Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
San Diego Bishop-elect Michael Pham. / Credit: Father Michael PhamVatican City, May 22, 2025 / 11:22 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Thursday appointed Bishop Michael Pham as bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. He will rise from the position of auxiliary bishop there and succeed Cardinal Robert McElroy as head of the diocese.Having received his episcopal consecration in September 2023, the 58-year-old Vietnam-born bishop has also served as titular bishop of Cercina. He was appointed the San Diego Diocese's temporary administrator after McElroy was installed as bishop of Washington in March.Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1999, Pham has ministered to Catholic faithful in parishes throughout the San Diego Diocese.From 1991 to 2001, he served as assistant priest for St. Mary, Star of the Sea, in Oceanside. Between 2004 and 2023 he was appointed parish priest for the San Diego parishes of Holy Family and St. Therese. Other offices the new bishop-elect has held in the San Di...
St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. / Credit: travelview/ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 11:52 am (CNA).The Archdiocese of New Orleans this week agreed to pay a massive $180 million to victims of clergy abuse there, bringing an end to years of bankruptcy proceedings in federal court and pointing to what Archbishop Gregory Aymond called "a path to healing for survivors and for our local Church."The law firm Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, which represented abuse victims in the proceedings, said in a press release that the sum represented "more than 20 times the archdiocese's initial settlement estimate" when the archdiocese first filed for bankruptcy in 2020.The settlement, if it is accepted by the abuse survivors, brings an end to almost exactly five years of bitter disputes over how the archdiocese handled sex abuse cases in the past and how it planned to compensate victims of clergy abuse now. The process was protracted enough that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mere...
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 12:12 pm (CNA).The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to issue a ruling in a contentious case involving what was proposed to be the nation's first religious charter school, leaving untouched a lower court ruling that forbids the Catholic institution from accessing state funds.In its Thursday ruling, the high court said its judges had split evenly on whether or not to allow St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to launch in the state of Oklahoma. The ruling leaves in place an Oklahoma Supreme Court order that said the school's use of public money would violate state and federal law."The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court," the unsigned order said. The per curiam decision noted that Justice Amy Coney Barrett "took no part in the consideration or decision" of the case. Barrett had recused herself from the case for unknown reasons, t...
Pope Leo XIV prays in front of the famous icon at the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy, on Saturday, May 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 13:12 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV, the first pope to come from the Order of St. Augustine (OSA), made a visit very early in his pontificate to the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy, near Rome. It houses a famous image of the Virgin Mary that according to tradition appeared there under miraculous circumstances.Known by the title "Our Lady of Good Counsel" or "Mother of Good Counsel," the small image of the Virgin Mary housed in the church at Genazzano has been held dear by the Augustinians for centuries. The Midwest Augustinians, which Pope Leo led as prior provincial before his election, oversee the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel.During his May 10 visit to the church, Leo spoke of the Virgin Mary's protection and the importance of devotion to her. He prayed at the alta...
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson speaks as (left to right) House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain, Rep. Jason Smith, Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Mark Green, House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, and House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer listen during a news briefing after a House Republican Conference meeting with President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 13:48 pm (CNA).Catholic leaders and pro-life advocates on Thursday praised the passage of the House of Representatives' major budget bill, hailing the reconciliation package's defunding of abortion providers including Planned Parenthood. The massive spending and tax cut bill, called the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," includes a provision that forbids Medicaid dollars from flowing to abortion providers. The ban will last for 10 years, according to the text of the bill.Federal funding will still be permitted for clin...
From the popemobile, Pope Leo XIV greets thousands of people lined up along Via della Conciliazione on the morning of his inaugural Mass, Sunday, May 18, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, May 22, 2025 / 14:18 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has appointed Sister Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.According to the Vatican Press Office, the 66-year-old consecrated religious previously served as superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor for nine years.She will report directly to another nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, whom Pope Francis appointed in January as prefect of the Vatican department, responsible for all matters concerning the government, discipline, studies, assets, rights, and privileges of institutes of consecrated life.Under the late Argentine pontiff, women's leadership increased significantly. According to data maintained by the Vatican on its website, the female presence increas...
Those who want to participate can visit the eCatholic website to "take a moment to offer a message of prayer, encouragement, or support" and submit a video. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"/ScreenshotWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 22, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Tech company eCatholic is collecting video messages of prayer, encouragement, and support from Catholics across the globe this month to create a montage of "blessings" for Pope Leo XIV.Jason Jaynes, CEO of eCatholic, said the initiative was born during a meeting earlier this month when a team member asked: "Wouldn't it be a really great and cool initiative [if] we could let Catholics all over the world share their blessings with the new pope?"The effort, launched shortly after Pope Leo XIV's election, has already received submissions from "every continent across the globe," Jaynes told "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Catherine Hadro.Planning for the initiative started during the first day of the conclave, when eCatholic emp...
The childhood home of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, in Dolton, Illinois. / Credit: Michael Howie, Attribution, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 09:21 am (CNA).The village of Dolton, a suburb just south of Chicago and the hometown of Pope Leo XIV, is seeking to acquire his childhood home for use as a historical site.Steve Budzik, the home's listing broker, told CNA he and the home's current owner, Pawel Radzik, are eager to work with the village and come to an agreement. "The seller wants to sell and the village wants to buy," Budzik told CNA. "The question is: How do we determine what is fair market value for something so unique, so rare? There are no comps, there is nothing else like this."According to Budzik, they received a letter from the village last week indicating its interest in purchasing the home. The letter said the Archdiocese of Chicago is also working with the city to acquire the home. The archdiocese did not respond to a request for comment...
null / Credit: BUTENKOV ALEKSEI/ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).The Canadian government's abolishment of a government ministry for disabled citizens underscores the government's "demeaning attitude" toward disabled people, advocates say, particularly after the country opted to expand the national euthanasia program to include those with disabilities. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party leader who assumed office in March, unveiled his new cabinet last week vowing a government that will promote "new ideas, a clear focus, and decisive action." Notably missing from the cabinet, however, was any minister charged directly with administering to the needs of disabled Canadians. The position was held most recently by Kamal Khera, who served as the country's minister of diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities until March before she became the Canadian minister of health. Direct support for disabled Canadians has been...
Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín and Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. / Credit: Courtesy of Bishop Luis MarínVatican City, May 22, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The undersecretary of the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, is among those who have collaborated most closely with Pope Leo XIV.In 2008, Marín moved to Rome because the then-prior general of the Augustinians asked him to take charge of the order's archives. The past 17 years of association allow him to make a clear prognosis of what Pope Leo's pontificate will be like."He's not a person who governs from his office; he goes out to meet people," the bishop told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. He also noted that Pope Leo XIV is a son of the Second Vatican Council: "He embraces its theological development, above all, the ecclesiology of the constitution Lumen Gentium, which is a point of reference for synodality, althou...
