The U.S. Department of Justice has charged the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights group that has classified certain Catholic organizations as hate groups, with multiple fraud charges for alleged use of paid informants to monitor racist organizations. SPLC, an organization that reports it fights “white supremacy and various forms of injustice,” faces…

BATA, Equatorial Guinea — Pope Leo XIV met with young people and families on Wednesday evening in an event marked by singing, dancing, and a stadium full of jubilant Catholics waving Vatican and Equatorial Guinean flags. Even under relentless rain, the atmosphere remained festive, with chants, songs to the Virgin Mary, and crowds greeting the…

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who has served as archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany since 2008, has instructed the priests and full-time pastoral staff in the archdiocese to introduce the controversial handout “Blessing Gives Strength to Love” as the basis of pastoral care. Priests who do not want to carry out such blessing celebrations for homosexual…

Pope Leo XIV said Mass and visited with several communities including incarcerated prisoners during his first full day in Equatorial Guinea on April 22. The itinerary represented the last full day the Holy Father will spend in Africa during the papal trip, which commenced on April 13 and has seen the pope visit Algiers, Cameroon,…