Trump, Vance, other U.S. leaders celebrate first American pope
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"What a great honor for our country," President Trump said of the election of the Catholic Church's new Chicago-born pope on May 8, 2025. / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2025 / 16:32 pm (CNA).U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, along with scores of other elected officials throughout the country have expressed joy and excitement over the selection of the first American pope.
"What a great honor for our country," President Trump said of the election of the Catholic Church's new Chicago-born pope on May 8, 2025. / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2025 / 16:32 pm (CNA).
U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, along with scores of other elected officials throughout the country have expressed joy and excitement over the selection of the first American pope.
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Palace of the Senate of the Russian Empire in Moscow. / Credit: Angel Miklashevsky, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 2, 2025 / 09:29 am (CNA).Russia continues to perpetuate "particularly severe" religious liberty violations against minority groups within its own country and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, according to a new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).The June 30 report, which detailed religious liberty violations throughout 2024 and the beginning of 2025, found continued "intense persecution" of Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians.Within Russia's borders, the report also found numerous religious liberty violations against human rights activists, independent media, anti-war protesters, and others who belong to minority religious groups."Russian authorities abuse vague and problematic laws to target religious communities that do not conform to state authorit...
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Newlyweds Anna and Cole Stevens meet Pope Leo XIV at the general audience in Rome on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Anna and Cole StevensVatican City, Jul 2, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV recently offered marriage advice to a young American couple days after their wedding, sharing how he was blessed by the example of his own parents who prayed the rosary together every day.Newlyweds Cole and Anna Stevens received Pope Leo's personal blessing for their marriage during one of the pope's first general audiences under the hot Roman summer sun on June 11, just four days after their wedding at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham, Alabama.Newlyweds Anna and Cole Stevens meet Pope Leo XIV at the general audience in Rome on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Anna and Cole StevensThe moment, captured on video, became an unexpectedly intimate exchange with the American pope, who responded warmly to their question of how best to pray together as a marri...
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null / Credit: Minerva Studio/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jul 2, 2025 / 11:17 am (CNA).The Diocese of Fresno in California filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1, seeking to address more than 150 abuse claims filed there in what Bishop Joseph Brennan said was part of a "journey of conversion through contrition."Brennan announced the filing via a video message on Tuesday. The bishop's message comes more than a year after he announced, in May 2024, that the diocese would seek the bankruptcy filing.The prelate said the filing was "the only path that will allow us to handle claims of sexual abuse with compassion that is fair and equitable while simultaneously ensuring the continuation of ministry within our diocese."As with other dioceses in California and the U.S., the Fresno Diocese is facing a large number of allegations of clergy abuse. Brennan said last year that plaintiffs had lodged 154 sex abuse complaints against the Church there.Those filings were made under a California la...
