Immigration is a 'personal one because we're pastors,' U.S. bishops say

Maura Moser (far left), director of the Catholic Communications Campaign, moderates a discussion on immigration with (left to right) Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chair of the USCCB's religious liberty committee, and Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the USCCB's migration committee, on Nov. 11, 2025, during a press conference at the conference's Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic RegisterBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 16:04 pm (CNA).U.S. bishops said immigration enforcement in the United States is a "crisis situation" affecting human dignity and religious liberty in the nation.At a press conference during the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio; Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, discussed...

U.S. bishops to consecrate nation to Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Sacred Heart of Jesus. / Credit: Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 17:16 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2026 to accompany the country's 250th anniversary.At the USCCB Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, bishops voted "to entrust our nation to the love and care of the Sacred Heart of Jesus." Devoting the nation is an opportunity "to remind everyone of our task to serve our nation by perfecting the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel as taught by the Second Vatican Council," Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, said."One hundred years ago, in 1925, in his encyclical instituting the feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI, drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII, referred to the pious custom of consecrating oneself, families, and even nations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to re...

'You Are Not Alone' migrant accompaniment initiative announced by U.S. bishops

Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' migration committee, speaks during a press conference on Nov. 11, 2025, at the USCCB's fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Hakim Shammo/EWTN NewsBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is launching an initiative called "You Are Not Alone" to focus on providing accompaniment to migrants who are at risk of being deported.Bishop Mark Seitz, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, announced the nationwide initiative during the conference's Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11.The initiative, which was inspired by similar efforts in Catholic dioceses throughout the country, will focus on four key areas: emergency and family support, accompaniment and pastoral care, communication of Church teaching, and solidarity through prayer and public witness. Seitz said the Catholic Church has been "accompanying newcomers...

Overturned bus injures dozens returning from California Catholic youth retreat

First responders provide aid after a bus carrying a group of mostly teenagers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana, California, on its way home from a three-day retreat at Camp Nawakwa in the San Bernardino Mountains crashed on a two-lane highway near Running Springs on Nov. 9, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection DistrictCNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).As a group of mostly teenagers made its way home from a Catholic youth retreat in the mountains of Southern California this past weekend, the bus rolled over at a winding turn, injuring 26. Nearly 40 parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Ana were on their way home from a three-day retreat at Camp Nawakwa in the San Bernardino Mountains on the evening of Nov. 9 when their bus crashed on a two-lane highway near Running Springs. When emergency responders arrived, passengers were still escaping from the bus, with many exiting throug...

Bishop Seitz endorses immigration bill to create legal protections 

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, speaks with EWTN News on Oct. 9, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: EWTN NewsCNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).Legislation that would provide protections for people lacking legal immigration status won endorsement from Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who has served as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration.The bill (HR 4393), which would not lay out a direct path to citizenship, would give people who lack legal status the chance to earn it through labor and financial penalties if they lack a criminal record. It would apply to people who entered the United States before 2021.The measure would authorize funding for border security and create centers for asylum seekers during consideration of their case. It would require asylum cases to be completed within 60 days.Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, sponsored the measure, which she named the Dignity Act and first introduced in 2022. Rep. Veronica ...

Arizona man sentenced to prison after hoax bomb threats at Christian churches

null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.From September to November 2023 Salah "traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado" with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he "planted" the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had "been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack," the department said. FBI investigators said they seized "component parts of an improvised explosive device" fr...

U.S. bishops elect Archbishop Paul S. Coakley as USCCB president

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley preaches during a Mass in the Oklahoma City cathedral in 2021. / Credit: Archdiocese of Oklahoma CityBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City was elected to serve as the next president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a secret ballot on Nov. 11.Bishops chose Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, to serve as vice president. Flores, who serves in the southernmost diocese in Texas, finished second in balloting for president. Coakley subsequently won a runoff.Coakley, who was previously secretary of the USCCB, will serve a three-year term as president, succeeding the former president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio. The bishops held the election at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.He has a history of promoting a culture of life, opposing gender ideology, and supporting migrants.The archbishop, who turned 70 years old in May, became a bishop in 2004. He has served in t...

Tennessee Catholic bishops call for an end to the death penalty

null / Credit: felipe caparros/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 13:44 pm (CNA).Tennessee's Catholic bishops issued a plea for mercy, calling for an immediate halt to the death penalty and its eventual abolition as the state prepares to execute Harold Wayne Nichols on Dec. 1.Tennessee's three bishops, Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Bishop David P. Talley of Memphis, and Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, as well as the Tennessee Catholic Conference issued a joint statement on Nov. 10 calling for an end to the death penalty in the state."The Catholic Church upholds the sacredness of every human life, even the life of one who is guilty of serious crimes," the bishops wrote. "To take a life in punishment denies the image of God in which every person is made. The Gospel calls not for vengeance but for mercy."The bishops acknowledged that the Church has historically recognized the state's right and duty to protect its citizens by sometimes employing the death penalty. Howe...

Apostolic nuncio to USCCB assembly: 'Where have we been and where are we going?'

Cardinal Christophe Pierre speaks to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado in Rome on Friday, April 25, 2025. / Credit: EWTN NewsBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 14:26 pm (CNA).Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre told bishops at the 2025 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly that the Second Vatican Council is "the key to understanding what Church we are called to be today and the reference point for discerning where we are headed."The French-born prelate has served as the Vatican's nuncio, or chief diplomat, to the U.S. since 2016. He spoke Nov. 11 at the bishops' fall assembly in Baltimore highlighting the message of Vatican II and its mission of evangelization, education, and unity. In his address Pierre asked the bishops a two-part question: "Where have we been and where are we going?" Pope Leo XIV, in his new apostolic letter on education, asks the same question as he "urges education and communities to 'raise your...

Cardinal sounds alarm on 'unprecedented' crisis in Sudan, South Sudan

Cardinal Stephen Ameyu, president of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference (SSS-CBC), urged Catholic leaders this week to strengthen unity, foster nonviolence, and reinforce pastoral structures as the Church responds to the plight of the people of God in Sudan and South Sudan. / Credit: Catholic Radio NetworkACI Africa, Nov 11, 2025 / 14:56 pm (CNA).The president of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference (SSS-CBC) raised alarm over the deepening humanitarian crisis in the two neighboring countries of Sudan and South Sudan. In his opening remarks to SSS-CBC members in the Catholic Diocese of Malakal in South Sudan, Cardinal Stephen Ameyu urged Catholic leaders to strengthen unity, foster nonviolence, and reinforce pastoral structures as the Church responds to the plight of the people of God in Sudan and South Sudan.Ameyu described the meeting as "a sign of communion that binds us as the body of Christ; a communion that strengthens the bonds ...