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By July 2025, the U.S. Agency for International Development — established in 1961, and which in 2024 provided $187 million in humanitarian funding to Ghana — effectively ceased to exist, with 85% of its programs cut. The result was that many in-country aid organizations also ceased operations. But not CRS.

In his Feb. 19 address to participants of the religious congregation's General Chapter, the pope said that authority in religious life should serve as a means of "animating common life" centered on Christ, while "avoiding any form of control that does not respect the dignity and freedom of persons."

The St. Raphael Academy community in Pawtucket has joined other area high schools in mourning the deadly tragedy that rocked a series of hockey games underway Feb. 16 at a local arena, where a group of its players were gathered to play.

Why do so many people make an extra effort to get to church on Ash Wednesday — the first of Lent's 40 days — when it is not a holy day of obligation, and they are not required to receive ashes?

The Holy See "will not participate" in President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" for Gaza, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, said Feb. 17, citing "points that leave us somewhat perplexed."

A newly released clerical sexual abuse report in Poland's Diocese of Sosnowiec is being described by investigators as a necessary step toward accountability, while Church leaders call it a painful but essential moment in rebuilding trust after years of scandals.

Data showing most individuals in immigration detention do not have violent criminal records highlights ongoing concerns expressed by the nation's Catholic bishops over the Trump administration immigration crackdown, said David Spicer, policy and engagement director for the USCCB's Secretariat of Migration.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, strongly criticized the U.S.-led Board of Peace, an international body chaired by President Donald Trump to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.

Supporters of the traditional Latin Mass have urged Catholics not to confuse their movement with the more controversial Society of St. Pius X, commonly referred to as SSPX, whose leaders currently risk excommunication by threatening to ordain their own bishops.

Cuban bishops published a message Jan. 31 warning that the "elimination of all possibility of oil entering the country raises alarm bells, especially for the most vulnerable."

Zurek has served as head of the Diocese of Amarillo since 2008.

Ave Maria University reported on its website that it first became "aware of suspected cases" on its campus Jan. 28, and "promptly reported" them to the Florida Department of Health.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, issued a Feb. 11 statement expressing "dismay" and "strong opposition" to the university's appointment of associate professor Susan Ostermann as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, effective July 1.

As U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan announced on Feb. 12 plans for federal agents to leave the Twin Cities metro area, Catholic leaders in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis acknowledged the need for hope as they look to next steps in the local community.

"They are our brothers and sisters, we love them, and we stand with them in these difficult times," Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon told Catholic News Service Feb. 11 during a visit to Rome and the Vatican, which included a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV Feb. 9.

Catholic immigration advocates are speaking out after an internal federal document obtained by CBS News showed most individuals arrested in Trump administration immigration crackdowns over the past year do not have violent criminal records.

Servant of God Thea Bowman was a beacon for the Church to embrace more authentically the essence of what it means to be Catholic, Bishop Joseph Kopacz told Massgoers at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson.