Category: Church News

When Pope Leo XIV warned diplomats this month that families face “progressive institutional marginalization” in global policy, he described a crisis that Eastern European leaders are confronting with particular urgency. At a Jan. 14 conference in Lithuania’s Parliament, experts and policymakers from across the region gathered to address what many called an existential demographic challenge…

Several Wisconsin residents have been named in a federal indictment related to an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving a Catholic Charities group. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, accuses Brandi Ellis, Jason Flanders, Ramon Hernandez, and Jezlia Barajas of participating in an effort to defraud Catholic Charities of…

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on Christians to remove prejudices and “disarm” their hearts in order to strengthen bonds of unity in Christ and advance the cause of Christian communion. The pope made the appeal while receiving priests and monks from the Oriental Orthodox Churches who are participating in a study visit to Rome…

In a significant development, government forces this week have taken control of large areas in northeast Syria’s Al-Jazeera region after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew following a surprise attack, while the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli remained outside of this advance. With Damascus announcing its resolve to regain control of these cities, Christians living…

The relationship between the Vatican and the U.S. Catholic bishops is not as contentious as people might think, according to Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who offered insights into his role as papal nuncio to the U.S. since 2016 during an interview with “EWTN News In-Depth” ahead of his 80th birthday. The French-born prelate described the past…

A Filipino bishop said human trafficking is a significant problem in the country driven by poverty, illegal recruitment, online abuse, and growing dangers facing migrants, women, and children. Bishop Socrates Mesiona of Puerto Princesa, chairman of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the…

For more than 50 years, Father Luigi Paggi has lived and worked among some of Bangladesh’s most marginalized people, building schools, teaching girls, and waging a quiet war against a practice that has claimed countless young lives: child marriage. The 77-year-old Italian Xaverian missionary has made it his life’s work to empower the Munda Indigenous…

Representatives from the U.S. and African bishops’ conferences convened in Washington, D.C., during a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill this week in a display of solidarity as religious freedom in Nigeria continues to come into sharper focus.  Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of the Yola Diocese in northeast Nigeria concelebrated a Mass on Feb. 4 for…

Across continents, Filipino Catholics have emerged as what Pope Francis once memorably called “smugglers of the faith”: believers who carry the Gospel not by argument but through presence, perseverance, and hope. During the first-ever Simbang Gabi — a nine-day series of devotional Masses celebrated by Filipino Catholics from Dec. 16–24, leading up to Christmas —…

A steep decline in Catholic marriages in the U.S. over the past few decades is underscoring the need for “proactive” marriage support in the Church. Data obtained by EWTN News from the Official Catholic Directory shows a major drop-off in U.S. Catholic marriage, from about 267,000 in the year 2000 to just 111,718 in 2024,…