OSV News

Catholic bishops in the Caribbean are calling for dialogue, cooperation and calm amid rising geopolitical tensions that have seen a U.S. military buildup in the region. Such tensions compound a number of ongoing crises in several Caribbean nations, several of which are now also grappling with extensive damage from Hurricane Melissa.

More than 320 bishops from across the U.S. streamed into the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore Nov. 10 to celebrate Mass on the first day of their fall assembly.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Nov. 10 a case that asked it to revisit its landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The 2015 ruling overturned state laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, a decision the head of the U.S. Catholic bishops at the time called a "tragic error."

The U.S. Supreme Court has moved to temporarily block full payments necessary to fund SNAP, a program providing food support to millions of Americans with low incomes, after the Trump administration asked the court to hear its request to issue only partial payments in November.

A former director of stewardship and development for the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese has been arrested and charged with theft. Federal prosecutors allege he stole more than $150,000 using his diocesan credit card.

"It does not matter whether some of our brothers and sisters have proper documentation or not," Archbishop Alexander Sample declared in a Nov. 8 statement. "They are our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ."

A federal appeals court will hear arguments in January about state laws in Texas and Louisiana requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms.

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.