Editorials

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently gave the movie, “Unplanned,” which will open in theaters March 29, an R-rating. According to the MPAA, “an R-rated film may depict adult activity, hard language, intense graphic or persistent violence, sexually oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements. Parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated films unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian.”

On March 1, U.S. Sec­re­tary of Educa­tion Betsy DeVos, along with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), unveiled Education Freedom Schol­arships (EFS), the Trump Administration’s key proposal to expand and improve the education options available to students across the country.

In the last week, the pro-life movement gained some ground in one area but in another lost ground. A victory for life came when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the Trump Administration, as promised, is restoring Title X family planning regulations to prohibit grantees from co-locating with abortion clinics, or from referring clients for abortion. “The Protect Life Rule” requires clear financial and physical separation between Title X funded projects and programs or facilities where abortion is a method of family planning.

Blessed John Henry Newman, a Roman Catholic cardinal, scholar, and founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England, will soon be a saint. Pope Francis approved his canonization on Feb. 13, after the Holy Father signed off on a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Newman, who was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

An investigative report, conducted by a private detective agency, into the interaction last month between Coving­ton Catholic high school students and a Native American man has exonerated the students, according to the Diocese of Covington, Ky. The report was released nearly a month after controversy first erupted following an edited video emerging on Twitter showing what appeared to be a confrontation between a Native American elderly man with a drum — later identified as activist Nathan Phillips — and a group of students from Covington Catholic.