Trump administration will partially fund SNAP as Catholic groups try to fill gap

President Donald Trump's administration says Nov. 3, 2025, that it will partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits after several states sued to force a court order. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 / 17:08 pm (CNA).President Donald Trump's administration will partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown as Catholic nonprofits are working to accommodate people's needs through charitable giving.Food stamp benefits from SNAP came to a temporary halt Nov. 1 after Congress failed to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown or approve a stand-alone SNAP funding bill.Several states sued, which led a federal court to order the administration to fully or partially fund the program. According to a Nov. 3 court filing, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to drain the SNAP contingency fund to ensure some benefits are received this m...

Heritage Foundation wades into Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes debate

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts during a September 2025 interview with CNA. / Credit: Jack Haskins/EWTN NewsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 / 17:52 pm (CNA).The Heritage Foundation is receiving backlash after Kevin Roberts, its president, defended Tucker Carlson's recent controversial interview with Nick Fuentes. Roberts said in a video message on social media Oct. 30 that "the venomous coalition attacking [Carlson] are sowing division" and that "their attempt to cancel him will fail." While the Heritage Foundation president said he disagreed with and abhorred Fuentes' views, he said "canceling him is not the answer." "When we disagree with a person's thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas and debate," Roberts said. "And we have seen success in this approach as we continue to dismantle the vile ideas of the left." During the interview, Fuentes, who said he is Catholic, at one point said he admired Joseph Stalin and lamented against "o...

Trump threatens military action if Nigeria fails to end religious persecution of Christians 

President Donald Trump holds a press briefing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in August 2025. / Credit: Joey Sussman/ ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 / 18:30 pm (CNA).U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action against Nigeria if it fails to end Christian persecution."If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and may very well go into that now-disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing,' to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities," Trump said in a social media post Nov. 1.The commander-in-chief further revealed he has instructed the Pentagon to "prepare for possible action.""If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!" he added: "WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the post on Satur...

Mexican bishops say root causes of crime must be addressed after another mayor is murdered

Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez of Uruapan, a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán, was murdered Nov. 1, 2025. / Credit: Uruapan Municipal GovernmentACI Prensa Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 14:49 pm (CNA).After Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán, was assassinated Nov. 1, the Mexican Bishops' Conference strongly condemned the act, calling for the government to address the root of the violence plaguing the country.The murder occurred during the Day of the Dead celebrations in the city's main square, when an armed man approached the mayor and shot him at point-blank range. The assassin was killed at the scene.Manzo, who died minutes later, had repeatedly denounced the presence of criminal groups in the area and requested support from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch to curb organized crime.In a September interview, Manzo had denounced the fact that the violence is caused not only by gangs but als...

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in suffrage for deceased prelates

Pope Leo XIV leads the Church's commemoration for his papal predecessor and 142 other bishops who died in the past year on Nov. 3, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Nov 3, 2025 / 11:04 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Monday presided over a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in suffrage for the late Pope Francis and for deceased cardinals and bishops.One day after celebrating Mass for all the faithful departed at Verano Cemetery in Rome, the Holy Father led the Church's commemoration for his papal predecessor and 142 other bishops who died in the past year.In the presence of members of the Roman Curia and hundreds of Catholic faithful, the pope said his first Mass commemorating the Church's deceased cardinals and bishops had the "savor of Christian hope" because their ministry had guided many "on the path of the Gospel.""Dear friends, our beloved Pope Francis and our brother cardinals and bishops for whom we offer the Eucharistic sacrifice tod...

Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

null / Credit: ShutterstockProfessional, ShutterstockCNA Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 11:37 am (CNA).The Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, Oct. 31, making it the 41st U.S. diocese to seek court-supervised reorganization in the wake of clergy sexual abuse claims.Bishop Robert Marshall Jr., who has led the 50-parish diocese in central Louisiana since 2020, announced the petition in a letter and video posted to the diocese's website. "As your bishop, I apologize to abuse survivors for the harm, pain, and suffering they experienced and continue to experience in their lives," Marshall wrote. "This action is occurring because some past priest-perpetrators sexually abused minors, actions that are evil, sinful, and go against everything the Church and the priesthood represent."Eighty-five survivors have already filed claims, according to the diocese, with more expected after the court sets a bar date. More than half the allega...

7 fascinating facts about St. Martin de Porres, the first Black saint of the Americas

St. Martin de Porres. / Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).On Nov. 3, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican brother who lived a life of humble service and charity and became the first Black saint of the Americas.Here are seven fascinating facts about this inspiring saint:1. His father refused to acknowledge him. De Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. He was the son of a Spanish nobleman and former Panamanian Black slave. His father, Don Juan de Porres, refused to publicly acknowledge the boy as his own because Martin was Black, like his mother. Being biracial would prove challenging for Martin de Porres throughout his life. 2. He started practicing medicine before he was 13. De Porres served as an apprentice to a doctor, and before the age of 13 he began to learn the practice of medicine. He would eventually become a barber, which at the time perfo...

Pope Leo XIV: Death is 'a hope for the future'

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass commemorating the faithful departed at Rome's Verano Cemetery on Nov. 2, 2025. / Daniel IbáñezRome, Italy, Nov 2, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).Celebrating Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed at Rome's Verano Cemetery, Pope Leo XIV invited Catholics to contemplate death "not so much as a recollection of the past, but above all as a hope for the future."The pope said the Christian vision of death is not one of despair or nostalgia but of confident expectation rooted in the resurrection of Christ. "Our Christian faith, founded upon Christ's Paschal mystery, helps us to experience our memories as more than just a recollection of the past but also, and above all, as hope for the future," he said in his homily.He encouraged the faithful not to remain "in the sorrow for those who are no longer with us," but instead to look forward "towards the goal of our journey, towards the safe harbor that God has promised us, towards the unending feas...

Pope Leo XIV urges ceasefire in Sudan, condemns post-election violence in Tanzania

Pope Leo XIV leads the faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in reciting the Angelus on Nov. 2, 2025. / Vatican MediaVatican City, Nov 2, 2025 / 10:50 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV issued urgent appeals for peace and humanitarian access in Sudan and Tanzania on Sunday, decrying escalating violence that has left civilians dead and aid blocked in parts of Africa."With great sorrow I am following the tragic news coming from Sudan, especially from the city of El Fasher in the war-torn region of North Darfur," the pope said after leading the Angelus in St. Peter's Square on November 2. He condemned "indiscriminate violence against women and children, attacks on unarmed civilians, and serious obstacles to humanitarian aid," and called for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors."I renew my heartfelt appeal to all parties involved to agree to a ceasefire and to urgently open humanitarian corridors," he said, urging the international community "to act with...

Detainees denied communion at Illinois detention facility

Scene from Nov. 1, 2025 Mass outside the Broadview facility in Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees. / Credit: Kathleen Murphy/CNAChicago, Illinois, Nov 1, 2025 / 17:29 pm (CNA).Bishop Jose María García-Maldonado celebrated a Mass Nov. 1 outside the Broadview facility in Chicago where immigration advocates allege federal authorities inhumanely treat detainees.Maldonado, an auxiliary bishop in Chicago, and a group of eight spiritual leaders sought to bring Holy Communion to detainees and were not admitted. Mass organizers said they followed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's guidelines to obtain access and submitted the request weeks in advance.An estimated 2,000 Catholics attended the outdoor Mass including Sister JoAnn Persch, 91, a Sister of Mercy and longtime advocate for immigrant rights in the Chicago area. Persch said in previous years she was granted access to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility an...