Catholic News Service

The disappearance — and rumors of the possible death — of a Chinese Catholic bishop was the subject of a July 30 hearing by Congress' Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

The draft of a letter signed by Brazilian bishops and scheduled to be presented to the executive committee of the bishops' conference is causing an uproar in the Brazilian media and church.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA said the Trump administration should withdraw its proposed rule to replace the Obama administration's 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation because the new rule "undermines efforts to promote fair housing and human dignity."

Besides the immediate considerations of trying to stay healthy, to mourn the dead and protect others, the coronavirus pandemic should be prompting Christians to reflect on their faith, Pope Francis wrote.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has paid out or approved over $50 million so far to 222 clergy sex abuse survivors, according to a new report from the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program. IRRP was launched in November 2018 as a means of providing settlements to claimants alleging abuse by archdiocesan clergy.

Church leaders sent a strong message of support to an unprecedented virtual assembly of more than 3,000 indigenous leaders, small farmers, environmental campaigners and women from the nine countries of the Amazon region seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the objective of giving more visibility to the increased violence against those who defend social and environmental rights, Brazil's Catholic Church has launched the "Life by a Thread" campaign.

Thirteen years after naming a new residence hall at Loyola University Maryland in honor of the Catholic author Flannery O'Connor, Jesuit Fr. Brian Linnane, the university's president, removed the writer's name from the building.

Franciscan Fr. Jacek Orzechowski and dozens of other immigration advocates rallied outside the Washington headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement July 27 calling on the agency to release immigrant children being held in detention with their parents.

Faith leaders and immigrant advocates have denounced the Trump administration's plan to reject first-time applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, and limit DACA renewals to one-year extensions instead of two.

The recent Vatican instruction on pastoral care clarifies the responsibility of every member of the church community to work together in the shared mission of evangelization and warns against turning the parish into a mere provider of services, said Cardinal Beniamino Stella.

China has been accused of hacking Vatican computers as well as those in the Diocese of Hong Kong and other Catholic organizations in May.

Next year the Archdiocese of Santa Fe will take over pastoral leadership of a 152-year-old Catholic parish in the heart of downtown Albuquerque that has been run by the Society of Jesus since it was founded.

The head of National Right to Life told House members ahead of a July 24 vote on an appropriations bill that U.S. taxpayers' money "should not become a weapon in the arsenal of pro-abortion groups as they seek to destroy the sovereignty of nations opposed to abortion on demand."

Fr. Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, will be beatified during a special Mass Oct. 31 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford.

The University of Notre Dame has withdrawn as the host site for the first presidential debate, with its president saying the health precautions required because of COVID-19 "would have greatly diminished the educational value" of having the debate on campus.

As governments and world leaders struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, they must also work harder to protect victims of human trafficking, said the Vatican-based international network of Catholic charities.

Democratic leaders and immigrant advocates are criticizing President Donald Trump's July 21 memorandum to prevent immigrants without legal documentation from being counted in the 2020 census for the redrawing of congressional districts.

In a 5-4 decision July 24, the Supreme Court upheld Nevada's limits on congregation sizes, denying a request by a Nevada church for permission to have larger gatherings that are currently permitted in the state's casinos, restaurants and other businesses.

The Washington Post reached a settlement July 24 with the family of Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky Catholic high school student who sued the newspaper last year for defamation over its coverage of an incident that occurred after last year's March for Life that quickly went viral.