Poll: Majority of U.S. Catholics support death penalty despite Catechism

Death penalty. / California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Wikipedia CC 2.0.Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).A majority of Catholic voters in the United States support the death penalty for convicted murderers in spite of the Catechism of the Catholic Church calling capital punishment "inadmissible," according to a poll published by EWTN News and RealClear Opinion Research.The survey of 1,000 Catholic voters between Nov. 9 and Nov. 11 found that 55% support the death penalty "for a person convicted of murder." Only 20% said they oppose the death penalty in such situations, and another 25% are unsure.Based on the poll, Catholics who attend Mass regularly are much more likely to say they oppose the death penalty than Catholics whose attendance is less frequent.Among Catholics who attend Mass at least once per week, 52% say they support the death penalty for convicted murderers, 26% say they oppose it, and 22% are unsure. For Catholics who at...

Senate to vote on health care plans as subsidies near expiration

Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025.  / Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).Congress is set to vote on two plans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2025. The Senate is expected to vote Dec. 11 on a Democratic proposal to extend existing ACA tax credits for three years, as 24 million Americans use ACA marketplaces for health insurance. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told reporters Tuesday after a Senate Republican meeting that lawmakers also will vote on a Republican alternative measure. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who leads the Finance panel, announced the legislation on Monday. The measure (S. 3386) would s...

The place where image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on Juan Diego's cloak

Former archbishop's palace in Mexico City. / Credit: Government of Mexico CityPuebla, Mexico, Dec 11, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).Although millions of faithful recognize Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City as the site of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, not many know that the miracle of the imprinting of her image did not occur there, but in a place that is now practically forgotten.According to tradition, in December 1531, the Virgin appeared to an indigenous man named Juan Diego and asked him to request that the first bishop of Mexico, Friar Juan de Zumárraga, build a "sacred little house," a chapel at the foot of Tepeyac.As a sign for the bishop, the Virgin Mary caused roses to bloom in the middle of winter on the arid hill and asked Juan Diego to carry them in his cloak. When he arrived at the bishop's residence to show the bishop the roses, he unfolded his cloak, and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted on it.After the miracle, the cloak was placed...

St. Gianna Molla award to go to Catholic father, farmer, potential saint 

Tom Vander Woude with baby Joseph "Josie" Vander Woude. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude GuildCNA Staff, Dec 11, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).When Virginia father Tom Vander Woude's 19-year-old son, a boy with Down syndrome, fell into a toxic sewage tank, Tom jumped into the tank with him, pushing him to the surface even as the toxic fumes filled his own lungs.The father of seven, whose sainthood cause is now under investigation, will be posthumously awarded this year's Walk for Life "Saint Gianna Molla Award for Pro-Life Heroism" on Jan. 24, 2026 at the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco. "When we heard Tom's story years ago, we were touched by the love of a father for his child," Dolores Meehan, co-chair of the West Coast Walk for Life, told CNA. "The fact that his son has Down syndrome made it all the more important to share his story of love and sacrifice and joy."Unborn children with Down syndrome often become victims of abortion.The award named for St...

Top health officials delayed abortion pill safety review, report claims 

Pro-life advocates are calling for action as top federal health officials deny reports that they are delaying a promised safety review of the abortion pill.  / Credit: Yta23/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 18:30 pm (CNA).Pro-life advocates are calling for action as top federal health officials deny reports that they are delaying a promised safety review of the abortion pill. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "has delayed a promised review of safety data" until after midterm elections at Commissioner Marty Makary's request, a Tuesday report by Bloomberg Law claimed, citing unnamed sources.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has denied the claim, saying it is "baseless." "Assertions that the FDA is slow walking this review for political purposes are baseless," an HHS spokesperson told CNA. "FDA takes the time necessary to conduct comprehensive scientific revie...

Rights group hails release of 100 children abducted from Nigerian Catholic school

Empty beds in a student dormitory at St Mary's Catholic School in the Kontagora Diocese.on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Bishop Bulus Dauwa YohannaACI Africa, Dec 10, 2025 / 19:10 pm (CNA).Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a UK-based human rights organization, has welcomed the release of 100 schoolchildren, who were among 303 children abducted on Nov. 21 from St. Mary's Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri community in Nigeria's Niger State served by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.In a press release shared with ACI Africa, CNA's African news partner, on Dec. 9, officials with the Christian group called on the Nigerian government to ensure that the children receive help after their trauma.Nigerian authorities reportedly secured the release of the children on Dec. 7, although details of how this was achieved remain unclear.Confirming the release to Catholic pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of the Kontagora Dioces...

Venezuelan authorities prevent Cardinal Porras from traveling, cancel passport 

Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras. / Daniel Ibanez/CNACaracas, Venezuela, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).On Dec. 10 Venezuelan immigration police confiscated and invalidated the passport of Cardinal Baltazar Porras, the archbishop emeritus of Caracas, as he was preparing to travel to Bogotá, Colombia, from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía.According to the Grand Priory of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem in Venezuela, on Wednesday morning the cardinal "was subjected to humiliating treatment" by airport authorities under the government of Nicolas Maduro.From Bogotá, Porras was scheduled to take a flight to Madrid and then travel to Toledo, where he was going to participate in the solemn ceremony that would invest him as Spiritual Protector of the Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela. Accompanying the cardinal were Grand Prior José Antonio Rodríguez and his wife, who were allowed to board the plane."Immigration police officers unjustly deta...

U.S. House passes defense bill stripped of IVF provision

null / Credit: Rohane Hamilton/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 18:00 pm (CNA).The House passed a defense authorization bill Dec. 10 without a provision to allow health care coverage of in vitro fertilization for active-duty military. Pro-life groups cheered the provision's removal from the bill. The original bill would have required Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "ensure that fertility-related care for a member of the uniformed services on active duty (or a dependent of such a member) shall be covered under TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select." Tricare does not cover IVF.The House passed the bill (S. 1071) by a vote of 312-112, and Senate consideration is next.Like last year, the IVF provision was eliminated from the defense authorization bill shortly before its consideration. President Donald Trump had made a campaign promise to make IVF free.A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNA in a statement that "President Trump and Congressional...

Catholic colleges in Bangladesh threatened over conversion claims

Notre Dame College in Mymensingh district, Bangladesh / Credit: Stephan Uttom RozarioDhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).The president of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Bejoy D'Cruze of Dhaka, has expressed concern after threats against two prominent Catholic colleges posed "a grave concern for the Catholic Church," particularly ahead of Christmas and elections scheduled for February in a Dec. 3 statement.On Dec. 2, a letter written in Bengali under the name Tawhidee Muslim Janata ("faithful Muslim people") was sent to two of Bangladesh's most prestigious colleges: Notre Dame College, run by the Holy Cross Fathers, and Holy Cross College, run by the Holy Cross Sisters.The letter thanked the Catholic Church for its role in education but said that the Church is now trying to convert not only indigenous groups and Muslims to Christianity by offering various incentives."In a country where 90% of Muslims live, you are trying to convert people by...

Catholic bishops in Europe express concern over EU ruling mandating recognition of same-sex unions

The flag of the European Union. / Credit: U. J. Alexander/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has expressed concern about a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which obliges all member states to recognize so-called "homosexual marriages" legally performed in another country.In a Dec. 9 statement, the president of COMECE, Bishop Mariano Crociata, warned that the ruling could have an impact on the legal sovereignty of each nation, since the recognition of these unions is mandatory even if they are not valid under a country's own legal system.The ruling concerns a same-sex Polish couple who "married" in Germany in 2018. Upon returning to Poland, the authorities refused to record their union in the civil registry. The European court has deemed this refusal contrary to EU law, meaning that all member states are now obligated to recognize the rights stemming from...