OSV News

As the U.S. Supreme Court considered President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff policy, economists raised concerns about the potential impact of that policy on the poor.

Closely watched off-year elections in several states that offered the first major opportunity for voters to weigh in at the ballot box since President Donald Trump began his second term resulted in key victories for Democratic candidates and showed signs voters were motivated by cost-of-living increases, an area of Catholic social concern.

Pope Leo XIV has called for dialogue and peace in Venezuela as the United States amps up pressure on the South American country — where relations between the socialist regime and Catholic officials have become tense.

Saying he was deeply saddened, Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville prayed for comfort, peace and healing after the deadly crash of a UPS cargo plane at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport Nov. 4.

The Mexican bishops' conference has condemned the murder of a mayor, who was assassinated after pleading for federal assistance in combating drug cartels — which extort avocado growers in his municipality in western Michoacán state.

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See's U.N. apostolic nuncio and permanent observer, delivered two statements on the issue Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Ahead of the United Nations' annual climate conference, two U.S. Catholic bishops and the leader of a top Catholic aid agency are calling for urgent, long-term action to safeguard both creation and humanity.

Nigeria's return to the U.S. list of countries of "particular concern" over Christian persecution has drawn mixed reactions from church leaders and triggered a heated debate in Africa's most populous nation. President Donald Trump announced the designation Oct. 31 and threatened to halt all aid to Nigeria and launch military action, upon the government's failure to stop the killings.

On Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls, Catholics in Chicago joined in commemorating the great Irish famine that left more than 1 million people dead and began the mass exodus of Irish refugees and migrants seeking a better life to the United States and other countries 180 years ago.

Bishop Timothy C. Senior of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, condemned a local Catholic school's use of a prominent Nazi symbol on a float in a community Halloween parade.

Attorneys for the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, have moved to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit they had filed against the federal government regarding visas for religious workers — a case that highlights the perfect storm created by the nation's shifting immigration policies and the increased reliance on international clergy by the Catholic Church in the United States amid a downturn in domestic vocations to the priesthood.
 

If Gov. JB Pritzker signs it, Illinois would become the 12th state with such legislation. He has 60 days to act.

The ruling "reaffirms a fundamental principle: no administration can use hunger as a political weapon," the coalition of plaintiffs in the case said in a statement. 

The Trump administration indicated it would restrict the number of refugees it admits annually into the country to 7,500, with most of that number to be white South Africans.

While portions of aid were delivered after the Oct. 13 visit by President Donald Trump to Israel and Egypt — a day marking the signing of the Israel-Hamas peace deal — the situation remains precarious in the enclave.

The president of the U.S. bishops' conference has urged lawmakers to fund federal food assistance before a looming deadline risks disrupting benefits for more than 40 million people.

A former Anglican bishop urges church leaders to prepare for a surge of Catholic conversions, as a historic Vatican visit by King Charles III coincided with a deepening division in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Archdiocese of San Antonio is speaking out after the GoFundMe company created donation pages on its behalf without the archdiocese's approval.

A coalition of Catholic organizations held prayer vigils across the country on Oct. 22 for what organizers called "a national day of public witness for our immigrant brothers and sisters."

Bolivia has elected Rodrigo Paz as president, picking a centrist politician with a history of amicable church ties.