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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to reestablish a civil rights division focused on religious liberty and conscience protections that was initially created during President Donald Trump’s first administration.The move, announced May 18, restructures HHS’ Office of Civil R...

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda has postponed the 2026 Martyrs’ Day celebrations, traditionally held on June 3 at the Namugongo Martyrs Shrine in the country’s Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala, because of the Ebola outbreak in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from where thousands of pilgrims...

Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has strongly urged the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to stop expanding production of plutonium pits, the triggers used in nuclear weapons.In a written statement, read by a priest on Wester’s behalf at a public hearing on May 1...

A White House official in President Donald Trump’s administration expressed a desire to work more closely with churches and faith-based leaders in efforts to confront both drug and human trafficking and assist in recovery.Victor Avila, assistant director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy...

The president of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference issued a powerful call to the Church and society not to turn away from those suffering because of the violence that is the result of organized crime, declaring that “our God hears the cries of the victims, walks with them, and calls upon us, too, not...

In an address to its board of governors, Pope Leo XIV thanked the Catholic Extension Society on May 18 for the assistance it provides to the poor.The pontiff praised the organization’s founder, Father Francis Clement Kelley, who more than 120 years ago “sought to reach out to remote faith communitie...

Cultural shifts regarding sex and unwed childbearing as well as heightened material expectations for marriage are the driving forces behind America’s falling marriage rates, according to a Heritage Foundation report.While declining wages among working-class men is sometimes cited as reason for decli...

Sometimes clad in alb and chasuble, other times in a wrestling costume: Such was the life of the Mexican priest Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez, better known as “Fray Tormenta” (“Friar Storm”), a man who celebrated Mass by day and wrestled in a mask by night.With the goal of sustaining an orphanage that pr...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has approved the creation of a new Vatican commission on artificial intelligence to coordinate the Holy See’s response to the rapidly expanding technology and its implications for human dignity, integral development, and the Church’s own internal use of AI.The move comes...

The All Ireland Rosary Rally scheduled for June 6 in Knock will be the largest Catholic event in Ireland this year, and organizers have adopted an uncommon promotional tactic to catch the attention of the faithful — a countrywide billboard campaign.Building on last year’s turnout when more than 10,0...

A richly diverse Catholic community in southern Michigan is preparing to mark a milestone: the centennial of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Jackson, where the beauty of sacred space, reverent liturgy, and a vibrant musical tradition continue to shape the lives of the faithful. The church has thrived th...

In an unexpected gesture as he was greeting people at the general audience in St. Peterʼs Square on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV stopped at the exact spot where, 45 years ago, St. John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt.Leo got out of the vehicle and remained in silence to pray before the white...