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A Muslim chaplain prays during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. / Credit: DVIDSHUB via Flickr, CC BY 20Vatican City, Mar 7, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).The Vatican has expressed its solidarity with Muslims participating in the Ramadan fast, noting that Catholics also fast and do penance during the season of Lent and inviting greater dialogue and friendship between people of the two religions."Our world is thirsting for fraternity and genuine dialogue," a March 7 message from the Vatican's Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue said. "Together, Muslims and Christians can bear witness to this hope in the conviction that friendship is possible despite the burden of history and ideologies that promote exclusion.""Hope," it continued, "is no mere optimism: It is a virtue rooted in faith in God, the Merciful, our Creator."In 2025, Ramadan runs from approximately Feb. 28 to March 29. It concludes with the three-day celebration of Eid al-Fitr.The Christian season of Lent began on March 5 an...
The lethal injection chamber at the Oklahoma State Penintentiary, May 7, 2010. / Credit: Josh Rushing via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 7, 2025 / 14:20 pm (CNA).A South Carolina death row inmate is scheduled to die by firing squad on Friday and executions are set to resume in Tennessee with a newly approved lethal injection drug, with both executions coming as states move away from a long-used three-drug lethal injection combination.At 6 p.m. on Friday, March 7, a firing squad will kill 67-year-old Brad Keith Sigmon, a man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend's parents in 2001. He chose the firing squad method because he was worried about possible complications with other methods.Beginning in the 1980s, execution by lethal injection has become the primary method for executions in most states that have the death penalty. Lethal injections have historically been carried out in three steps: one drug to make the victim unconscious, a second to para...
A statue of St. John Paul II is seen in front of the entrance to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Feb. 22, 2025, where Pope Francis continues to receive treatment for respiratory issues. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, Mar 7, 2025 / 09:25 am (CNA).Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. Follow here for the latest news on his health and hospitalization:
Maria Zuber, an American planetary scientist involved in multiple NASA missions (left), and Meng Anming, a Chinese developmental biologist specializing in embryonic research, are among five new members whom Pope Francis has appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced March 7, 2025. / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; WMShen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVatican City, Mar 7, 2025 / 09:50 am (CNA).Pope Francis has appointed a NASA geophysicist, a Harvard genetics professor, and a Chinese embryonic development researcher among five new members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced Friday. The new appointees include Maria Zuber, an American planetary scientist involved in multiple NASA missions; Olivier Pourquié, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School; and Meng Anming, a Chinese developmental biologist specializing in embryonic research. Also joining the academy are Chilean mo...
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, speaks with "EWTN News Nightly" on March 4, 2025. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"/ScreenshotWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 7, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Bishop Robert Barron during his visit to the nation's capital this week to attend President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress called on Catholic politicians to bring their faith into the public square."EWTN News Nightly" Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales sat down with Barron for an interview before the bishop celebrated Mass in the Capitol for lawmakers on March 4 ahead of the address. Barron, the founder of the nonprofit global media apostolate Word on Fire, shared with EWTN his message to Catholics serving in Congress: "Don't leave your faith at the door.""We don't impose the faith. [Pope] John Paul [II] always said, 'We don't impose, we propose.' But they should bring their faith into the public square," Barron continued."It's not the case that we're t...
null / Credit: FabrikaSimf/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 6, 2025 / 16:50 pm (CNA).The U.S. Catholic bishops reiterated their support on Thursday for a bill to protect women's sports after the measure failed to pass the Senate in a procedural vote this week.In a statement released by the bishops' conference, Bishop Robert Barron and Bishop David O'Connell called the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act "commonsense legislation that would ensure fairness for female athletes."The proposed legislation, which passed the House in January, would have prevented federally funded sports programs under Title IX from allowing male students to compete or participate in women's and girls' athletic programs.Although a majority of senators backed the legislation on a 51-45 vote, the proposal received no support from Democrats and failed to reach the necessary three-fifths supermajority.In a joint statement, the bishops said: "The teaching of the Catholic Church ca...
Perpetual Pilgrims from the St. Juan Diego Route process into Lucas Oil Stadium in July 2024 with an image of their patron saint. / Credit: Jeffrey BrunoCNA Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).The National Eucharistic Congress announced this week the names of the eight Perpetual Pilgrims who will accompany the Eucharistic Jesus on a 3,300-mile walking pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles this summer, beginning in May.The latest iteration of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, dubbed the Drexel Route, was announced in mid-February, while the biographies of the pilgrims were posted online this week. This year's pilgrimage is a continuation of last year's unprecedented four simultaneous Eucharistic pilgrimages, which started at the edges of the country and eventually converged in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress in July 2024. The goal of the pilgrimages is to bear public witness to the truth that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. Th...
A sign at the "popes' hospital," Gemelli Hospital in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Mar 6, 2025 / 06:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. Follow here for the latest news on his health and hospitalization:
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis sprinkles ashes during the celebration of Mass on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at the Basilica of Santa Sabina located on Rome's Aventine Hill. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Mar 5, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).Pope Francis said the Lenten journey reminds the Church that hope in Jesus Christ ultimately overcomes fears of fragility, weakness, and the brevity of life."Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty, and the hardships that can suddenly befall us and our families," the pope said in his homily prepared for Ash Wednesday. "Lent, however, is also an invitation to rekindle our hope," he said. "We are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life."The pope is continuing his medical treatment at Gemelli Hospital and was unable to attend the Mass held inside the Basilica of Santa Sabina located on Rome's Av...
Pope Francis administers confirmation during the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, April 4, 2015. / Credit: Martha Calderon/CNACNA Staff, Mar 5, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore has decided to lower the age of confirmation to 9 in a move designed to increase family involvement in the formation of youth. Amid growing disaffiliation from the Church, Catholic leaders across the country are striving to better catechize young people by lowering confirmation age requirements. The Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Diocese of Salt Lake City both lowered confirmation age requirements in December 2024. Other archdioceses including Seattle, Boston, and Denver have lowered their confirmation ages in recent years as well. For Lori, who has led the Archdiocese of Baltimore for nearly 13 years, the crux of the catechesis crisis is a lack of family engagement. After a "broad consultation" of Catholic theology, developmenta...
