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A Planned Parenthood facility in Indianapolis. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Two Republican senators sent a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to demand answers about why the Planned Parenthood Federation of America received more than $100 million in COVID-19 relief funds, which the lawmakers allege was "unlawful."Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who chairs the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, sent a letter to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler to request documents and records related to Planned Parenthood's receipt of funding through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).According to the letter, Planned Parenthood affiliates received about $120 million in PPP loans in 2020 and 2021.Lawmakers have inquired about the funding for the past few years, though they reportedly did not receive t...
Cardinal Robert McElroy gives his first homily as the shepherd of the Archdiocese of Washington, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on March 11, 2025. / Credit: Patrick Ruddy/CNAWashington D.C., Mar 11, 2025 / 20:25 pm (CNA).Cardinal Robert McElroy emphasized the importance of Christian hope, mercy, and respecting human dignity in a homily in the nation's capital during his solemn installation Mass in which he assumed the role as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington. More than 100 priests, bishops, dozens of religious sisters, and hundreds of Catholic laity attended the Mass on Tuesday afternoon at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The basilica sits adjacent to the campus of The Catholic University of America in the Brookland neighborhood of the city.Cardinal Robert McElroy (seated) looks on, as Cardinal Wilton Gregory and Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States applau...
Former Philippines president Rodrigo R. Duterte has been arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity. / Credit: Ace Morandante, Wikipedia Public DomainCNA Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 17:15 pm (CNA).Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines who was rebuked by Catholic leaders for overseeing thousands of extrajudicial killings, has been arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity. Duterte, 79, was detained shortly after landing at Manila's international airport on a flight from Hong Kong, NPR reported. The outspoken former mayor of the city of Davao won election to the presidency in 2016 in large part because of his pledge to be tough on crime, especially the illegal drug trade. As president, Duterte reportedly dispatched police "death squads" nationwide to carry out extrajudicial executions of suspected drug dealers and drug u...
People gather on a flooded street after a powerful storm struck the city of Bahia Blanca, 373 miles south of Argentina's capital, on March 7, 2025. / Credit: PABLO PRESTI/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).Pope Francis and the Catholic Church in Argentina expressed their solidarity with flood victims in the city of Bahía Blanca located in Buenos Aires province.In addition to prayers, the Catholic Church in Argentina has sent material aid to Bahía Blanca, which suffered severe flooding on Friday after 16 inches of rain fell in just a few hours. So far, 16 fatalities have been reported, more than 900 people have been evacuated, and significant damage has been reported.In a Monday telegram, Pope Francis sent a message of hope and solidarity to the hard-hit community through Archbishop Carlos Azpiroz Costa, OP, of Bahía Blanca."Saddened to learn of the natural disaster that is affecting the region of Bahía Blanca, which has [resulted in] so many vic...
Border Patrol vehicle patrols the fence of the international border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. / Credit: Sherry V Smith/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).Two more Catholic Charities agencies have announced layoffs in the wake of the Trump administration's 90-day federal funding freeze.Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump issued a directive to pause foreign aid for a 90-day review as well as a domestic funding pause designed to prevent federally-funded incentives for illegal immigration. The directive has led to a freeze on federal funding for Catholic Charities programs across the U.S., most predominately affecting their migrant and refugee service programs.This week, Catholic Charities in San Diego and Fort Wayne, Indiana, cut employees amid federal funding cuts to migrant resettlement programs, according to news reports. San Diego Catholic Charities of San Diego has ceased...
null / Credit: Drop of Light/ShutterstockLondon, England, Mar 11, 2025 / 14:45 pm (CNA).Leading pro-life campaigners in England and Wales have expressed alarm following reports that Westminster's proposed "assisted dying" process might be outsourced to private companies.Following a report in The Times that the U.K. government is considering contracting out assisted death to the private sector, should it become legal, a spokesperson for Right to Life UK said the plans were "a disaster waiting to happen."Members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favor of an assisted dying bill in November 2024 at its second reading, and the bill is now under the scrutiny of a parliamentary committee, which is examining how "assisted dying" might work in England and Wales.The report in The Times stated that resorting to an arrangement with the private sector would be a means of easing pressure on the taxpayer-funded National Health Service (NHS), which has notoriously long waiting lists.However, Cather...
Members of security forces loyal to the interim Syrian government hold up their firearms as they stand by the Mediterranean sea coast in Syria's western city of Latakia on March 9, 2025. Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, called for national unity and peace on March 9 amid growing international backlash following the killing of civilians along the country's coast in the worst violence since the overthrow of former president Bashar al-Assad in the heartland of the Alawite minority, to which the latter belongs. / Credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty ImagesACI MENA, Mar 11, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).The Syrian coast in the western part of the country has become a theater for unprecedented unrest since the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011. This past weekend, at least 745 Alawite civilians lost their lives in what the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights described as ethnic cleansing. The clashes have reportedly killed at least 1,000 people. The incidents unfolded as armed Ala...
U.S. Supreme Court. / Credit: PT Hamilton/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 10, 2025 / 18:15 pm (CNA).The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit that challenges Colorado's ban on "conversion therapy" for minors who have gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction and will consider religious freedom and free speech concerns about the prohibition.Justices announced on Monday, March 10, that they would hear a legal challenge to a Colorado law that expressly prohibits licensed psychologists and therapists from engaging in what it calls "conversion therapy." This ban does not apply to actions or statements from parents, clergy members, or others.State law defines "conversion therapy" as "any practice or treatment" that attempts to change a person's "sexual orientation or gender identity," such as efforts to change a person's "behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at East Los Angeles College on Feb. 26, 2025, in Monterey Park, California. / Credit: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesNational Catholic Register, Mar 10, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).Males who identify as transgender women shouldn't be allowed to play female sports and the Democratic Party should make room for pro-lifers, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on a podcast Thursday.Newsom, 57, governor of one of the most Democratic states in America and often lampooned by conservatives as an unhinged left-winger, made the comments during an 82-minute interview with an unlikely guest: conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk.Newsom, widely considered a likely presidential candidate in 2028, is a strong supporter of legal and publicly funded abortion, despite being a baptized Catholic. As mayor of San Francisco in 2004, he ordered the clerk's office to issue same-sex civil marriage licenses, which was against state law at the time.But his comments during his "T...
null / Credit: Amanda Wayne/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 10, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, signed legislation late last week to bolster religious freedom from state-level rules and regulations.The Wyoming Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which mirrors the federal law with the same name, prohibits the state government and local governments from enacting any policies that "substantially burden a person's right to the exercise of religion" in most cases. It also creates a framework for people to sue government entities that violate this policy.With the adoption of this law, Wyoming becomes the 29th state to enact these protections at the state level. Most Republicans in the state Legislature supported the bill, and Democrats were split on the legislation.Under the bill, which goes into effect July 1, a "burden" is defined as any action that directly or indirectly "constrains, inhibits, curtails, or denies the exercise of religio...
