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The Texas State Capitol in Austin. / Credit: Gang Liu/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jun 9, 2025 / 16:06 pm (CNA).A federal judge has overturned the long-standing "Texas Dream Act" in a move the state's Catholic bishops say undermines "just" immigration reform efforts. After the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Texas over the matter last week, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor blocked the law, which had enabled some noncitizens living illegally in Texas to qualify for in-state tuition at the state's public universities and colleges.Reed ruled that the law was "unconstitutional and invalid" because it applied to those who were "not lawfully present in the United States."Enacted in 2001, the law made in-state tuition available for noncitizen students who graduated from a local high school and had lived in Texas for at least three years prior to graduation, including those who weren't in the country legally. The law required that students pledge to apply for permanent res...
Bishop William Byrne of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, gives the keynote address at the 2024 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 2024. / Credit: EWTNWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 9, 2025 / 17:08 pm (CNA).As lawmakers consider rules related to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging them to prioritize "the life and dignity of the human person and the common good.""Artificial intelligence is rapidly shaping the future of our society," Bishop William D. Byrne, the chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Communications, said in a statement."As pastors entrusted with the care of human life and dignity, we urge lawmakers to heed the call of our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, to help ensure that AI is developed with responsibility and discernment so that it may truly benefit every person," Byrne said.Although Congress is not currently debating comprehensive AI regulations, the...
Waymo cars are set on fire and vandalized during a protest against immigration raids on June 8, 2025, in Los Angeles. / Credit: Nick Ut/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Jun 9, 2025 / 17:38 pm (CNA).Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, the nation's largest Catholic community, issued a statement calling for "restraint and calm" as tensions in Los Angeles escalated over the weekend after protests sparked by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of unauthorized immigrants turned violent."I am troubled by today's immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles, and I am praying for our community," Gomez said in a statement issued June 6."We all agree that we don't want undocumented immigrants who are known terrorists or violent criminals in our communities. But there is no need for the government to carry out enforcement actions in a way that provokes fear and anxiety among ordinary, hardworking immigrants and their families."In his stament, Gomez called on Congress to fix t...
Pew's latest research released June 5, 2025, found that while Christianity still remains the world's largest religion, Islam's growth outpaced every religion over the course of a decade. / Credit: Arthimedes/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 9, 2025 / 18:08 pm (CNA).While Christianity remained the largest global religion from 2010 to 2020, the latest Pew Research study found that followers of Islam outpaced every world religion in population over the course of the decade.The recently released report, "How the Global Religious Landscape Changed from 2010 to 2020," includes data from over 2,700 sources, including national census, demographic surveys, and population registers. Some of the estimates made in the report originate from data about 2020 that was not made available till 2024 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed census data in at least 65 countries.The report covered 201 countries, focusing on seven religious categories: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhi...
Mass in a Catholic church in Cotia, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Jan. 25, 2020. / Credit: wtondossantos/ShuttestockSao Paulo, Brazil, Jun 9, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).The percentage of Brazilians who identify as Catholic fell to 56.75% in 2022, a reduction of 8.4% compared with 2010, according to data from the 2022 demographic census released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.Despite the reduction, Catholicism remains by far the largest religion in the country, followed by evangelicalism and Brazilians who identify as having no religion, whose percentage has grown by 1.4% since 2010, accounting for 9.28% of the population. Evangelicals posted growth of 5.2% during the period, comprising 26.9% of the country's population of just over 203 million people.The trend of increasing numbers of people without a religious affiliation was discussed by the bishops during a January meeting in Rio de Janeiro. The archbishop of Porto Alegre and president of the National Conference o...
Over 10,000 pilgrims joined together at the national Marian shrine in Knock, Ireland, to mark the 40th anniversary of the All Ireland Rosary Rally on June 8, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of All Ireland Rosary RallyDublin, Ireland, Jun 9, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).This past weekend, over 10,000 pilgrims joined together at the national Marian shrine in Knock, Ireland, to mark the 40th anniversary of the All Ireland Rosary Rally.Since the rally began in 1985, it has attracted increasingly larger crowds. This year's rally included a youth conference and a prayer vigil in the basilica to welcome the feast of Pentecost. Hundreds of rally-goers joined together to create a huge human rosary outside. On Sunday morning, attendees climbed Croagh Patrick holy mountain where Mass was celebrated at noon at the summit. "We are inspired in our efforts by the rallies of Father Patrick Peyton, a [County] Mayo native who inspired millions around the globe," event organizer Father Marius O...
Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm at the consistory in St. Peter's Basilica on June 28, 2017. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAStockholm, Sweden, Jun 9, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).The conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV was first and foremost a unifying experience, despite the frantic pace and intrigue, said Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius."The conclave was a wonderful experience of unity in the Church and openness to the voice of the Spirit," Arborelius told CNA on June 5. "It was also very well organized."However, one of the primary challenges for the cardinals at the conclave was getting to know one another, especially those from faraway countries. During the general congregations prior to the conclave, when cardinals discussed the challenges that the Church and the new pope would face, Arborelius told the New York Times that the "cardinals don't know each other so well" and that he himself felt "lost all the time."The cardinal explained to CNA that the College of Cardinals got...
Cloistered monastic nun Sister Maria Gloria Riva of the Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament addresses Pope Leo XIV, cardinals, bishops, and other employees at the Vatican for the Jubilee of the Holy See on June 9, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNAVatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).Sister Maria Gloria Riva of the Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament spoke on the importance of working with eternity in mind during a talk delivered Monday morning at the Vatican, a highly unusual case of a layperson publicly addressing the pontiff on spiritual matters.The 66-year-old nun, part of a cloistered, contemplative monastery in the small state of San Marino in Italy, was the invited speaker for the Jubilee of the Holy See, part of the Catholic Church's wider 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope."Eternity is before us. If we work for short-term and mediocre horizons, we work in vain," Riva said in her June 9 meditation to Pope Leo XIV, cardinals, bishops, and ot...
Father Marko Rupnik in an interview with EWTN in 2020. / Credit: EWTNVatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 11:08 am (CNA).The Vatican on Monday removed artwork by former Jesuit Father Marko Ivan Rupnik from its official websites.Digital images of the Slovenian priest's sacred art, which were frequently used by Vatican News to illustrate articles of the Church's liturgical feast days, are no longer found on the digital news service.Catholic writer Amy Welborn took to X to show screenshots of Vatican News' "Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church" article before and after Rupnik's accompanying artwork was removed from the website on June 9.Rupnik, who was expelled by the Society of Jesus in June 2023 for his "stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience," is accused by about two dozen women, mostly former nuns, of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse they allege has occurred over the past three decades.The recent changes to the Vatican News and the Dicastery for...
Jesuit Guy Consolmagno at the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN NewsVatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).A total of 24 fortunate young people from around the world are participating this year in the Vatican Observatory's summer camp, an exceptional opportunity to see "that science and faith work together."The camp is led by the observatory's director, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, who during these summer months is teaching the cohort of future astronomers."We hope that simply living and working alongside Jesuit astronomers will be the strongest evidence that science and faith work together, and even more so, that this is a very natural collaboration," Consolmagno told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.The veteran Vatican astronomer, born in Detroit, recalled that Pope John Paul II once described faith and reason "as the two wings that lift us toward the truth.""I hear in Pope Leo's comments an echo of that same int...
