OSV News

The "externalization" of migration in the Latin American region — particularly under the Trump administration's hardline policies — is accelerating human rights violations while eroding human dignity, according to a new report.

Pope Leo XIV met privately March 11 with the cardinal archbishop of Tehran after the Belgian-born prelate was evacuated from Iran amid U.S. and Israeli military strikes on the country.

"It pains us to see buildings and iconic areas mistreated and they shouldn't be," Archbishop Jorge Alberto Cavazos Arizpe of San Luis Potosí told local media. "But, as Jesus said, an offense against a person, however small, will always be much more serious. And women have been very mistreated. … That's why they continue to speak out about something that keeps happening."

Belgian Cardinal Dominique Mathieu of Tehran-Isfahan surfaced in Rome after days of uncertainty about his whereabouts following the start of a U.S. and Israel-Iran war. In a brief statement sent to the Belgian Catholic news site, Cathobel, Mathieu said he arrived in Rome March 8 "not without regret and sorrow for our brothers and sisters in Iran."

Pope Leo XIV sent a message to students gathered at Loyola University Chicago for a peacebuilding conference March 7, calling on them to "be co-workers for peace with Christ."

Fr. Pierre al-Rahi, also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï, had earlier refused, along with other priests, to obey an order by the Israeli military to evacuate the Christian village of Qlayaa, a Maronite village of some 8,000 inhabitants in the Marjayoun district, a few miles from the Israeli border.

A March 5 meeting of legal and other experts at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis considered the topic "Protests and a Christian Response to Government Abuses."

Catholics from a number of U.S. dioceses participated in an immigration advocacy day March 5 on Capitol Hill, giving voice to migrants' worries and relatives desperate to find someone who can reach their detained family member or provide spiritual support.

Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the war in Iran and warned that the conflict could drag more countries in the Middle East into instability.

"These detention centers … cannot have empty beds, because otherwise they don't make money," said Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller. "It's business, business, business, business, business."

A Chaldean Catholic bishop in California has been arrested and jailed on several financial crimes charges.

"Notre Dame mourns the loss of Lou Holtz, a legendary football coach, a beloved member of the Notre Dame family, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather," said Holy Cross Fr. Robert Dowd, Notre Dame's president, in a public statement.

The Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon issued a statement March 5 in which they called "for an immediate halt to the spiral of violence" currently taking place in the Middle East.

Noem's tenure as head of DHS was marked by controversial efforts to enforce the president's hardline immigration policies, some of which have deeply concerned Catholic immigration advocates.

The Vatican's International Theological Commission has warned that if humanity places total trust in technology in a "world ruled by machines," it risks replacing the "living God" with a counterfeit "virtual God."

A Washington state appeals court has ruled that the state's attorney general can subpoena religious organizations — including the Archdiocese of Seattle — for records related to alleged sexual abuse, as part of determining whether charitable funds were used to cover up such actions.

The Catholic community in northern Iraq has been shaken by the attack of an explosive drone hitting the Chaldean Catholic complex in Ankawa, outside of Irbil.

A Synod on Synodality study group has recommended the creation of a new "Pontifical Commission for Digital Culture and New Technologies" in the first of 15 synod study group reports expected in the coming weeks. The Vatican published the first two final reports from its Synod on Synodality study groups on March 3.

As the scourge of war spreads across the Middle East, including Lebanon, the ones paying the ultimate price are the innocent men, women and children who want to live in peace, said Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Georges Iskandar of Tyre.