News & Commentary

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City Sept. 23, 2025.

At UN, Trump shifts tone on Ukraine, calls for Gaza ceasefire

OSV News September 24, 2025

President Donald Trump on Sept. 23 addressed the U.N. General Assembly amid the backdrop of conflict in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as world leaders still question the extent to which the U.S. will be involved in global affairs ...

Pope Francis says retired Pope Benedict is ‘very sick’

OSV News December 28, 2022

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Saying that retired Pope Benedict XVI was “very sick,” Pope Francis asked people to offer special prayers for him. “I would like to ask all of you for a special prayer for emeritus Pope Benedict,” Pope ...

The Silent Night Chapel, which is in the town of Oberndorf in the Austrian state of Salzburg, is a monument to the Christmas carol "Silent Night." The chapel stands on the site of the former St. Nikola Church, where on Christmas Eve in 1818 the carol was performed for the first time. (CNS photo/courtesy www.stillenacht.com)

Chapel memorializing ‘Silent Night’ continues to draw tourists

OSV News December 23, 2022

The Christmas song "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night") may have put the town of Oberndorf, Austria, on the map, but it's the chapel memorializing the beloved carol that is the town's main attraction.

A girl prays in St. Mary's Catholic Church in the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in Thailand Sept. 27, 2022. The camp is home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar; many Myanmar Christians remain in their country but have fled their villages and live in camps. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey)

Myanmar Christians prepare to spend second Christmas in camps

Catholic News Service December 22, 2022

A Christmas of darkness, silence and fear awaits thousands of Christians in camps for internally displaced persons in Myanmar, where carols, decorations and illuminations are banned because of ongoing conflicts.

A group of demonstrators rally against the death penalty outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington Oct. 13, 2021. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

Advocates displeased with U.S. vote against global death penalty ban

OSV News December 21, 2022

When the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution Dec. 15 to establish a worldwide "moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty," the United States continued its practice of voting against it.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington Oct. 1, 2019. A Dec. 17, 2022, news report said Pavone had been dismissed from the clerical state for "blasphemous communications on social media" and "persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop." (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

Frank Pavone says Vatican didn’t tell him directly he was laicized

OSV News December 20, 2022

In a live morning broadcast on Twitter Dec. 18, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said he was not told directly by the Vatican that he has been laicized.

Festival candles at Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia are seen during a service marking Erev Rosh Hashanah Sept. 6, 2021. (CNS photo/Rachel Wisniewski, Reuters)

Churches called to ‘national reckoning of soul’ amid antisemitism crisis

OSV News December 19, 2022

Scholars of Jewish-Christian relations are urging churches in the U.S. to "a national reckoning of the soul" amid what they are describing as "the greatest crisis of public antisemitism in a century" in the U.S.