Today's Catholic Highlights:
Montse Alvarado is set to become the first laywoman to serve as prefect of a Holy See dicastery when she assumes the role on Nov. 1. She described the appointment as a response to her vocation.
A dispute over Bishop Robert Barron’s acceptance of a 2025 award from a German Catholic institution returned to public discussion this week. Barron issued a sharp statement criticizing the Catholic academy that presented the award.
Catholic ethicists are debating whether adopting frozen embryos for pregnancy is morally permissible. A 2008 Vatican document, *Dignitas Personae*, affirmed the dignity and rights of frozen embryos while expressing reservations about prenatal adoption.
Pope Leo XIV has increased lay representation on the International Theology Commission. The commission now includes eight lay members, among them five laywomen; the number of women has risen from five to eight.
Catholic campus ministries are eligible to seek Lilly Endowment grants of up to $7.5 million. In other Catholic education news, the mother of St. Carlo Acutis gave a relic of her son to Franciscan University.