Florida Attorney General Pressures Catholic Bishops for Religious Exemption on Vaccines

Citing Church teaching on respect for human life from conception to natural death, Uthmeier noted that “the Catholic Church has historically encouraged the faithful to abstain from the use of vaccines produced from aborted fetal tissue, while also recognizing the moral permissibility of using such vaccines in certain circumstances.”

“But even though abortion-derived vaccines may be permissible to take, Church teaching also recognizes that no one should be forced to take a vaccine ‘if it violates the sanctity of their conscience,'” he said. “Having no legitimate religious reason to refuse to grant religious exemptions for abortion-derived vaccines, Catholic schools in Florida must comply with Florida law.” Common has awarded more than $800,000 in rapid response grants for research into “the ethical and spiritual implications” of artificial intelligence. “The grants, provided through the institute’s DELTA Partner Program and selected from a competitive pool of more than 160 applicants, provide seed funding for organizations to convene strategic meetings, provide training, and create high-impact, practical tools and resources for educators, students, policymakers, and pastoral leaders as they lead amid the rapidly changing technological landscape,” the university said in a July 29 statement.

Grants were distributed to 12 organizations, including Catholic technology companies, schools and policy nonprofits public. “We were excited to see a wide range of organizations and individuals interested in diving into the DELTA framework and adapting it for their own unique contexts,” Meghan Sullivan, director of the Ethics Initiative, said in the release. “We know that those working to develop this newTechnology are moving quickly, and so there is a real need for Christian leaders in a wide variety of fields to also work quickly to help navigate questions about what it means to lead a good human life, serve the common good, and build what Pope Leo calls a ‘civilization of love’ in this new context.”

“Each of these partners brings a unique perspective on the question of what it means to be human in this current moment,” said Adam Kronk, director of DELTA, in the release. “We are excited to have them as part of our growing community of leaders who are looking for tools to protect the dignity of learning and shape people’s hearts and minds.”

Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, announced a faculty fellowship program designed to recognize faculty who have made an exceptional impact on students and the university’s Catholic mission “The highly competitive Be Light Faculty Fellowship Program was established in 2026. to recognize and retain faculty whose consistent exceptional performance strengthens academic programs, creates new opportunities, inspires students, and advances the university,” Franciscana said in a July 28 statement. monetary reward that can be used for research costs, reduced workload, or salary.” “Recipients were selected after a nomination process and an extensive review of their performance in teaching, research, and service over the previous three years, along with assessments of their broader institutional impact by their deans and department chairs,” the university said.

The program is part of the university’s Be Light Strategic Plan aimed at improving the recruitment and retention of “mission-dedicated faculty and staff.”

John Paul the Great Catholic University will launch a bachelor of narrative arts degree in screenwriting and fiction in fall 2026. “The degree creates new pathways for students pursuing careers in storytelling across multiple media, while maintaining previous pathways,” the university said in a statement on July 1. Students who enroll in the program before September 1 will receive a $1,000 scholarship that can be combined with other need- and merit-based aid. bachelor of science in communications media with an emphasis in screenwriting, a bachelor of arts in humanities with an emphasis in screenwriting, or a bachelor of arts in narrative arts with an emphasis inroad map. Creative writing students will be able to choose between a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with an emphasis in Creative Writing or a Bachelor of Arts in Narrative Arts with an emphasis in Fiction. JPCatholic is also introducing a renewed emphasis on Catholic Education and Evangelization within its Bachelor of Arts in Humanities,” the statement said. “Led by Professor Justin Panlasigui, Chair of Humanities, the revised emphasis builds on the university’s long-standing New Evangelization emphasis while providing students with stronger preparation for careers in Catholic education, ministry, catechesis, and evangelization.”

“Our new emphasis on Catholic Education and Evangelization will help students develop an important set of skills for today’s intra- and extra-ecclesial landscape,” said Panlasigui.

The University of Dallas and DeSales University announced an academic partnership to expand graduate-level business school offerings. “Through a Memorandum of Understanding, graduate students enrolled at each university will be able to pursue select online concentration courses offered by the partner institution while remaining enrolled at their home university,” the University of Dallas said in a July 15 statement. Courses will be available online with flexible synchronous and asynchronous options, the release said. preserving our shared commitment to rigorous, applied business education at the graduate level,” said J. Lee Whittington, dean of the Gupta College of Business at the University of Dallas. DeSales in healthcare management and operations and supply chain management, while DeSales students will have access to University of Dallas classes in accounting, finance and financial planning. postParagraph-module-scss-module__Tp8H3W__postParagraphInnerHtml”>”We see this partnership as more than an academic agreement — it is a strategic collaboration between two institutions committed to student success,” said Chris Cocozza, dean of the Waterbury Reilly School of Business at DeSales.