OSV News

The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina marks a call to "renew our commitment to racial equity and justice in every sector of public life," said two U.S. Catholic bishops.

A pastoral reflection on immigration from the Iowa Catholic bishops aims to present church teaching in a way that "transcends" political rhetoric and "fear and false narratives" about the issue often found in secular and social media, Bishop Dennis Walsh of Davenport said.

A security expert told OSV News that parishes and churches can take several key steps to reduce the threat of attacks such as the deadly Aug. 27 shooting during a school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

Bishop Paul Tighe, a top official at the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education, urged caution around AI's environmental and social costs in his address to the Congress of the European Society for Catholic Theology at Trinity College.

Trump's comments came amid his federalization of the police force in the nation's capital and after he activated the National Guard in what he called an effort to combat crime in Washington.

As the Trump administration seeks to implement its hardline immigration policies, it has increased enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in immigration courts, prompting alarm from Catholic immigration advocates.

Before the attack, Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said prayer is not "a magic formula that solves problems," but rather a means of transforming hearts to reject violence and hatred, and embrace fraternity, mutual respect and goodness.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, expressed concern Aug. 22 about "safeguarding human dignity" of detainees after the state's governor announced plans for a migrant detention center dubbed "Cornhusker Clink."

"Even as we pray for the repose of the souls of the victims and for the consolation of their survivors, we urge you to spare Mr. Windom's life," their letter said. "Every human life, given by God, is sacred."

Katrina's impact has been multifaceted on both the city and on the local church.

An active shooter at Villanova University reported late afternoon Aug. 21 was a "cruel hoax," a university official said less than two hours after the initial scare that led to a campus lockdown.

As the Trump administration seeks to end Russia's multiyear war on Ukraine, Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians continue, said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

Other ICE detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz have been under consideration for other locations, including in North Florida, Indiana and Nebraska.

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, France, said his visit to the Holy Land was intended as a gesture of solidarity with the local Christian community and a demonstration of support for "all the friends of peace."

Six pro-life activists, a majority of them Catholics including two recently pardoned by President Donald Trump, are now facing state charges for a July 31 Red Rose Rescue abortion clinic "rescue" in Upland, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, that temporarily disrupted its activities.

This year the mission of Holy Trinity Parish in Washington to "accompany one another in Christ" took on a new focus and a new urgency. After a Mass earlier this year, parishioners at the Jesuit parish in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood held a meeting to discuss the impact of the new Trump administration's policies.

Pope Leo XIV turns 70 on Sept. 14 and some of his closest friends in the Chicago-area will mark the day with him in mind, quietly.

A tourist itinerary connecting dozens of landmarks associated with Pope Leo XIV's decades-long mission in Peru was launched in July by the South American country's government, in a joint effort with the church and the tourism industry to draw national and international visitors.