Article Archive
Please click below to view any of the articles in our archive.
null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 30, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).During oral arguments on Wednesday, the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared sympathetic to supporting the establishment of the first Catholic charter school in the United States.The St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which is managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, last year petitioned the high court to approve its bid to become the nation's first publicly funded religious charter school. The case could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S. The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ordered Oklahoma's charter school board to rescind the contract with the school, citing the First Amendment's prohibition of laws establishing a state religion. Shortly after the state Supreme Court ruling, both St. Isidore and the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board filed separate petitions to the U.S. S...
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House. / Credit: The White HouseWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).President Donald Trump passed the 100-day mark of his second presidency on Tuesday, April 29, a period that has been packed with major policy shifts, more than 130 executive orders, and over 200 lawsuits.Trump won the country's Catholic vote by double digits last November and since then has received praise from Catholics on several issues but skepticism and even legal challenges on others.Actions that have received the enthusiastic endorsement of many Catholics include the administration's initial pro-life efforts, religious liberty protections, and moves to extricate gender ideology from the government. However, the president's embrace of in vitro fertilization (IVF), his hard-line immigration policies, and his funding cuts to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have caused tensions with the bishops and Catholic...
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri celebrates Mass on the fifth day of Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 30, 2025, at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 30, 2025 / 18:34 pm (CNA).Cardinal Leonardo Sandri on Wednesday recalled one of the traditional titles for the pope, the "servant of the servants of God," and emphasized the papal roles of service and confirming Catholics in the faith.In several days, Sandri said, the cardinal proto deacon will announce to the Church and the world the "'gaudium magnum' ('great joy') of having a new pope.""It is from the paschal experience of Christ," he continued, "that the ministry of the successor of Peter finds meaning, called at all times to live out the words just heard in the Gospel: 'And you, once converted, confirm your brothers.'"Sandri celebrated Mass for the College of Cardinals and the Papal Chapel (members of the Papal House) in St. Peter's Basilica for the fifth day of the Novendiale...
Cardinals participate in the fifth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on April 30, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 30, 2025 / 19:07 pm (CNA).The College of Cardinals announced Monday, April 28, that the conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:
null / Credit: HoneySkies/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 15:07 pm (CNA).Recent polling data has found that Americans' religious affiliations have not greatly changed since 2020, appearing to stabilize following decades of substantial shifts.Data collected by the polling firm Gallup surveyed 12,000 adults in the U.S. and found that from 2000 to 2020, the percentage of people with no religious affiliation spiked, while Protestant and Catholic populations declined.In 2000, 57% of Americans identified as Protestant or nondenominational Christians. Over the following 20 years this group dropped more than 10 points to 46%. The Catholic population experienced a smaller yet still notable decline over the same time period, decreasing from 25% to 22%.The largest change over the two decades was the increase in American adults who said they had no religious affiliation. In 2000, only 8% of those surveyed said they did not practice a religion, but in 2020 the number h...
Archbishop Cardinal John Njue and Archbishop Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera. / Credit: Centro Televisivo Vaticano, CC BY 3.0 via Creative Commons; Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, Apr 30, 2025 / 09:43 am (CNA).The archdioceses of Spanish Cardinal Antonio Cañizares and Kenyan Cardinal John Njue on Wednesday both confirmed the two prelates will not participate in the upcoming papal conclave to elect the successor to Pope Francis. The Archdiocese of Valencia told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, that Cañizares "will not travel to Rome for health reasons."Sources in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, meanwhile, on Wednesday confirmed with ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, that due to health reasons the African prelate will not travel to Rome to elect the Church's next supreme pontiff.Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, had stated at an April 29 press briefing that two cardinal electors would not participate in the conclave due to health reas...
Cardinals participate in Day 4 of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 29, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 30, 2025 / 06:34 am (CNA).The College of Cardinals announced Monday, April 28, that the conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:
Pilgrims visit Rome for the Jubilee of People with Disabilities on Monday, April 28, 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 16:49 pm (CNA).Thousands of people from more than 90 countries gathered in Rome this week to celebrate the Catholic Church's Jubilee of People with Disabilities. Wheelchairs rolled across cobblestones and walking aids clicked on the marble floors of St. Peter's Basilica as people with disabilities passed through the Holy Door for the Jubilee of Hope, entrusting their prayers to the Lord. "I pray for a better world, I pray for a world where inclusion becomes a normality," 18-year-old Anna Maria Gargiulo from Perugia, Italy, told CNA. "I am blind from birth, but for me this is not a problem," she added. "I experience it rather as a possibility, because I look at the world with different eyes." Perugia, Italy, resident Anna Maria Gargiulo attends the celebration of the Jubilee of People with Disabilities in Rome on ...
Cardinals participate in Day 4 of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 29, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).The way to evangelization is "unreserved openness" to others, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, said on the fourth day of the Novendiales, the Church's nine days of mourning for Pope Francis.Gambetti, who is archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, celebrated the Mass for the repose of Pope Francis' soul in the presence of the cardinals and the chapters of the four papal basilicas, which are groups of clergy entrusted with ensuring the liturgical and sacramental care of the basilicas.The first reading at the Mass, held in St. Peter's Basilica, was from the Acts of the Apostles and quotes Peter, who says: "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him."In a globalized, secular age that is thirsty for t...
Cardinals participate in Day 4 of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 29, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 18:14 pm (CNA).The College of Cardinals announced Monday, April 28, that the conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:
