Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
Father Aaron Nord, pastor of St. Stephen Protomartyr Church, carries the Eucharist through St. Louis on the way to his parish. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNACNA Staff, Apr 10, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).Organizers of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage shared details today about the planned 3,340-mile trek that will see Jesus in the Eucharist carried across 10 U.S. states by a cadre of young Catholics, with members of the public invited to join in walking and special events along the way, beginning May 18.The pilgrimage, dubbed the Drexel Route, will open with a Mass of Thanksgiving in Indianapolis on Sunday, May 18. The route then heads northwest through Illinois to Iowa before turning to the southwest and descending through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. From Texas the route continues roughly west through New Mexico, Arizona, and finally California, culminating in a Mass, Eucharistic procession, and festival on June 22 in Los Angeles. As with last year's ground...
Kansas Capitol in Topeka. / Credit: Dave Newman/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 10, 2025 / 18:00 pm (CNA).The Kansas House and Senate voted successfully to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that will protect the religious liberty of adoptive parents and foster parents on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation.House lawmakers voted 87-38 and Senate lawmakers voted 31-9, which exceeds the two-thirds supermajority needed to override a veto. Although the governor is a Democrat, the Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers of the state's Legislature.The new law, which takes effect immediately, prohibits the Kansas Department for Children and Families from enacting any policies that would force an adoptive parent or foster parent to affirm support for gender ideology or homosexuality to obtain a license to adopt or foster children.Under this law, a person cannot be denied a license based on his or her "sincerely held religious or moral b...
St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. / Credit: CiEll/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 10, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).More than a dozen parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, have received a temporary reprieve from the Vatican regarding planned mergers as the churches petition the Holy See to halt parts of the diocese's renewal plan. Bishop Michael Fisher announced in May 2024 that the diocese would be merging over a third of its 160 parishes, calling the move an effort to "reinvigorate the Catholic faith in western New York." In September the diocese said it would see a total of 118 worship sites remain open, down from 196. Multiple parishes in the diocese appealed the decision to the Vatican, asking the Dicastery for the Clergy to review Fisher's proposal. Local media reported this week that 14 parishes received letters from the dicastery confirming that their respective mergers would be suspended while the Vatican reviews the plans. The request for the suspen...
An aerial view shows rescue teams working at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on April 9, 2025, a day after the collapse of its roof. / Credit: ALFRED DAVIES/AFP via Getty ImagesVatican City, Apr 10, 2025 / 11:12 am (CNA).Pope Francis on Thursday offered prayers for the victims of a deadly nightclub collapse in the Dominican Republic that killed at least 200 people.As of Thursday morning, a reported 218 people have been killed and more than 200 others injured after the ceiling of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo collapsed early Tuesday morning local time during a merengue concert, media reported.The Holy Father said he was "deeply saddened" by the tragic events in the Dominican Republic's capital city and offered his "prayers for the eternal repose of the deceased" in an April 10 telegram addressed to Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta of Santo Domingo."His Holiness also extends his heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the deceased, togethe...
Emergency Missions volunteers at the Dos de Mayo National Hospital in Lima, Peru. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Fabrizio CacianoLima Newsroom, Apr 10, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).In one of the most poverty-stricken areas of Lima, Peru, where hunger and hopelessness have long prevailed, a man who once rejected the Church now leads a quiet revolution of solidarity.After 24 years away from the faith, Fabrizio Caciano transformed his own conversion into "Emergency Missions," a Catholic nongovernmental organization (NGO) that not only feeds people in hospitals and on the hills but also builds a future by bringing education to those forgotten by society.His story is a living testimony of how faith in action can transform lives in a country where more than 17 million Peruvians face food insecurity.Fabrizio Caciano with young children who benefit from Emergency Missions' charitable projects. Credit: Photo courtesy of Fabrizio CacianoEmergency Missions, formed by volunteers from the Santa María...
Participants march at a rally for immigrants and refugees at the Diocese of El Paso on Monday, March 24, 2025. / Credit: Father Miguel Briseño, OFM ConvWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2025 / 14:37 pm (CNA).The debate over immigration, border control, and refugee resettlement remains a hot-button topic among the general population, including U.S. Catholics, who have a wide range of stances on the issue. An array of policymakers, theologians, and representatives for Catholic aid organizations have shared their takes on the topic with CNA.In the wake of the Trump administration's funding cuts, Catholic aid organizations such as Catholic Charities and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) USA have been outspoken in their advocacy for the restoration of aid to their programs, which benefit migrants and refugees. As part of the 90-day funding freeze, over $18 million in federal federal funding to JRS USA was frozen, though aid to select programs has since been reauthorized. Catholic Chariti...
Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered for his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 5, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Apr 9, 2025 / 09:44 am (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday highlighted the need to overcome the "logic of merit" to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ and to trust more in God's gratuitous love.Continuing his jubilee catechesis series "Jesus Christ Our Hope" on the life of Jesus, the pope wrote a reflection on Chapter 10 of St. Mark's Gospel when Christ encounters a rich young man with a "fine resume" of good deeds."He is a man who has observed the commandments ever since his youth but who, despite this, has not yet found the meaning of his life," the Holy Father wrote in his April 9 catechesis."Perhaps he is one who has not yet truly made up his mind, despite his appearance as a committed person," he continued.Commenting that "eternal life" is not "obtained by right" or "through meticulous observance of ...
The Kerygma Center for the New Evangelization offers a program that brings nonbelievers closer to God, especially baptized persons who had been living far from their faith. / Credit: Courtesy of Kerygma CenterACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 10:53 am (CNA).The Kerygma Center for the New Evangelization offers a program that, since its founding in 2013, has brought closer to God thousands of nonbelievers, especially baptized persons who had been living far from their faith.Founded in response to the call of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis, the center proposes a "re-evangelization" aimed particularly at those who, despite having faith, have not experienced "a living and personal encounter with Jesus Christ," Kerygma president Carlos Macías de Lara explained to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.Originally from Mexico, Macías is a full-time evangelist living in Italy and has more than 30 years of experience spreading the good news.Despite having gr...
Mass celebrated by Bishop José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra on his 100th birthday. / Credit: Diocesan Sisters of Our Lady of the AngelsPuebla, Mexico, Apr 9, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).At 103 years of age, Mexican Bishop José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra is a living witness to the history of the Catholic Church. He is the world's oldest bishop, still celebrates the Eucharist, and is one of only four surviving bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council.He was born in Cotija, a small and humble town in the state of Michoacán, in 1922 and ordained a priest on May 26, 1946. Fifteen years after his priestly ordination, Pope John XXIII appointed him the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Tula in the state of Hidalgo.For 24 years, he was a pillar of the diocese, until in 1985 when Pope John Paul II called him to a new challenge: to be the first bishop of the Diocese of Lázaro Cárdenas.With the same dedication with which he had served in Hidalgo, he returned to his hom...
CatholicVote president Brian Burch speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination for to be ambassador to the Holy See on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. / Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinWashington D.C., Apr 8, 2025 / 15:39 pm (CNA).The U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for CatholicVote president Brian Burch to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See took place Tuesday morning, with Burch facing questions on how he plans to represent the Trump administration's foreign aid cuts to the Vatican as well as his position on the Holy See's relationship with China."I am deeply honored and humbled to be nominated by President [Donald] Trump to serve as the United States ambassador to the Holy See," Burch told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "This is a role of great significance, and I am grateful for the trust President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio have placed in me."Burch described the U.S.-Holy See r...
