Brian Fraga

Critics said that a draft of the revised charter reveals "subtle signs that the bishops are backing away from their commitment to survivors and the value of accountability."

"We must never give up on those who are different or see things differently," said Archbishop Paul Coakley, USCCB president.

The national co-chair of Catholics Vote Common Good said a campaign will emphasize themes that Pope Leo XIV has raised, including solidarity with migrants and vulnerable communities, and the defense of democratic values.

A Senate race in Texas features a Presbyterian seminarian who speaks in religious terms to bolster progressive politics, and a scandal-plagued state attorney general who has targeted nonprofits that serve migrants.

"One of my missions in the next stage of my life will be trying to awaken in my colleagues on the left an appreciation of religious freedom, for our efforts to rebuild liberal democracy in these trying times."

"I think he wants the church to purify itself to be able to be an effective counter-witness to the negative dynamics you see in the world," one leader told NCR.

Catholic labor historians see parallels between Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV's upcoming encyclical on protecting the human person in the age of AI, and his 19th century predecessor's landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum.

The U.S. officials who will speak "are political lieutenants of an administration that has waged war on immigrants, gutted Catholic Charities contracts, and treated the Holy Father as an adversary," said one critic.

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch, a conservative Catholic, is trying to install two large bronze statues of Catholic saints on the edifice of the city's new public safety headquarters.

Two faculty unions at St. John's University have filed an unfair labor practice complaint charging the Catholic university with violating state labor law when it announced in February it would no longer recognize the unions.

While the numbers of adult converts are trending upward, the reality is that the Catholic Church in the United States is still bleeding members.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami is closing a shelter for unaccompanied migrant children and laying off all employees after the Trump administration decided not to renew an $11 million grant with the agency.

U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared closely divided during April 29 oral arguments about the Trump administration's attempts to end temporary protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

Dominican-run Providence College in Rhode Island joins a growing number of Catholic colleges and universities that have reorganized diversity, equity and inclusion offices under the umbrella of mission and ministry.

Pope Leo XIV is speaking from a "very well-established tradition," in terms of just war theory, said a panelist in a recent Georgetown University discussion where participants were asked what it means to choose peace.

Catholic bishops, clergy, religious sisters, congressional representatives, political pundits and foreign heads of state were among those who condemned Trump's statements.

"Jesuit higher education has given me everything really in terms of a purpose in my life, my career and my vocation," said the new president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

President Donald J. Trump published a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the first U.S.-born pope "terrible on Foreign Policy," among other accusations.

Along with the pope and other Catholics left and right, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops blasted Trump's threat, urging him to "step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost."

"Unfortunately, there is plenty of work to go around," said SNAP Executive Director Angela Walker. "They may be going in a different direction, but in the end, we're both on the same side. We want to help survivors."