of slavery.
Angelus News, EWTN & ChurchPOP for 4/2/26
Angelus News
Angelus joins in the great work of evangelization - April 2, 2026
The mission of Angelus is to provide our readers with the best in Catholic news, first-rate analysis of events and trends shaping the Church and the world
From Moses to St. Faustina: The Easter meaning of Jesus’ burial veil - Bishop Slawomir Szkredka - Apr 01, 2026 - Commentators point to the orderly placement of the funerary vestments, particularly the face cloth, now rolled up and placed separately. There is no sign of haste and disorder, which would typically indicate a robbery.
Pope Leo XIV to wash the feet of 12 priests on Holy Thursday, highlighting support for clergy - Paulina Guzik | OSV News - Apr 01, 2026 - Pope Leo XIV will wash the feet of 12 priests on Holy Thursday during the “In Coena Domini” -- the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper -- on April 2 at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. “Eleven of them are priests who were ordained last year by Pope Leo XIV,” the Vicariate of Rome said in an April 1 announcement.
The epic survival story of Jesus’ ‘sudarium’ face cloth - Mike Aquilina - Apr 01, 2026 - In the small details of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ burial, where the evangelists mention three distinct types of cloth. The first is the shroud (sindōn, in Greek), a large linen cloth used to wrap the whole body. The second type is the linen strips (othonia). The third is the soudarion. This was a separate cloth to cover the head and face, and was found in Jesus’ tomb rolled up in a place by itself
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — April 2, 2026
EWTN provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.
New CEO of Catholic AI group hopes members will be Pope Leo’s ‘soldiers’ - By Madalaine Elhabbal - Builders AI Forum (BAIF) held its first conference at the Vatican in November 2025 and now hopes to help advance Pope Leo XIV’s mission on artificial intelligence.
Catholics allege bias after public Islamic prayer praised, silent Christian prayer punished - By Andy Drozdziak - Catholic activists have complained of “persecution” and “a clear bias against Christianity” in a controversy over public prayer in the U.K. following an outdoor Islamic prayer service in London.
Pope says Christian mission counters ‘imperialist occupation of the world’ - By Victoria Cardiel - Leo on Holy Thursday proposed Christian mission as an antidote to what he called the “imperialist occupation of the world,” saying it is now a priority to remember that “neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power.”
ChurchPOP Trending
ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - April 2, 2026
“We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.”
8 Beautiful Passion Prayers to Deeply Meditate on Jesus’ Suffering & Death - “Let me kiss the wounds in Your hands, dear Lord. With sorrow deep and true, and may every movement of my hands be an act of love for You!”
Why Visit 7 Catholic Churches on Holy Thursday? The Ancient Tradition Explained - Each of the seven churches mirrors the final seven places Christ visited – from the moment he entered his Passion to His Death at Calvary (listed at the end of this article).
6 Modern ‘30 Pieces of Silver’ We’re Tempted to Choose Instead of Jesus (and How to Let Them Go) - 1) The Approval of Others, 2) Career Success and Financial Security, 3) Comfort and Convenience, 4) Grudges and the Need to Be Right, 5) Endless Digital Distraction, 6) Thinking “I’ve Got This” on My Own
Nutshell reflections for 4/2/26:
USCCB Daily Reflection - VIDEO - April 2, 2026
Thursday of Holy Week
Church Life Journal
God’s help: Alight with hidden glory
By Bishop Erik Varden, March 31, 2026
Mary Ward, that great Christian educator of the 17th century, used to tell her sisters: “Do your best and God will help.” The notion that God can and will help us in our predicaments is axiomatic to Biblical faith. It sets the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God made compassionate flesh in Christ Jesus, apart from the Unmoved Mover of philosophy. God’s helpfulness expresses his mercy, the hesed of the Hebrew Scriptures, a quality first named by Lot, of all people, when he found himself helped to escape the destruction of Sodom even as he was unwilling to do his own best, ignoring the angels’ instruction to flee to the hills, settling instead for a “little town” in the lowlands, there to while away the remainder of his days in lurid mediocrity. It is an ongoing challenge to find the right balance between personal effort and faithful abandonment to divine assistance. This challenge is the subject of St Bernard’s first sermon on Psalm 90.
The Christian Science Monitor
A push for child welfare reform in Haiti, the ‘Republic of Orphanages’
By Linnea Fehrm, April 1, 2026
Haiti is sometimes referred to as the “Republic of Orphanages,” because of the hundreds of private institutions that opened following its historic 2010 earthquake. Upward of 200,000 people were killed in the temblor, and the number of orphanages operating in the country more than doubled in the aftermath – many run by U.S.-based churches. Across Haiti, social workers and their foreign partners are leading the charge, climbing hills searching for relatives and holding meetings in remote villages to ask who might take in a child whose family can’t be found. They sit with priests, teachers, and community leaders and host information sessions on “the importance of keeping children in a family environment,” says Haitian Enel Andre, social and community development manager at Overture International, a nonprofit working to strengthen the foster care system in southern Haiti.
Providence
Political theology needs the Old Testament
By Tim Milosch & James Diddams, March 13, 2026
When Christians attempt to derive political principles from the New Testament absent the context of the Old Testament, the result is sloppy political theology. Providence Magazine Managing Editor James Diddams is joined by Tim Milosch, lecturer in politics at Biola University and Providence Contributing Editor, to discuss how the moral framework of the Old Testament can help Christians better understand the teachings of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. In particular, Milosch and Diddams examine three major excesses in contemporary evangelical political theology: propheticism, pacifism, and cosmopolitanism. Each represents a legitimate category of political reflection that can serve an important role, but which can also become distorted when detached from the interpretive lens of the Old Testament.
Wild at Heart
He has showered his kindness on us
By John Eldredge, April 2, 2026
Only yesterday our vet told us that our sweet golden retriever is very ill, and tonight we’re supposed to go out to dinner with some friends. I’m torn because we’ve been scheduling, canceling, and rescheduling this dinner for six months, and part of me really wants to go. But part of me is dealing with the loss of the family dog. What I’m aware of in this moment is how often I need to put my soul aside in order to carry on with the demands of life. We all do. Life goes on, despite our personal struggles. You lose your father on a Wednesday; corporate America expects you back at the office on Monday. It’s hard on the soul. It’s hard on our lives with God. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. (Ephesians 1:6–8 NLT)
Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay
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