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Polonia Castellanos, founder of the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers. / Credit: Women World Platform, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPuebla, Mexico, Apr 2, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).Attacks against Christians, especially Catholics, are on the rise in both Europe and Latin America, according to various reports from specialized organizations.During 2023, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe documented 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes in 35 European countries. This figure includes 232 personal attacks ranging from harassment and threats to physical violence. Nearly half the attacks occurred in France.The disturbing trend was also noted in the 2023 Report on Religious Freedom published by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need.The executive summary of the latter research report warns of "a considerable increase in incidents perpetrated by individuals or groups advocating for certain ideological views that are intolerant...
U.S. Supreme Court. / Credit: PT Hamilton/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments for a lawsuit that will determine whether South Carolina and other states can deny Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for non-abortive medical services.All three justices appointed by Democrats appeared to empathize with Planned Parenthood in the case, but the six Republican-appointed justices were more nuanced with their questions for the lawyers representing both parties.Federal Medicaid funds cannot be used to cover elective abortions, but federal law does not restrict abortion clinics, such as Planned Parenthood facilities, from receiving Medicaid funds for other services they offer.However, in 2016, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed an executive order to block abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for any services, arguing that tax money should not support institu...
More than 60 men died after a mosque collapsed in Sagaing Township aftera 7.7-magmitude earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of the Action Against Hunger team in SagaingACI Prensa Staff, Apr 2, 2025 / 18:36 pm (CNA).Rescue teams have been working against the clock in Myanmar searching for survivors under the rubble after last Friday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake. But the battle hasn't just been against time or the high temperatures of over 100 degrees."The army isn't allowing relief teams to operate freely," a priest from the Diocese of Loikaw in eastern Myanmar told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner."The Church is also trying to help, but we encounter countless obstacles. We can't freely access the affected areas because there are military checkpoints everywhere. Supplies are confiscated, volunteers are prevented from entering, and in some areas the army doesn't even allow victims to receive the assistance they need," said the priest, who ...
The Basilica of the Holy Trinity at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal. / Credit: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRome Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 10:52 am (CNA).While a Catholic shrine in Lourdes, France, announced on Monday it is covering mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik on the doors to one of its basilicas, another of the world's most popular sites of Marian devotion said it is not considering removing its own Rupnik artwork.A spokesperson for the Fátima shrine in Portugal told the Portuguese news outlet 7Margens via email this week that the international shrine is not taking down the mosaic installation but has stopped using its image in any distributed materials.The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, is located on the site of the Virgin Mary's apparitions to three shepherd children in 1917.The back wall of the shrine's largest and most modern worship space, the Basi...
In 1984, Pope John Paul II met in Rome with 300,000 young people from all over the world in a meeting that laid the foundations for today's World Youth Day. / Credit: Gregorini Demetrio, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsVatican City, Apr 2, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).Now 20 years since Pope John Paul II's death on April 2, 2005, one of his closest collaborators says the Polish pontiff lives on in the hearts and memories of the many people who still feel connected to him today.Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul II's personal secretary for nearly four decades, told EWTN News during an interview in Krakow that visitors to the saint's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica "don't go to the dead pope, they go to the living pope. He lives in hearts, he lives in memories.""There is still this dialogue between the pope and the people and the people with him. This is how I feel," the 85-year-old cardinal and former archbishop of Krakow said. "He departed but at the same time remained with us. … Pe...
The documentation of Mary's case was submitted to the Solanus Casey Center. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of LansingWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Many Catholics credit prayers of intercession to Blessed Solanus Casey for curing and helping people who suffer from illnesses. Mary Bartold of DeWitt, Michigan, is now among the many who do so after her two tumors vanished with no medical intervention but after continuous prayers to Casey, whose ministry was built upon healing and compassion.Mary's unexpected health issues began almost a year ago in late April 2024, the Detroit Free Press reported. Mary was a sophomore at Lansing Catholic High School in Michigan when she began to experience severe abdominal pain while at school. Mary and her family could not pinpoint what the problem was.Mary's parents, Susan and Rick Bartold, took her for a CT scan and ultrasound of her abdomen. The images revealed two masses on each of her ovaries: one was 7.3 centim...
An EF2 tornado in the early hours of March 31, 2025, in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, tore off the roof of the St. Peter Parish catechism building. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Debbie LaFleurWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:01 pm (CNA).A Louisiana parish suffered major damage to its property after a tornado passed through during the early hours of Monday morning.Debbie LaFleur, secretary of St. Peter Catholic Church in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, told CNA the roof of the parish catechism building was torn off and that several fallen tree limbs fell onto the rectory, causing the above-ground structure to shift on its pillars. The rectory and catechism building were built in 1950 and 1970, respectively. The catwalk between the rectory and the church, a carport, and the awning over a handicap ramp will all need to be replaced, LaFleur said. She also noted that several of the parish's "very old" oak trees had been damaged or fallen down and that several headstones in its c...
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt attends a roundtable at the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 2020. / Credit: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead (public domain)CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 15:34 pm (CNA).Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt this week signed an executive order instructing state officials to ensure Oklahoma's laws are "the most robust" in the nation at protecting religious freedom, with the governor also criticizing the state attorney general for attempting to block a proposed Catholic charter school there.The order, announced on Monday, initiates a review of various state laws and policies to ensure they comply with religious freedom protections enshrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.The directive explicitly targets several state laws, including one requiring charter schools to be "nonsectarian" in their operations.The order comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court began considering a proposed Oklahoma school that could be ...
On April 2, 2025, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its "Based on a True Saint" series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, "The Boy from Milan," focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis. / Credit: The Augustine InstituteCNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).On April 2, the Augustine Institute will release its second documentary in its "Based on a True Saint" series, which airs on its faith formation streaming platform Formed. The latest installment in the series, "The Boy from Milan," focuses on soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis.The film aims to help viewers get to know the Church's first millennial saint better and show how an ordinary teenager with a deep love for God and other people can became a saint. The documentary includes interviews with three individuals who knew Acutis personally: his mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis; his high school religion teacher at Leone XIII Institute ...
Father José Luis Quijano is one of the 500 priests who participated in the March 28-30, 2025, Jubilee of Priests Instituted as Missionaries of Mercy. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN NewsVatican City, Apr 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).In 2016, when Pope Francis instituted the ministry of the Missionaries of Mercy during the extraordinary holy year, Argentine priest José Luis Quijano never imagined that the pope's initiative would renew his priestly zeal. With more than three decades of ministry, he thought he'd already learned everything."I wasn't a priest just going through the motions; I was always very pastoral, but this meant an authentic renewal in the inner fiber of my ministry," he explained to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, nine years after having personally received from the pontiff the task of imparting God the Father's infinite forgiveness on a daily basis."Mercy is not for those who are squeaky clean, for those who are good or just. That's easy. The recipie...
