News & Commentary

Students from Everest Academy in Lemont, Ill., cheer May 8, 2025, after it was announced that Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the next pope. He chose the papal name Leo XIV. (OSV News photo/Vincent Alban, Reuters)

Chicago abuzz with ‘unbelievable’ joy the first American Pope is a hometown son

Catholics and non-Catholics alike were abuzz with excitement in Chicago May 8, after one of the city's native sons became pope. Taking the name Leo XIV, the new pontiff has made many firsts.
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Pastor forgives attackers, urges them to turn from crime

Three days after he was pistol-whipped and robbed, the pastor of St. Leo the Great Parish in Baltimore's Little Italy said he has been overwhelmed by support from his parish and the wider community.
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New CEO aims to step up fight against sexual exploitation

When Dawn Hawkins started 12 years ago as a volunteer at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, it was a modest organization operating under the name under which it was founded 68 years ago—Morality in Media.
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Faith and the flood: Parishioners respond to B.C.’s storm of the century

When Father Francis Galvan left Sacred Heart Church in Delta Nov. 15, he did not expect to find himself at the center of a catastrophic flood and what is being called the storm of the century.
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Faith leaders call for ‘healing’ after Rittenhouse verdict

A local Unitarian Universalist pastor and the head of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee issued statements urging calm in the days ahead after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges.
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Pope encourages young people to be critical conscience of society

Pope Francis told young people that, with Jesus, people can find the courage to swim against the current, to be free and authentic, and to stand up for their dreams and ideals of truth, love, justice and peace.
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Catholic leaders applaud decision to commute Julius Jones’ death sentence

Catholic opponents of the death penalty, including Oklahoma City's archbishop, praised the Nov. 18 announcement that the Oklahoma governor granted death-row inmate Julius Jones clemency—just hours before he was scheduled to be executed.
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