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The Embassy of Equatorial Guinea in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Kurt Kaiser, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 18:13 pm (CNA).President Donald Trump's order this week to restrict foreign nationals in 19 countries from entering into the United States will impact six countries with a majority Catholic population and four other countries with a heavy presence of Catholics or other Christians.According to the order, some of the countries are facing restrictions based on national security concerns and a high terrorism risk. Others were chosen due to high rates of people from those countries overstaying their visas for entry into the United States and remaining in the country unlawfully.The order includes a near-total ban on three countries with a majority Catholic population: the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Haiti. There are also partial restrictions on three others with Catholic majorities: Burundi, Venezuela, and Cuba.The near-total...
Steve Dorsey, U.S. head of communications and public affairs for the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaks about civilian suffering in Gaza with "EWTN News Nightly" host Erik Rosales on June 4, 2025. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"CNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).The International Committee of the Red Cross said its 60-bed field hospital in Rafah, Gaza Strip, was nearly overwhelmed by a mass casualty event on Tuesday that brought 184 patients through its doors.The aid group said Tuesday's influx of patients was the highest the hospital has seen in one day since its opening more than a year ago. Nineteen of those patients were dead on arrival, and an additional eight died shortly thereafter, mostly from gunshot wounds. The same day, International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC that Palestinians have been stripped of their human dignity and international humanitarian law is being ignored, saying "humanity is failing" and t...
The Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion on Thursday, June 5, 2025, saying Wisconsin violated the First Amendment protections of Catholic Charities. / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously held that the state of Wisconsin had violated the First Amendment when it denied a tax exemption to a Catholic charity after claiming that the group's charitable undertakings were not "primarily" religious.The high court said in its Thursday decision that the First Amendment "mandates government neutrality between religions" and that the state had run afoul of that principle when it refused to extend the tax break to the Catholic Charities bureau operated out of the Diocese of Superior.The state allows organizations "operated primarily for religious purposes" to be exempt from paying into the state's unemployment system. But the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission had claimed that the Catholi...
The Archdiocese of New York superintendent of schools announced the launch of a school renewal plan and the final results of a school viability study on June 4, 2025. / Credit: alexkich/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Schools Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, announced this week the launch of a school renewal plan and the final results of a school viability study.On June 3, the archdiocese laid out the first part of the Elementary School Renewal Plan based on the results of the School Viability Study (SVS), which assessed every elementary school in the archdiocese between October 2024 and January 2025 in order "to ensure the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of Catholic education within the community." The two-part school renewal plan, according to a press release, will evaluate four key areas for each school: mission and Catholic identity, governance and leadership, academic excellence, a...
Pope Leo XIV greets members of the Vatican Secretariat of State on June 5, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Jun 5, 2025 / 14:51 pm (CNA).In his audience with members of the Vatican Secretariat of State on Thursday, Pope Leo XIV thanked them for their support in the first month of his pontificate.Among those present was Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, who introduced the meeting with a brief address. Also participating was Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute for general affairs of the Secretariat of State.Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary of relations with states within the Secretariat of State, did not participate in the audience because he is in Cuba for the 90th anniversary of relations between that Caribbean country and the Holy See.At the outset of his speech, Pope Leo thanked the Secretariat of State for assisting him in the "first steps" of his pontificate and for "carrying forward the mission" entrusted to him....
Al Pacino as Father Theophilus Riesinger in "The Ritual." / Credit: XYZ FilmsCNA Staff, Jun 5, 2025 / 15:21 pm (CNA).In 1928, Father Joseph Steiger, a priest at St. Joseph's in Earling, Iowa, was approached with an urgent concern. A 46-year-old woman named Emma Schmidt was experiencing blackouts, aversions to holy objects, and other terrible afflictions. After years of extensive psychiatric treatment provided no relief, Schmidt's priest suggested an exorcism. Father Theophilus Riesinger, a Capuchin friar, was assigned to perform the exorcism while Steiger would be the stenographer. After a 23-day battle, Schmidt was freed from her affliction and able to live the rest of her life in peace.The exorcism of Schmidt remains the most thoroughly documented and widely publicized exorcism in American history and now a new movie has been made to tell the story. "The Ritual," starring Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, and Patricia Heaton, will be released in theaters on June 6.F...
Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Bishop-elect Simon Peter Engurait. / Credit: Courtesy of the Diocese of Houma-ThibodauxVatican City, Jun 5, 2025 / 08:54 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Thursday named Uganda-born Father Simon Peter Engurait, a former business analyst who became a priest at age 41, to lead the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in southeastern Louisiana.The 53-year-old priest, ordained for the diocese in 2013, has acted as diocesan administrator since the death of Bishop Mario Dorsonville in January 2024."While I am still shocked by the news that the Lord has asked me to be a bishop, I must admit that knowing the people of this diocese brings me great comfort in saying yes," the bishop-elect said in a statement published to the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese's website on June 5."South Louisiana is home, and I love the people here. It is a privilege to say yes to you as much as I am saying yes to God. I love you, and I consider it a great honor to serve you as your bishop," he added.Engurai...
South loop area of Chicago. / Credit: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago is using a lobbying firm that supports pro-abortion political candidates and lobbies for abortion providers, raising concerns that the relationship could amount to cooperation with evil by the charitable entity.Since 2022, Catholic Charities of Chicago has contracted with Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies to lobby on its behalf before the State of Illinois. Cozen O'Connor is a national lobbying firm with offices in major cities across the country, including New York; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago.According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Cozen O'Connor donated $3,500 in 2024 to Personal PAC, a political action committee in Illinois that supports pro-choice candidates at the state and local levels. The firm donated $3,000 in 2023 and $3,500 in 2024, while an individual employee of the f...
Pope Leo XIV greets the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Wednesday general audience on June 4, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Newsroom, Jun 5, 2025 / 10:43 am (CNA).Follow our live coverage of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, first U.S.-born pope in history.
Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his general audience on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Jun 4, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV will gather the cardinals at the Vatican on June 13 to give final approval to the canonizations of eight blesseds whose causes were promoted by Pope Francis.This event is known as an ordinary public consistory and will be the first of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate. It should be noted that Pope Francis convened it at the end of February, when he was hospitalized at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, but no date was set.This ceremony determines the final step of the canonization process through a vote to set the date on which the blessed will be proclaimed a saint.On Wednesday, the Office of Liturgical Celebrations confirmed the list of blesseds.Among them is Blessed Bartolo Longo, an Italian layman and lawyer and founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, Italy.After abandoning ...
