OSV News

A Jesuit priest who directs an ecumenical institute in Jerusalem told OSV News he feels "a deep sense of compassion for what Israelis and Palestinians" are experiencing amid a war that has so far killed at least 2,300.

Even though Hispanics account for more than 42% of U.S. Catholics, the number of U.S. born Hispanics serving the church -- as lay ministers, women and men religious, seminarians, priests and deacons -- has remained relatively low. Looking to increase the number of young Hispanic Catholics serving the church, diocesan offices, theologians and educators are exploring ways to invest in this population, with a renewed hope of revitalizing ministries and faithful engagement throughout the U.S. Catholic Church.

When the U.S. bishops gather for their fall plenary assembly Nov. 13-16 in Baltimore, they will elect a new secretary and chairmen for six standing committees for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The death toll in one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike Afghanistan in two decades has risen to 2,000, Taliban officials confirmed on Oct. 8.

Several U.S. bishops called for prayers for peace following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem united in a call for peace and justice amid unfolding violence, following a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel, which has left over 700 Israelis dead, among them civilians and dozens of soldiers and police who were killed battling the Hamas fighters. Over 2,000 people were injured. Israeli media said that more than 250 bodies had been recovered from the site of the music festival that was attacked by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

Birds whistled, grass rustled and many bumblebees buzzed at an Illinois parish Sept. 24 for the dedication of a prairie restoration project to St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology and animals. 

Homeland Security publicized a decision Oct. 5 to waive 26 federal laws to allow the building of 20 more miles of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, an expansion long opposed by the U.S. Catholic bishops.

Before he became Florida's sixth inmate to be executed in the state this year, convicted murderer Michael Duane Zack concluded his final statement Oct. 3 with a message: "To Governor DeSantis and the Clemency Board: I love you. I forgive you. I pray for you."

A Catholic priest and three Catholic teachers in Cameroon's troubled southwest region are recovering from bullet wounds after they were shot in what church authorities say was a targeted attack on a Catholic primary school Sept. 26.

National and international Catholic climate group leaders and two U.S. bishops respond to Pope Francis' new apostolic exhortation "Laudate Deum," to all people of good will on the climate crisis.

Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency due to the unprecedented flow of migrants transiting the Central American country -- a plan Catholic relief officials described as coming after a slow response to the growing "humanitarian crisis."

In Brazil, 12 million families -- up to 60 million people -- live in slums, known as "favelas" in Portuguese, and 55 million people do not have access to a sewage system.

Advocates say getting rid of the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse is a matter of moral justice, but the Archdiocese of Boston says the move will hurt its own efforts to help sexual abuse victims.

Auxiliary Bishop Kevin M. Birmingham of Chicago, former secretary to Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, died unexpectedly Oct. 2 at age 51. He was just a few days shy of his 52nd birthday.

The Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, has launched its own investigation regarding disgraced priest Fr. Alex Crow, who fled his pastoral assignment in July and traveled to Italy with a recent female graduate of an archdiocesan high school, and who remains with her in that country.

A pair of priests have been reported abducted from their parishes in Nicaragua as the country's increasingly totalitarian regime continues cracking down on the Catholic Church and silencing all dissenting voices.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee commended President Joe Biden for increasing the number of refugees eligible to enter the U.S.

Despite Pope Francis' advocacy for caring for creation, U.S. Catholics are no more likely than other Americans to view climate change as "a serious problem," according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 in the "Year of the Woman" and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, died Sept. 28 at age 90.