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Pope Leo XIV waves at a massive, jubilant crowd gathered on St. Peter's Square for the Regina Caeli on Sunday, May 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNACNA Staff, May 17, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).The Vatican's sacred music school is seeking to teach Catholics worldwide how to sing ancient Gregorian chant as a means to help the faithful participate actively in the liturgy, including in papal Masses. The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music said this week it is launching its "Let's Sing with the Pope" initiative as a series of "short educational video tutorials" to make Gregorian music accessible to everyone. The institute described Gregorian chant as a "rich heritage" and a "universal musical and spiritual language" used in papal Masses and other celebrations. The video series will help "promote active and conscious participation in the liturgy," including in upcoming papal celebrations, the institute said in an Instagram post. null In the initial video of the series, Father Robert...
Young students cheer during an assembly at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, May 10, 2025. / Credit: EWTN NewsCNA Staff, May 17, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).For Catholic students in the United States, the election of Pope Leo XIV as the first American pope on May 8 filled them with excitement and hope.Or, as one student put it: "Everyone just freaked out."Students shared memories of the day with Roselle Reyes, news correspondent for "EWTN News In Depth," on Friday.Bahkita Karenge, a Catholic school student in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, remembered the excitement of finding out during the school day. Students were "screaming," "jumping and laughing," and giving hugs. "It was so beautiful because at that moment, it didn't really matter which sport you played or which friend group you were in or which trend you were following," Karenge reflected."Everyone was just a young Catholic kid, and everyone was excited that we have a new leader."Ka...
Pope Leo XIV smiles as a jubilant crowd joins in prayer on Sunday, May 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, May 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The Mass for the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate will be celebrated on Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m. Rome time in St. Peter's Square. The liturgy will mark the official beginning of his ministry as successor of Peter and bishop of Rome. On May 25, he will take canonical possession of St. John Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome.The Mass on May 18 will be celebrated as established in the "Order of Rites of the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry as Bishop of Rome," a liturgical book approved by Benedict XVI in 2005 and reformed by him in 2013."The beginning of the Petrine ministry is what the celebration of the coronation of the pope used to be. Now, popes are no longer crowned with the three-tiered tiara, worn until Paul VI, but rather begin their ministry as the successor of Peter," Father Juan José Silv...
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at the San Francisco walk for life on Jan. 21, 2023. / Credit: Dennis CallahanWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 16, 2025 / 18:03 pm (CNA).U.S. President Donald Trump has tapped San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to serve on an advisory board for the country's newly established Religious Liberty Commission, according to an announcement from the archdiocese.Cordileone, who has served as archbishop since 2012, is the third member of the Catholic hierarchy to be given a role in the presidential commission's work. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York and Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, are members of the commission."Religious liberty is a critical issue in our time that needs to be defended and addressed," Cordileone said in a statement. "I am happy to join my brother bishops in providing a Catholic voice on this important topic at a national level."Cordileone told CNA he does not know w...
Pope Leo XIV addresses more than 100 ambassadors in an audience on Friday, May 16, 2025, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, May 16, 2025 / 11:59 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Friday said peaceful societies can be achieved if governments invested in families "founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman" in his first address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.Welcoming more than 100 ambassadors to an audience held inside the Vatican's Clementine Hall, the Holy Father stated that resolving global inequalities as well as deep divisions between "continents, countries, and individual societies" starts in the home."This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, 'a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society,'" he added, citing Rerum Novarum."Indeed, the Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, ...
null / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 16, 2025 / 12:34 pm (CNA).Budget initiatives backed by several Republican lawmakers to cut federal funding for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the next fiscal year are facing opposition from prominent Catholic organizations.For Medicaid, the proposal would add work requirements for able-bodied adults under the age of 65 if they do not have young children as dependents. It would also shift some Medicaid costs to states if they offer benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally.The proposed SNAP reforms would shift some costs to states and raise the work requirement age from 54 to 64. It would also implement stricter verifications to ensure money is not given to immigrants who are in the country illegally.These initiatives could potentially save the federal government more than $100 billion annually but could also cause millions of people to lose SNAP and Medi...
null / Credit: Thomas Andreas/ShutterstockCNA Staff, May 16, 2025 / 14:09 pm (CNA).Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:HHS investigates conscience rights caseThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reviewing a hospital for compliance with federal conscience protections following reports that the hospital had denied ultrasound technicians exemptions from participating in abortions.The department's Office for Civil Rights on May 12 announced it had opened a review to investigate violations of free exercise and conscience protections.Though unnamed in the HHS announcement, the legal group involved in the case confirmed in a statement that it had contact with the HHS about a hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.The legal group American Center for Law and Justice alleged that Presbyterian Hospital was requiring religious staff to assist in abortions. The hospital had changed its policy in late 2024, requiring participation in abortion proc...
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. / Credit: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, May 16, 2025 / 10:39 am (CNA).A Georgia hospital is requiring that a pregnant woman who was declared brain dead more than 90 days ago remain on life support until the birth of her unborn child.In February, doctors declared 30-year-old Adriana Smith, a nurse who was nine weeks pregnant, brain dead after discovering multiple blood clots in her brain.According to Smith's mother, April Newkirk, after visiting the hospital complaining of painful headaches, Smith was "given medication" and sent home. Smith's boyfriend found her "gasping for air" the next morning and called 911. After a CT scan, doctors discovered the blood clots and eventually determined nothing could be done.Emory University Hospital in Atlanta informed Newkirk that due to Georgia state law, because Smith is brain dead and no longer considered at risk, her medical team is legally required to keep her on life su...
St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin, Germany. / Credit: Cedric BLN via Wikimedia (public domain)Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 16, 2025 / 11:21 am (CNA).Here is a roundup of Catholic world news that you might have missed this week:Berlin pharmacist ordered to give up practice after refusing to sell 'morning-after' pillBerlin pharmacist Andreas Kersten was forced to end his practice this month after he refused to sell the so-called "morning-after" pill for reasons of conscience, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner.Kersten was forced to withdraw his license as a pharmacist after the higher administrative court of Berlin-Brandenburg acquitted him of misconduct in June 2024 but ruled that pharmacists who cannot reconcile the sale of the morning-after pill must give up their profession."It is regrettable that pharmacists are denied the right to freedom of conscience when they adopt a pro-life attitude," Kersten said. "I cannot reconcile the so-called 'morning a...
Meetings took place this week between the head of the transitional phase in Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and U.S. President Donald Trump, in the presence of the Saudi Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. / Credit: Syrian Arab Republic Presidency Facebook pageACI MENA, May 15, 2025 / 17:33 pm (CNA).In a surprising announcement made this week from Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the United States would fully lift its sanctions on Syria. The announcement sparked applause in the hall where Trump was speaking, echoed in the hearts of Syrians watching from afar with joy and hope.The announcement was followed by a landmark meeting between Syria's Transitional President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Trump in the presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who joined via video conference.Syrian currency strengthensThe first signs of impact were immediate, according to ACI MENA, CNA's Arabic-language news partner....
