Trump administration acts to protect religious expression of federal workers

U.S. Office of Personnel Management headquarters building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 29, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has issued new guidance to safeguard the right of federal employees to express religion in the workplace, including the display of religious imagery on desks, voluntary conversations, and prayer.The new guidelines, issued by U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, were sent to the heads of all federal departments and agencies on Monday, July 28. The guidance is meant to clarify the religious liberty protections guaranteed in the First Amendment and already enshrined in federal law."Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career," Kupor said in a statement. "This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths. Under Pres...

First-ever Catholic Music Awards celebrates talented artists at the Vatican

A performer during the Catholic Music Awards in Rome on July 27, 2025. / Credit: Screenshot "EWTN News Nightly"CNA Staff, Jul 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Musicians from around the world came together for the first-ever Catholic Music Awards on July 27 at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome. Nicknamed the "Grammys of Catholic Music," the international event aims to promote, encourage, and recognize the talent of Catholic singers by not only celebrating the Catholic faith but also honoring artists who evangelize through music.Finalists were evaluated based on content, artistic value, and technical professionalism, with the final decision made by an international jury of more than 60 experts. Winners were chosen across 19 categories in four languages: Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese.Among the winners was Nathali Paredes Lozano, singer-songwriter and anchor for "EWTN Noticias," the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News, who won Best Praise-Worship Song in the Spa...

Iconic Notre Dames des Champs church in Paris closed after 2 fires in 48 hours

Church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris, which arsonists set fire to the day after an electrical fire damaged the church. / Credit: Julien Jean Zayatz/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 28, 2025 / 18:54 pm (CNA).Notre Dame des Champs, an iconic Catholic church in the Parisian neighborhood of Montparnasse, was targeted in an arson attack just 24 hours after an accidental fire broke out in its choir loft. The cause of the first fire, which broke out on the morning of July 23, has been attributed to a failed electrical circuit that resulted in the destruction of the church's sound system and choir organ, according to a Le Figaro report. The next day, in a side chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, vandals set fire to wood panels. A recently renovated canvas located above the wood panels sustained significant damage. A statue of St. Joseph fell and broke while firefighters put out the flames, according to a report from the Tablet, which said there have been "50 fires o...

'Media nuns' urge AI mindfulness: 'Human beings create, machines only generate'

Sister Nancy Usselmann and Daughters of St. Paul at Pauline Books and Media. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Daughters of St. PaulWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 28, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the way we consume and create media, the "media nuns" are on a mission to ensure humanity stays mindful in the digital age and remembers that "human beings create, machines generate."AI "generates a lot of questions, it generates a lot of concerns, but it also generates a lot of excitement," Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP, director for the Daughters of St. Paul's Pauline Media Studies, told CNA. The Daughters of St. Paul are known as the "media nuns" for their media-centered mission and outreach. They study new trends, issues, and advances in media to look at what the changes mean for people including parents, teenagers, and young adults.Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP, is the director for the Daughters of St. Paul's Pauline Media Studies. Credit: Photo cour...

Massacre in Congolese Catholic church kills at least 31 worshippers

null / Credit: chayanuphol/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Jul 27, 2025 / 17:18 pm (CNA).An armed group linked to the Islamic State on Sunday killed dozens of worshippers at a Catholic church in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo while they were participating in a prayer vigil.According to the BBC, members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) stormed a church in the town of Komanda, where they shot and killed the worshippers, then looted and set fire to nearby businesses.Komanda is in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area rich in minerals and whose control is disputed by several armed groups.Dieudonne Duranthabo, a coordinator of civil society in Komanda, told the Associated Press: "More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside [the church] and we have recorded at least three charred bodies and several houses burned. But the search is continuing."Aime Lokana Dhego, a local priest, told AFP: "We have at least 31 dead members of the...

Pope Leo?XIV urges 'full respect for humanitarian law' in Gaza

Pope Leo?XIV urges "full respect for humanitarian law" amid a food crisis in Gaza? in his address following the Angelus prayer on July 27, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media screenshotVatican City, Jul 27, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).Pope Leo?XIV called for peace negotiations and respect for humanitarian law in Gaza, 10 days after an Israeli strike caused the death of three people at the only Catholic church in the enclave."I renew my heartfelt appeal for a ceasefire, for the release of hostages, and for the full respect for humanitarian law," the pope said, speaking of the nearly two-year-old war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Speaking as is customary at midday on Sunday from a window of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Leo emphasized "the very grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the civilian population is crushed by hunger and remains exposed to violence and death."Leo called on the parties in all conflicts around the world to recognize th...

Pope Leo XIV tells U.S. Pax Christi group: Spread peace in neighborhoods, parishes

Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus address on July 13, 2025 from Liberty Square in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where he is spending a two-week summer break. / Vatican MediaCNA Newsroom, Jul 26, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has urged the U.S. chapter of the international Pax Christi movement to move in "the peripheries" of society to spread peace and forgiveness there. The pope issued the message to the national Pax Christi USA assembly taking place in Detroit. The group says the July 25-27 gathering is an opportunity for participants to renew their "commitment to peacemaking and care for the Earth and all its inhabitants." Writing to the gathering, Pope Leo said: "In the midst of the many challenges facing our world at this time, including widespread armed conflict, division among peoples, and the challenges of forced migration, efforts to promote nonviolence are all the more necessary."Leo noted that, following the "violence of the Crucifixion," the risen Christ greeted his a...

Nagasaki church replaces cathedral bell 80 years after it was destroyed in atomic blast

The replacement bell at Urukami Cathedral waits to be installed in Nagasaki, Japan, Thursday, July 17, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of James NolanCNA Staff, Jul 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Catholics in Nagasaki, Japan, have replaced a bell in a cathedral bell tower there almost exactly 80 years to the day after it was destroyed by the atomic blast that leveled most of the city at the end of World War II.An international effort to fund the construction and installation of the bell at Urakami Cathedral raised $125,000 in just over a year, with the funds coming from over 600 individual donors, according to Williams College Professor James Nolan.Nagasaki was one of the two Japanese cities, along with Hiroshima, largely destroyed by the U.S. atomic bombings at the close of World War II. The city was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, marking the second and last time an atomic bomb was used as an act of war.Nolan told CNA last year that parishioners at Urakami Cathedral managed to dig up one of...

Over 2 dozen Planned Parenthood facilities shut down amid federal funding losses

In recent months, more than two dozen Planned Parenthood locations have announced they will close. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 17:25 pm (CNA).More than two dozen Planned Parenthood facilities across the country in recent months have announced plans to shut down amid funding concerns caused by new federal rules that prevent the abortion giant from receiving Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.As of Friday, July 25, the growing number of Planned Parenthood facility closures has reached at least 25, which span across 10 states. The most recent announcement came yesterday, July 24, with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte indicating its plan to shut down five facilities in northern California.On July 4, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which put a one-year freeze on Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements for Planned Parenthood. The provision is being challenged in court, but a federal judge this week allowed th...

Escalating child famine in Gaza: UN, Church leaders plead for urgent aid access

Palestinian children shove to receive a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2025. The head of Gaza's largest hospital said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, amid a devastating assault by Israeli forces. / Credit: AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 13:23 pm (CNA).The humanitarian organization United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reported that "1 in every 5 children is malnourished in Gaza City" and cases continue to "increase every day."In a post to the social media platform X, Commissioner General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini wrote that "when child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold."As "more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger," UNRWA is urging "humanitarian partners to bring u...