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null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|ShutterstockCNA Staff, Feb 27, 2025 / 13:10 pm (CNA).The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night temporarily paused an order from a lower court directing the White House to pay out roughly $2 billion in foreign aid grants to nonprofit organizations.The Department of Justice had filed an appeal with the ??U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday night after U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered the administration to make payments to grantees by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday. The Trump administration had frozen the funding as part of an extensive series of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last month. Numerous Catholic entities have been affected by the freeze, though the Church was not involved with the suit at issue on Wednesday night.The administration argued that Ali's order forced the government to "pay arbitrarily determined expenses on a timeline of the district court's choosing." It...
Passersby peer into the John Paul II Chapel at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where a daily Holy Hour is among several prayer initiatives in the Eternal City for the health and recovery of Pope Francis. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNAVatican City, Feb 27, 2025 / 06:15 am (CNA).Pope Francis spent another restful night at Rome's Gemelli Hospital after being admitted on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. Follow here for the latest news on Pope Francis' health and hospitalization:
Pope Francis attends the general audience at the Vatican on Feb. 12, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN NewsCNA Newsroom, Feb 27, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).Pope Francis slept well overnight and his condition continues to improve as he undergoes treatment for a complex respiratory infection at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican announced Thursday morning.The 88-year-old pontiff continues oxygen therapy "with high flow rates" and has begun physiotherapy treatment for his respiratory passages.While the pope's condition shows signs of improvement, Vatican officials emphasized that "the prognosis remains cautious" as his hospitalization extends into its 13th day.Pope's consolation to grieving motherThe Vatican, meanwhile, has revealed a moving letter the Holy Father wrote shortly before his hospitalization.In the letter, set to appear in the monthly magazine Piazza San Pietro, Pope Francis responded to a grieving Roman mother who lost her 21-year-old son."Jesus, who weeps with us, wil...
Faith & Reason Institute President Robert Royal. / Credit: Courtesy of Faith & Reason InstituteWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 27, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Faith & Reason Institute, the first Washington, D.C.-based think tank devoted to encouraging both of these essential elements of human existence. The institute, which got its name from St. John Paul II's 1998 encyclical Fides et Ratio, addresses issues of economics, politics, public policy, science, and technology, among others, from the perspective of both faith and reason. "I thought there needed to be a more explicit emphasis on both faith and reason here in Washington and elsewhere," the institute's president, Robert Royal, told CNA in an interview ahead of the organization's recent gala celebrating its milestone anniversary.Reflecting on the institute's beginnings, Royal recalled his father telling him: "'Are you sure this is going to work?' And I [told him],...
A migrant woman prays in front of an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at a migrant shelter in McAllen, Texas, run by Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. / Credit: Peter Pinedo/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 27, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).More local Catholic Charities agencies across the country have been forced this week to lay off employees and shut down programs as a result of the federal aid funding freeze enacted last month by the Trump administration.Catholic Charities in Florida, Texas, and Kansas spoke out this week about how the funding freeze has impacted both program-specific and agency-wide efforts. Since President Donald Trump issued a directive halting all foreign aid for a 90-day review, federal funding has been blocked for Catholic Charities programs across the U.S., affecting migrant and refugee service programs especially.Texas Catholic Charities announces closure of refugee programCatholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle announced Mon...
Passersby peer into the John Paul II Chapel at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where a daily Holy Hour is among several prayer initiatives in the Eternal City for the health and recovery of Pope Francis. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNAVatican City, Feb 27, 2025 / 06:15 am (CNA).Pope Francis spent another restful night at Rome's Gemelli Hospital after being admitted on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. Follow here for the latest news on Pope Francis' health and hospitalization:
Members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO). / Credit: CENCOACI Africa, Feb 27, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Fear has gripped the Nazaré Training Center in Mozambique's Archdiocese of Beira following a Sunday, Feb. 23, attack that left two priests and a religious brother at the facility injured.The Conference of Religious Institutes of Mozambique told Catholic pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International that a group of men armed with pistols, machetes, and irons entered the institution in the early hours of Feb. 23, violently attacking three missionaries who were there.According to a Feb. 25 ACN report, the conference "expressed its concern about the insecurity" in the southern African nation following the attack and appealed for prayers for peace in the country.ACN reported that the two priests and brother were "tied up and tortured by the bandits" at the institution, which engages in various activities, including formation c...
Pope Francis attends the general audience at the Vatican on Feb. 12, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez / EWTN NewsCNA Newsroom, Feb 27, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).Pope Francis slept well overnight and his condition continues to improve as he undergoes treatment for a complex respiratory infection at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican announced Thursday morning.The 88-year-old pontiff continues oxygen therapy "with high flow rates" and has begun physiotherapy treatment for his respiratory passages.While the pope's condition shows signs of improvement, Vatican officials emphasized that "the prognosis remains cautious" as his hospitalization extends into its thirteenth day.Pope's consolation to grieving motherThe Vatican, meanwhile, has revealed a moving letter the Holy Father wrote shortly before his hospitalization.In the letter, set to appear in the monthly magazine "Piazza San Pietro," Pope Francis responded to a grieving Roman mother who lost her 21-year-old son."Jesus, who weeps wi...
null / Credit: Declausura FoundationMadrid, Spain, Feb 26, 2025 / 18:07 pm (CNA).The Poor Clare abbess of the Monastery of Santo Cristo de Balaguer in Lérida province in northeast Spain is criticizing a 2018 rule established by Pope Francis that dissolves communities of women religious with fewer than five nuns, a rule that does not apply to male communities.Sister María Victoria Triviño, OSC, made her critique in an article published by the magazine Catalunya Cristiana regarding the recent closure of the Monastery of Santa María de Pedralbes in Barcelona that had been in existence for 700 years.Asked about the reason for the closure, "which people, hurt and perplexed, address to some of the Poor Clares every day," the nun explained that the Holy Father published the apostolic constitution Vultum Dei Quaerere in 2016 but emphasized that the document "did not affect monks."Similarly, regarding the Cor Orans instruction, published in 2018 to implement Vultum Dei Quaerere, the Poo...
People pray at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is hospitalized with pneumonia, in Rome on Feb. 26, 2025. / Credit: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty ImagesVatican City, Feb 26, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).Pope Francis' mild early-stage kidney insufficiency "subsided" on Wednesday, according to the Vatican. "The Holy Father's clinical condition over the past 24 hours has shown further slight improvement," the Holy See Press Office stated. "The mild renal insufficiency noted in recent days has receded."Despite the improvement, the latest medical report stated the pope's "prognosis remains reserved." The 88-year-old pontiff had a chest CT scan Tuesday evening that showed a "normal evolution" of lung inflammation caused by pneumonia.Blood tests taken Wednesday confirmed the pope, though fragile, is showing signs of recovery. "Today's hematochemical and hemacrocytometric examinations confirme...
