News & Commentary

Women attend Mass in Goma, Congo, July 8, 2025, following the June 15 Vatican beatification of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi. Blessed Kositi, a 26-year-old layman from Congo, was a member of the Congolese branch of the Community of Sant'Egidio, which called him "a martyr of corruption." Kidnapped July 7, 2007, after refusing a bribe, his body was discovered two days later with evident signs of torture. Blessed Kositi's remains were transferred from a public cemetery to a cathedral in Congo's eastern city of Goma during a special Mass. (OSV News photo/Arlette Bashizi, Reuters)

Congolese Catholics honor their beatified martyr of ‘integrity and honesty’

OSV News July 11, 2025

Hundreds of Catholics in Congo gave thanks for the recent Rome beatification of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi, a customs official who was killed and tortured for refusing a bribe.

Pope Leo XIV and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wave from the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, during their meeting July 9, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

OSV News July 10, 2025

Ukraine's religious leaders have issued a "desperate cry" to the global faith community in ending "the humanitarian and spiritual catastrophe" resulting from Russia's war on their nation.

A Planned Parenthood facility in Washington is seen in this file photo. (OSV News photo/Tyler Orsburn)

Judge blocks, for now, Planned Parenthood defunding provision backed by bishops

OSV News July 9, 2025

A federal judge placed a temporary restraining order on a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, that would have stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid payments for a year.

Rescuers paddle an inflatable boat as they search along a waterway in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerrville, Texas, July 6, 2025. At least 82 people are dead and at least 41 more are missing after devastating flash floods slammed the Texas Hill Country, with water rescues taking place along the Guadalupe River, which rose rapidly early July 4 to the height of a two-story building. Among the missing were almost a dozen from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, a children's summer camp, officials said July 6. (OSV News photo/Marco Bello, Reuters)

Catholics offer support as Texas flood’s catastrophic death toll rises

OSV News July 8, 2025

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott declared Sunday, July 6 a day of prayer throughout the state, as the death toll from catastrophic flooding July 4 has now risen to at least 82 people as of July 7, including 28 children in ...

The childhood home of Pope Leo XIV is pictured in the Dolton suburb of Chicago May 9, 2025. The Village of Dolton intends to purchase the childhood home of Pope Leo, hoping to turn the property and its surroundings into a historical site. (OSV News photo/Carlos Osorio, Reuters)

Town officials vote to buy Pope Leo’s childhood home as ‘historical site’

OSV News July 7, 2025

An Illinois town intends to purchase the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV, hoping to turn the property and its surroundings into a historical site.

Protesters flank an entrance road at a temporary migrant detention center nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" in Ochopee, Fla.

Miami clergy raise concerns as Trump tours Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

OSV News July 3, 2025

Most Americans agree on the need for good U.S. border security, but to hear politicians and civil authorities hurl insults and jokes at the expense of migrants as Florida opened its new "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention center in the Florida ...

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington June 27, 2025.

Senate passes Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’; measure heads to House

OSV News July 2, 2025

Senate Republicans on July 1 passed their version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would enact key provisions of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda on taxes and immigration, without any Democratic support and losing three members of their ...