News & Commentary

Pope Leo XIV leads the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Aug. 24, 2025.

Pope marks Ukraine’s Independence Day with prayers for peace

Marking Ukraine's Independence Day, Pope Leo XIV pledged his prayers for the Ukrainian people in a message to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and encouraged Catholics to respond to Ukrainian religious leaders' request for prayers for peace Aug. 24.
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Some Catholic hospitals now require employees to get COVID-19 vaccine

Mercy Sister Mary Haddad, president of the Catholic Health Association, is on a mission. She hopes to clarify some of the current confusion leading to both vaccine hesitancy and recent protests over vaccine mandates being put in place to curb the ...
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Environmental leaders: UN climate report can spur prayerful action

Amadou Diallo, a program manager for Catholic Relief Services in Senegal, knows from talking with the farmers and cattle herders in his country that the cyclical droughts the country experienced occurred about once every 10 years for generations.
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Australian outback school named for teen on way to sainthood

An Australian outback diocese has announced what is believed to be the world's first high school to be named after a teenage computer programmer beatified by Pope Francis last year.
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Street Masses bring Catholic Church to the people in Chicago neighborhood

CHICAGO (CNS) -- For the neighbors who came out for a recent street Mass in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, blessings abounded. The weather held, with no rain and a breeze to lift the heat. Cicadas sang and birds twittered in ...
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‘Never forget,’ says foundation CEO who lost firefighter brother on 9/11

Frank Siller still goes to the same Catholic church he has gone to since he was a little kid, Blessed Sacrament in the New York City borough of Staten Island. He always sits in his family's same pew for Mass.
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N.Y. priests urged not to give religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines

As some Catholics are seeking a religious exemption to the coronavirus vaccine mandates that are becoming more common in workplaces and even some public venues, priests in the Archdiocese of New York have been advised not to get involved in ...
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