Poll: Most Americans agree with Supreme Court on LGBT issues, porn, parents' rights

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock.Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 11, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).A recent poll has revealed that the majority of American adults' beliefs align with recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings supporting parental authority, allowing states to ban transgender treatment for minors, and permitting authorities to require age verification on websites with sexually explicit content.On June 18, the Supreme Court ruled that Tennessee was permitted to ban medical treatments for minors including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgeries. On June 27, meanwhile, the high court ruled that public schools in Maryland must allow parents the option to withdraw their children from discussions of LGBT topics if they have religious objections. It also ruled that a Texas law that requires pornography websites to verify that users are at least 18 years old does not violate the Constitution and can remain in effect.The poll, which was conducted before the rulin...

Arthur Brooks: Let's emulate Pope Leo by speaking truth in a spirit of love

"When you love the people with whom you disagree, and then you talk about the disagreements, then you're able to persuade people, potentially," Brooks points out. "Its your only shot at persuading people, is with love." / Credit: EWTN NewsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 11, 2025 / 09:40 am (CNA).Best-selling author, Harvard professor and renowned social scientist Arthur Brooks says the missionary character and approach of Pope Leo XIV is one which all Catholics should emulate.In an interview with "EWTN News in Depth," Brooks called attention to the new pope's track record of threading the needle of "speaking the truth in a spirit of love, and that's a lot more of what we all need to emulate as Catholic people."This approach, Brooks said, is a winning one that gives him a lot of hope and optimism for Leo's pontificate and the future of the Church, which he says is on the cusp of a revival.Speaking with anchor Catherine Hadro, Brooks said all Catholics are called to missionary wor...

Funeral of soccer star Diogo Jota: tributes, mourning and final farewell 

Diogo Jota of the Liverpool soccer team. / Credit: Spanish-language edition of EWTN NewsACI Prensa Staff, Jul 9, 2025 / 20:19 pm (CNA).In an atmosphere of deep recollection and sadness, but also of hope, the funeral of Portuguese soccer players Diogo Jota of the Liverpool Football Club and his brother André Silva, who died last Thursday in a traffic accident in Zamora, Spain, was held on July 5. Jota's marriage to Rute Cardoso had been solemnized in the Church just 11 days prior. They have three children.At the funeral, which took place in the town of Gondomar's main church on the outskirts of Porto, Portugal, the coffins were brought in as the church bells rang. The funeral was attended by several of Jota's teammates, including Liverpool F.C. captain Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Argentine Alexis MacAllister, Uruguayan Darwin Nuñez and coach Arne Slot.Father Alípio Germano Barbosa, who was the pastor of the church in Gondomar for more than 18 years and who gave Diogo and An...

San Antonio Archdiocese to commemorate martyr who fought for religious freedom in Mexico

Blessed Anacleto González Flores, martyr of the religious persecution that Mexico experienced in the 1920s. / Credit: Mexican Bishops' ConferencePuebla, Mexico, Jul 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The Archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas, will hold a celebration in Spanish and English on Sunday, July 13, commemorating the 137th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Anacleto González Flores, a martyr of the religious persecution Mexico experienced in the 1920s and patron saint of the Mexican laity.González was born in Tepatitlán, Jalisco state, Mexico, on July 13, 1888. He was a prominent layman, lawyer, and catechist, recognized for his profound faith and leadership during the religious persecution in Mexico in the 1920s. He founded associations for Christian formation and defended the rights of the Church, promoting peaceful resistance to the government's anti-clerical laws.For his commitment to faith and justice, he was arrested, tortured, and ultimately executed on April 1, 1927. Pope ...

Crippling priest shortage leads to restructuring of Grand Rapids Diocese

The Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan, announced on June 29, 2025, a restructuring plan that will merge parishes in the face of a priest shortage. / Credit: Snehit Photo/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 10, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).The Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has announced a restructuring process as it faces a shortage of priests.  The announcement of the "Rooted in Christ Pastoral Planning Process" comes a year after Bishop John Walkowiak issued an urgent diocesan-wide appeal to pray for an increase in vocations in the diocese, which has had just one ordination to the priesthood in the last two years. "In 2024, we had one priestly ordination. In 2025, seven pastors were either granted senior priest status or reassigned outside the Diocese of Grand Rapids, and there were no priestly ordinations," the diocese said in a June 29 statement. "Given this reality, the Presbyteral Council and priests of the diocese urged Bishop Walkowiak to take a hard ...

'Never again second-class people:' German bishops defend life amid high court controversy

Bishops Rudolf Voderholzer and Stefan Oster / Credit: Diocese of Regensburg / Diocese of PassauCNA Newsroom, Jul 10, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).Amid a heated debate over appointments to Germany's constitutional court, two Bavarian bishops have issued an urgent call to uphold human life and dignity, warning "there must never again be second-class people" in Germany as the country faces a contentious parliamentary vote.Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau and Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg declared that anyone who relativizes human dignity protections should be disqualified from Germany's highest judicial body, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner.The bishops' intervention comes as the German parliament prepares to vote Friday on three candidates for the court that serves as the nation's supreme judicial authority and final arbiter on fundamental rights questions.The debate over nominations has focused on views publicly expressed by Social Democratic Party no...

Funeral of soccer star Diogo Jota: Tributes, mourning, and final farewell 

Diogo Jota of the Liverpool soccer team. / Credit: Spanish-language edition of EWTN NewsACI Prensa Staff, Jul 9, 2025 / 20:19 pm (CNA).In an atmosphere of deep recollection and sadness, but also of hope, the funeral of Portuguese soccer players Diogo Jota of the Liverpool Football Club and his brother André Silva, who died last Thursday in a traffic accident in Zamora, Spain, was held on July 5. Jota's marriage to Rute Cardoso had been solemnized in the Church just 11 days prior. They have three children.At the funeral, which took place in the town of Gondomar's main church on the outskirts of Porto, Portugal, the coffins were brought in as the church bells rang. The funeral was attended by several of Jota's teammates, including Liverpool soccer club captain Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Argentine Alexis MacAllister, Uruguayan Darwin Nuñez, and coach Arne Slot.Father Alípio Germano Barbosa, who was the pastor of the church in Gondomar for more than 18 years and who gave Diog...

Pope Leo XIV: AI developers, users share responsibility to promote good of humanity

null / Credit: LookerStudio/ShutterstockVatican City, Jul 10, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Thursday said developers and users of artificial intelligence (AI) are jointly responsible for ensuring innovations uphold human dignity and the common good in his message to participants of the 2025 AI for Good Summit taking place in Geneva, Switzerland."Although responsibility for the ethical use of AI systems begins with those who develop, manage and oversee them, those who use them also share in this responsibility," the Holy Father said in a message to participants at the July 8-11 global meeting. The letter, signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, expressed the pope's call for "regulatory frameworks centered on the human person" and "proper ethical management" of AI technologies on local and global levels."Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence," the pope said...

San Bernardino diocese grants Sunday Mass dispensation to those fearing deportation

Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral in San Bernardino, Calif. / Farragutful via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 10, 2025 / 17:55 pm (CNA).Bishop Alberto Rojas of the diocese of San Bernardino, California has granted a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those within the diocese who fear deportation. The bishop said all of the faithful within the diocese who possess "genuine fear" of arrest while attending Mass are dispensed from the obligation until further notice, and are "encouraged to maintain their spiritual communion with Christ and His Church through acts of personal prayer." In a July 8 statement, Rojas said the decision to grant the dispensation came after he recognized that "fear of immigration enforcement raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may deter some members of our diocese from fulfilling the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation." According to John Andre...

Pope Leo XIV urges hope and care for elderly on World Day for Grandparents

Pope Leo XIV (pictured at St. Peter's on June 1, 2025) issued a message of hope on July 10 in anticipation of the upcoming World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNARome Newsroom, Jul 10, 2025 / 17:29 pm (CNA).For the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly established by Pope Francis and celebrated this year on July 27, Pope Leo XIV has issued a message of hope to the elderly.At the beginning of his message, the Holy Father evoked the Jubilee Year to remind the faithful that "hope is a constant source of joy, whatever our age." He cited some elderly biblical figures, such as Abraham and Sarah, Moses, and Zechariah, whom the Lord surprised in "an act of saving power": "God repeatedly demonstrates his providential care by turning to people in their later years," he explained.The pontiff noted that by making these choices, "God thus teaches us that, in his eyes, old age is a time of blessing and grace, and that the elderly are, for him, t...