San Francisco

Thousands attended the 17th Annual Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco Jan. 23 despite the pandemic.

Bishops across the U.S. welcomed the inauguration of President Joe Biden as a celebration of democracy and liberty, and prayed for reconciliation in the face of deep political divides.

The count had been interrupted by hundreds of pro-Trump extremist marauders who breached the Capitol that afternoon, bringing the count to a halt.

Public opinion over statues of St. Junípero Serra — and the church's legacy toward Indigenous people of the West Coast — is divided, but Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone defends holding exorcisms at the sites were Serra's statues were toppled.

Protesters say St. Junipero Serra, the statues's subject, mistreated indigenous people in what is today California as a missionary.

As of Sept. 30, the city of San Francisco is allowing attendance for indoor worship to be 25% of the capacity of a house of worship, or up to 100 people, which follows the limit set by the state of California as part of its COVID-19 safety protocols.

Some of the few Masses available for Catholics in California's Bay Area came to a halt the weekend of Aug. 22 as bishops urged parishioners to pray for one another, for firefighters, and to stay home as air quality diminished in some parts of the state because of some of the largest wildfires in California history. 

Some Catholics, Indigenous peoples, and those who work with and in the missions are speaking out in defense of Junípero Serra, the 18th-century priest who founded the California mission system and converted thousands of natives to Christianity.