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A view of St. Peter's Basilica during the Mass for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, with Bernini's baldachin and the papal altar decorated with white flowers, Dec. 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, Feb 26, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).The Vatican on Wednesday announced that Pope Francis has created a fundraising commission to solicit donations from Catholics and bishops' conferences as the Vatican City State and the Roman Curia continue to face budgetary and funding challenges.The "Commissio de Donationibus pro Sancta Sede," Latin for "Commission on Donations for the Holy See," has six members, "whose specific task will be to encourage donations" and find benefactors for special projects within the Vatican, according to a papal decree signed Feb. 11.Pope Francis has been making cost-cutting decisions at the Vatican in recent years as he continues attempts to reverse the institution's struggling financial situation, including a pension fund facing a...
null / Credit: Yury Dmitrienko/ShutterstockVatican City, Feb 26, 2025 / 13:05 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday asked Catholics to have the wisdom to look for the presence of God in our midst like the elderly Simeon and Anna in the New Testament.In his second catechesis since being admitted into Rome's Gemelli Hospital nearly two weeks ago, the Holy Father reflected on the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Lord's encounter with two elderly "pilgrims of hope.""The song of redemption of two elders thus emits the proclamation of the jubilee for all the people and for the world," the pope shared in his written commentary on St. Luke's Gospel. "Hope is rekindled in hearts in the Temple of Jerusalem because Christ our hope has entered it," he continued.The 88-year-old pontiff emphasized that both Simeon and Anna were people of prayer and worship, with "clear eyes" capable of recognizing God in the child Jesus and welcoming him i...
null / Credit: HoneySkies/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Feb 26, 2025 / 13:35 pm (CNA).A 20-year-long decline in the number of Americans who identify as Christian may be "leveling off," according to data released on Wednesday by Pew Research Center. Pew said its most recent Religious Landscape Study showed 62% of U.S. adults identifying as Christian, a number that has been "relatively stable" since 2019. The number of U.S. adults claiming to be Christian is still significantly lower than when the survey first began, falling 16 points over the course of the poll, from 78% in 2007 to the 62% most recently reported.Yet the last several years of data show the decline has "slowed or perhaps even plateaued," Pew said.The research group noted that the "Catholic share" of Christian respondents has been stable since 2014, considerably earlier than the broader group stability seen since 2019. Catholics constitute 19% of Christians in the U.S., Pe...
null / Credit: Billion Photos/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Feb 26, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).A federal judge in Seattle blocked the Trump administration's suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions program on Tuesday.In a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead ordered the Trump administration to restore the program and funding to refugee aid programs amid a lawsuit alleging that the freeze was unlawful.The judge said it was likely that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority in halting the long-standing program, which was established by Congress in 1980."The president has substantial discretion ... to suspend refugee admissions," Whitehead said, according to the Associated Press. "But that authority is not limitless."A recent executive order by President Donald Trump suspended the refugee program for at least 90 days, citing the burden of high levels of migration on cities and towns that do not have the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants.Several f...
Window at the top of the south façade of the Cathedral in Seville, Spain,. / Credit: o_andras/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International via Wikimedia CommonsMadrid, Spain, Feb 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience (OLRC, by its Spanish acronym) is calling on Spain's Ministry of the Interior to strengthen security at the country's cathedrals after a threat against the sacred structures was issued by the Islamic terrorist group Daesh (ISIS).According to a recent report by Memri, a publication specializing in Islamist terrorism, a poster with the label "Let's slaughter" is being disseminated online in which a terrorist armed with a knife and an image of a Spanish cathedral can be seen.According to the Spanish newspaper La Razón, the poster is accompanied by the incitement to "make the next news yourself and show your anger at what is happening to Muslims. Follow in the footsteps of your brothers who preceded you and sowed f...
null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock.CNA Staff, Feb 25, 2025 / 17:20 pm (CNA).The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to a Tennessee law restricting drag performances when children are present.The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the petition to hear an appeal on the ruling, which was filed by an LGBTQ+ theater company in December 2024 after a circuit court ruled against the group. The Friends of George's theater company had challenged Tennessee's Adult Entertainment Act (AEA) in 2023 soon after the law limiting "adult-oriented" performances in public was passed. The AEA prevented "adult cabaret" performances on public property and anywhere that children might see them. The law defines adult cabaret as "adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors" and that include "topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or simil...
Vancouver Archbishop J.. Michael Miller, left, watches as Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith places the mitre on Father Gary Franken at his ordination as bishop of St. Paul, Alberta, Canada, in December 2022. Archbishop Smith has been appointed the next archbishop of Vancouver after Pope Francis accepted Archbishop Miller's retirement. / Credit: Prithi SpoethVancouver, Canada, Feb 25, 2025 / 17:50 pm (CNA).Archbishop Richard W. Smith of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has been appointed by Pope Francis as the next archbishop of Vancouver, succeeding Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, whose retirement has been accepted by the Holy Father.Smith, 65, has led the Archdiocese of Edmonton since 2007 and has served in dioceses across Canada.Miller reached the age of 75 in 2021 and submitted his resignation to the pope as required by canon law. However, he was asked to remain in office until a successor was named. The Vatican announced this morning that Smith will be the next shepherd o...
Father Emil Kapaun celebrates Mass using the hood of a Jeep as his altar on Oct. 7, 1950. / Credit: Public domainVatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).Renowned Korean War military chaplain and Kansas native Emil Joseph Kapaun was declared "venerable" by Pope Francis on Tuesday.The Holy Father on Monday met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute for general affairs of the Secretariat of State, at Gemelli Hospital where the pope is currently undergoing medical treatment to approve decrees from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for six men and one woman currently on the path to sainthood.Kapaun is one of five servants of God who will be proclaimed venerable by the Catholic Church. The others are Italian layman Salvo D'Acquisto; Miquel Maura i Montaner, a 19th-century Spanish priest; Italian priest Didaco Bessi; and Kunegunda Siwiec, a Polish laywoman who died in 1955.The Holy Father approved Kapaun and D'Acqui...
null / Credit: Andy - Rock News/ShutterstockVatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).Pope Francis has named two secretaries-general to serve under Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, in the Governorate of the Vatican City State, giving the Vatican's first woman president "the power to dispose and confer... specific competencies or particular tasks" on the appointees.The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Francis had appointed Archbishop Emilio Nappa and layman Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi to serve as joint secretaries-general of the governing body of the Vatican City State.The nomination follows the pope's appointment of Franciscan Sister Petrini as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State on Feb. 15, after she served as secretary-general of the governorate for just over three years.Petrini, who will assume her new roles on March 1, is the first woman and non-cardinal to ho...
U.S. Vice President JD Vance addresses the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Migi Fabara/EWTN NewsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 25, 2025 / 14:05 pm (CNA).Vice President JD Vance will speak at the 20th National Catholic Prayer Breakfast (NCPB) held on Friday, Feb. 28, in Washington, D.C., the organization has announced."I am honored to be able to address the 20th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and represent the Trump administration's support for people of faith across the United States," Vance said in a statement.Vance spoke about returning to the NCPB as vice president. "Last year, I was moved to witness the joyful devotion of over a thousand Catholics praying for the future and success of our country," he said."Thanks to their faithful prayers, President Trump's leadership has restored the hopes and dreams of the American people and our great nation is on the path to peace and prosperity once more," Vance said.NCPB Chair...
