News & Commentary

Pope Francis smiles during an audience with members of Confindustria, the General Confederation of Italian Industry, and members of their families, in the Vatican audience hall Sept. 12, 2022. (OSV News photo/Yara Nardi, Reuters)

Pope hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says

After having difficulty breathing, Pope Francis went to Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 29 where he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, the Vatican press office said.

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Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrueck, Germany, vice president of the German bishops' conference, is pictured in a 2019 file photo. Bishop Bode has become the first Catholic bishop in Germany to resign in connection with the abuse scandal. (OSV News photo/Lars Berg, KNA)

Pope Francis accepts German bishop’s resignation over errors in handling abuse

The vice president of the German bishops' conference, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, has become the first Catholic bishop in Germany to resign in connection with the abuse scandal.
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Police officers arrive at the Covenant School on the grounds of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tenn., after reports of a shooting at the school March 27, 2023. At least six were killed -- three adults and three children -- police reported. (OSV News photo/Metropolitan Nashville Police Department handout via Reuters) NO ARCHIVES. MUST DISCARD 30 DAYS AFTER DOWNLOAD.

Diocesan officials call shooting at Nashville Presbyterian school ‘sad, shocking’

Officials of the Nashville Diocese called news of a morning mass shooting and loss of life at a private Christian school in the city heartbreaking and “deeply sad and shocking."
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An aerial view of the aftermath of a tornado, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S. March 25, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a video. Dozens are dead or injured after a least one powerful tornado tore through rural Mississippi March 24. (OSV News photo/SevereStudios.com, Jordan Hall via Reuters)

Tornado kills, injures dozens in Mississippi

No less than 23 people have been killed after at least one powerful tornado tore through rural Mississippi on the night of March 24, injuring dozens and causing widespread destruction.
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Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell 

LOS ANGELES (OSV News) — The man suspected of killing Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell in his Hacienda Heights home pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing March 22. Carlos Medina, 61, has been charged with one felony ...
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Pope asks Catholics to renew consecration of world to Mary every March 25 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has invited Catholics worldwide to renew the act of consecrating the church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to Mary every March 25, the feast of the Annunciation. At the end of his ...
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Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university 

 A lecture series on “reproductive justice” at the University of Notre Dame is advancing “activist propaganda” rather than “conducting a neutral inquiry or exploring the debates within this field,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, in whose diocese ...
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