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Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum meets with the country's bishops during their plenary assembly on Nov. 13, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Mexican Bishops' ConferencePuebla, Mexico, Feb 26, 2025 / 16:05 pm (CNA).Faced with uncertainty about the impact of the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, especially regarding America's relationship with Mexico, the Mexican bishops are calling for the strengthening of "authentic national unity."Last month, at the beginning of his second term in office, Trump announced various measures that directly affect Mexico, including the declaration of an emergency on the U.S. southern border, the designation of drug cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations," and the threat of imposing 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports unless these issues are quickly addressed by those countries.In this context, the Mexican Bishops' Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) published a message on Feb. 24 addressed to Mexican society stating that ...
People wait outside a distribution point to receive aid rations in Oromia Region, Ethiopia, in February 2018. / Credit: Will Baxter/Catholic Relief ServicesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 26, 2025 / 16:50 pm (CNA).President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a federal court decision that ordered the government to resume foreign aid grants by late Wednesday evening as many Catholic groups that receive those grants are still without funds.The attorney general's office filed an appeal late Tuesday night after U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered the administration to supply those funds by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday. The same judge, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, had ordered the government to resume its foreign aid funding on Feb. 13. However, the Trump administration has not complied with that order.Numerous Catholic organizations have lost grant money due to the foreign aid funding freeze, including Catholic Relief Services and Jesuit Rel...
null / Credit: Declausura FoundationMadrid, Spain, Feb 26, 2025 / 18:07 pm (CNA).The Poor Clare abbess of the Monastery of Santo Cristo de Balaguer in Lérida province in northeast Spain is calling out for criticism the 2018 rule established by Pope Francis according to which communities of women religious with less than five nuns must be dissolved, a rule that does not apply to male communities.Sister María Victoria Triviño, OSC, made her critique in an article published by the magazine "Catalunya Cristiana" regarding the recent closure of the Monastery of Santa María de Pedralbes in Barcelona that had been in existence for 700 years.Asked about the reason for the closure, "which people, hurt and perplexed, address to some of the Poor Clares every day," the nun explained that the Holy Father published the apostolic constitution Vultum Dei Quaerere in 2016 but emphasized that the document "did not affect monks."Similarly, regarding the Cor orans instruction, published in 2018 to...
The interior of St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Catholic Church in St. Louis. / Courtesy of Shannon HorstmannSt. Louis, Mo., Feb 26, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).A parish church in St. Louis that primarily serves the African American community was announced Feb. 24 as a recipient of a preservation grant to support the restoration of the historic building's stained-glass windows. St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, known in the community as the "The Rock" because of the church building's rock-hewn appearance, was one of 30 Black churches throughout the country chosen to receive a grant this year from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an independent nonprofit organization.The parish, which is under the care of the Redemptorists and located in the Grand Center district of St. Louis, will receive $500,000 to help restore its stained-glass windows, which were created in Munich by the German firm Meyer & Co...
A view of St. Peter's Basilica during the Mass for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, with Bernini's baldachin and the papal altar decorated with white flowers, Dec. 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, Feb 26, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).The Vatican on Wednesday announced that Pope Francis has created a fundraising commission to solicit donations from Catholics and bishops' conferences as the Vatican City State and the Roman Curia continue to face budgetary and funding challenges.The "Commissio de Donationibus pro Sancta Sede," Latin for "Commission on Donations for the Holy See," has six members, "whose specific task will be to encourage donations" and find benefactors for special projects within the Vatican, according to a papal decree signed Feb. 11.Pope Francis has been making cost-cutting decisions at the Vatican in recent years as he continues attempts to reverse the institution's struggling financial situation, including a pension fund facing a...
null / Credit: Yury Dmitrienko/ShutterstockVatican City, Feb 26, 2025 / 13:05 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday asked Catholics to have the wisdom to look for the presence of God in our midst like the elderly Simeon and Anna in the New Testament.In his second catechesis since being admitted into Rome's Gemelli Hospital nearly two weeks ago, the Holy Father reflected on the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Lord's encounter with two elderly "pilgrims of hope.""The song of redemption of two elders thus emits the proclamation of the jubilee for all the people and for the world," the pope shared in his written commentary on St. Luke's Gospel. "Hope is rekindled in hearts in the Temple of Jerusalem because Christ our hope has entered it," he continued.The 88-year-old pontiff emphasized that both Simeon and Anna were people of prayer and worship, with "clear eyes" capable of recognizing God in the child Jesus and welcoming him i...
null / Credit: HoneySkies/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Feb 26, 2025 / 13:35 pm (CNA).A 20-year-long decline in the number of Americans who identify as Christian may be "leveling off," according to data released on Wednesday by Pew Research Center. Pew said its most recent Religious Landscape Study showed 62% of U.S. adults identifying as Christian, a number that has been "relatively stable" since 2019. The number of U.S. adults claiming to be Christian is still significantly lower than when the survey first began, falling 16 points over the course of the poll, from 78% in 2007 to the 62% most recently reported.Yet the last several years of data show the decline has "slowed or perhaps even plateaued," Pew said.The research group noted that the "Catholic share" of Christian respondents has been stable since 2014, considerably earlier than the broader group stability seen since 2019. Catholics constitute 19% of Christians in the U.S., Pe...
null / Credit: Billion Photos/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Feb 26, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).A federal judge in Seattle blocked the Trump administration's suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions program on Tuesday.In a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead ordered the Trump administration to restore the program and funding to refugee aid programs amid a lawsuit alleging that the freeze was unlawful.The judge said it was likely that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority in halting the long-standing program, which was established by Congress in 1980."The president has substantial discretion ... to suspend refugee admissions," Whitehead said, according to the Associated Press. "But that authority is not limitless."A recent executive order by President Donald Trump suspended the refugee program for at least 90 days, citing the burden of high levels of migration on cities and towns that do not have the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants.Several f...
Window at the top of the south façade of the Cathedral in Seville, Spain,. / Credit: o_andras/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International via Wikimedia CommonsMadrid, Spain, Feb 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience (OLRC, by its Spanish acronym) is calling on Spain's Ministry of the Interior to strengthen security at the country's cathedrals after a threat against the sacred structures was issued by the Islamic terrorist group Daesh (ISIS).According to a recent report by Memri, a publication specializing in Islamist terrorism, a poster with the label "Let's slaughter" is being disseminated online in which a terrorist armed with a knife and an image of a Spanish cathedral can be seen.According to the Spanish newspaper La Razón, the poster is accompanied by the incitement to "make the next news yourself and show your anger at what is happening to Muslims. Follow in the footsteps of your brothers who preceded you and sowed f...
null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock.CNA Staff, Feb 25, 2025 / 17:20 pm (CNA).The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to a Tennessee law restricting drag performances when children are present.The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the petition to hear an appeal on the ruling, which was filed by an LGBTQ+ theater company in December 2024 after a circuit court ruled against the group. The Friends of George's theater company had challenged Tennessee's Adult Entertainment Act (AEA) in 2023 soon after the law limiting "adult-oriented" performances in public was passed. The AEA prevented "adult cabaret" performances on public property and anywhere that children might see them. The law defines adult cabaret as "adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors" and that include "topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or simil...
