How Trump Betrayed the Pro-Life Movement

 

JONATHON VAN MAREN

Trump’s second term has come with many defeats for the pro-life movement. Abortions have increased due to the administration’s refusal to restrict the abortion pill, and Trump’s personal ambivalence on the issue has won out. What accounts for the difference between now and Trump’s first term, when he proudly accepted the title of “most pro-life president in American history”? Jonathon Van Maren writes that it comes down to Mike Pence, who in the first admin was the movement’s man on the inside. “Pro-lifers who spent four years thanking the wrong man are now learning, belatedly, that transactional relationships have a price.” For further reading: Following the 2024 election, Carmel Richardson observed that young women had not treated abortion as the only important electoral issue. Read why in “How Abortion Lost Its Cool” (May 2025). More: https://firstthings.com/how-trump-betrayed-the-pro-life-movement/

‘Transgender’ man arrested for celebrating murder of Catholic politician: ‘Hope it was a painful death’

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Aberdeen University employee ‘Heather’ Herbert has been arrested after posts celebrating the brutal murder of Catholic pro-life MP Ann Widdecombe went viral online.

Reform UK Immigration and Justice spokesperson Ann Widdecombe gives a speech at the Reform Party 2024 Conference at National Exhibition Centre on September 20, 2024 in Birmingham, England.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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Calvin Freiburger

Thu Jul 16, 2026 - 11:39 am EDT

ABERDEEN, Scotland (LifeSiteNews) — A transgender-identifying University of Aberdeen employee who publicly celebrated the murder of former British MP Ann Widdecombe has now been charged 

As covered last week by LifeSiteNews, the 78-year-old Widdecombe was found dead in her Devon, England, home on July 9. A suspect is in custody and being questioned, though police have released few details.

A Catholic convert and pro-life politician who served from 1987 to 2010, Widdecombe endeared herself to Britons with her surprisingly popular appearances on television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother. 

As LifeSite covered Monday, in since-deleted BlueSky posts, Aberdeen web developer “Heather” Herbert, a male who identifies as female, wrote, “Some good news for once. I hope it was an extremely painful death” and “I hope she was handcuffed to the bed as she screamed in agony.”

Herbert was unapologetic in subsequent remarks to student newspaper The Gaudie, declaring, “I don’t want to see anyone murdered, but I’m still glad she is dead. I’m not a hypocrite. I posted that before the murder investigation was launched. I’m a nobody. I have no power to do anything. Ann Widdecombe was able to and made the lives of ordinary people hell.”

University officials distanced themselves from the comments, and now GB News reports that police have arrested Herbert in connection to them, reversing their original judgment that the comments were non-criminal. 

“We received reports on Saturday 11 July 2026 relating to a post made online,” a Police Scotland spokesperson said. “Following further assessment, a 50-year-old has been arrested and charged in connection. A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

More: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/transgender-man-arrested-for-celebrating-murder-of-pro-life-catholic-politician-online/

The Seduction of Simulation

 

R. R. RENO

From the August/September issue: Editor Rusty Reno reflects on Magnifica Humanitas, commending Pope Leo XIV for his consideration of the destabilizing potential of artificial intelligence. As the pope continues to advise on this issue, Rusty suggests that he warn against what is so seductive about AI. “Magnifica Humanitas seems to take for granted a human desire not to be dehumanized. It’s certainly true that most do not wish to be degraded, enslaved, or abused. But as Leo XIV continues to reflect on today’s digital revolution, he should not discount the allure of a moderate but pervasive dehumanization, especially as it is palliated by countless substitutes for the kinds of things necessary for us to live as human beings.” For further reading: Many of our best writers have weighed in on the encyclical. Ned Desmond wrote that it was a missed opportunity, while Robert Sirico praised its defense of the human person. More: https://firstthings.com/the-seduction-of-simulation/

Bishop of Liege encourages native new SSPX priest

Read on Cathobel (official media of the French-speaking Catholic Church in Belgium):

"Vincent Richter, originally from Steffeshausen, in the German-speaking part of the Diocese of Liège, was ordained a priest for the FSSPX on June 29, on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, at the seminary in Écône. Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville, Bishop of Liège, was informed of this. His public response has nothing of a ban."

"Bishop Delville assures the new priest of his prayers and encourages him to follow Christ in his future mission in Brazil. The Bishop of Liège pronounces neither blame nor excommunication. He chooses a rare tone in this type of situation: that of encouragement addressed to a man he considers a disciple of the Gospel. [...] Father Richter, he writes, is invited to serve Christ 'as an authentic disciple of the Gospel.'

"Where others would first recall the canonical sanction, the Bishop of Liège performs an act of blessing."

https://x.com/fsspxfr/status/2074838774211588604?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

ANNIVERSARY OF THE BULL “QUO PRIMUM TEMPORE” OF ST. PIUS V (July 14, 1570)

On July 14, 1570, Pope St. Pius V promulgated the bull Quo primum tempore, on the perpetual use of the Roman Apostolic Mass, stating:

“…so that the priests may know with certainty which prayers they must use, which are the rites and which the ceremonies that they must, under obligation, preserve henceforth in the celebration of the Masses; so that all everywhere may accept and observe what has been transmitted to them by the Roman Church, Mother and Teacher of all the other Churches, and so that, henceforth and for the time to come, perpetually, in all the patriarchal, cathedral, collegiate, and parish churches, etc…

We have decided and declare that the superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other priests or religious of any order whatsoever cannot be obliged to celebrate the Mass in any other manner than as We have prescribed it, and that never shall anyone, whoever it may be, be able to contradict them or force them to change their Missal…”

The codification approved by St. Pius V through this bull could never be abrogated by anyone.

Oslo Bishop begins preparations for canonization cause of Sigrid Undset

Oslo Bishop Fredrik Hansen has begun preparations for the canonization cause for Sigrid Undset, the Norwegian novelist and Nobel laureate who converted to Catholicism in 1924.

Sigrid Undset

Info: Catholic Church in Norway

Europe recorded 10,000 excess deaths during late-June heatwave, data show

By Kate Abnett

July 13, 20261:10 AM GMT+2Updated 3 hours ago

BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - European countries reported more than 10,000 excess deaths during the record-breaking heatwave that engulfed the west of the continent in late June, official data showed.

The vast majority — more ​than 9,000 — were among people aged 65 and above, according to data published by ‌EuroMOMO, a network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization.

Extreme heat can kill by causing heat stroke, or aggravating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most ​vulnerable.

"To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s ​really high," Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark's Statens Serum Institut, which hosts ⁠EuroMOMO, told Reuters.

"It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme ​heat," Vestergaard added.

Scientists have said the late-June heatwave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change, ​which is making heatwaves more frequent and intense.

The data, pooled from national mortality statistics in 27 European countries, included excess deaths from all causes, not just heat-related ones, during the week of June 22 to 28, when ​the heatwave peaked in France, Spain, Britain and other countries.

More: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/europe-recorded-10000-excess-deaths-during-late-june-heatwave-data-show-2026-07-12/