OSV News

Peace is "more than just the absence of war," but instead a commitment to human flourishing — and one required more than ever as conflict and global defense spending soar, said the Holy See's permanent mission to the United Nations.

Amid a record number of baptisms, turning the page on the abuse crisis and rapidly changing society, an "Observatory of Catholicism" was officially launched in June in Paris to produce regular, accurate and reliable data on Catholicism in France, thanks to the work of specialists, based on field surveys.

A group of Orthodox churches filed a federal lawsuit over a new law in Washington state requiring clergy to report child abuse or neglect without exceptions for clergy-penitent privilege that is also being challenged by that state's Catholic bishops.

"As someone who has witnessed firsthand the devastation that war leaves behind — how it empties villages, scatters families, and deepens the wounds of identity and trust — I cannot help but echo the words of Pope Leo XIV in his recent appeal for peace," Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda said. 

Christians in Syria are reeling after a suicide bombing struck a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus during a June 22 Divine Liturgy.

"We must try at all costs to avoid the use of weapons and seek dialogue through diplomatic means," the pope said two days before the bombing. "Let us work together to find solutions."

Supporters have insisted no one will lose Medicaid coverage and have characterized reductions in coverage not as "cuts" but rule changes designed to purge those taking advantage of the system.

A leaked draft document has stirred backlash for addressing some practices predating the Second Vatican Council.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster called the vote "a watershed moment in the history of our country" that "fundamentally changes society's long held values and relationships on matters of life and death."

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage organizers have changed plans for the pilgrimage's culminating events in Los Angeles June 22 due to "deep pastoral concern for the safety of the faithful and the city of Los Angeles."

In an unusually blunt statement published June 15, the Cuban bishops' conference said that throughout the country, "it is continuously heard that things are not well, that we cannot continue like this, that something must be done to save Cuba and restore hope to us."

Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston is asking for prayers after flash floods devastated communities in Ohio County June 14 leaving eight people dead, including a 3-year-old child. As of June 18, one person was still missing.
 

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 18 upheld a Tennessee state law banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

"No one can turn a deaf ear to the palpable cries of anxiety and fear heard in communities throughout the country in the wake of a surge in immigration enforcement actions," said the leader of the nation's Catholic bishops in a June 16 statement that assured all impacted of their shepherds' support.

After a scene of horror in which around 200 people were "brutally killed" in Yelwata, in Benue state, Nigeria, Pope Leo XIV prayed for the victims, calling it a "terrible massacre."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA are among more than 200 non-governmental organizations named in a congressional probe for aiding immigrants its leaders call "inadmissible aliens" during former President Joe Biden's administration.

People recall the victim teaching Sunday school years ago at St. Timothy in Blaine, Minnesota. 

"When legislation weakens access to basic, undeniable needs like food, health care and a livable environment, it violates our commitment to one another," Bishop Borys Gudziak writes.

Calls from bipartisan lawmakers and faith leaders across denominations are growing for the return of thousands of Ukrainian children deported to Russia, as the Trump administration withholds approved funding from a key research effort by Yale University to track the kids.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a Mass and a special program June 14 to celebrate the election and inauguration of Pope Leo XIV, a native son of the Windy City.