News & Commentary

Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, Calif., the main celebrant, distributes Communion to a detainee during a Mass on the grounds of the ICE Processing Center near Adelanto, Calif., Dec. 10, 2025. Attendees said the Mass, which took place in the Mojave Desert, was deeply emotional for both the bishops and the roughly 300 detainees present.

California bishops celebrate ‘very powerful’ Mass for detainees in ICE facility

A group of seven California bishops celebrated Mass at the ICE Processing Center outside the town of Adelanto in the Mojave Desert on December 10, providing communion to the roughly 300 detainees present.
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Pew: Catholic numbers hold steady, ‘nones’ rise, Protestants decrease

The percentage of Catholics in the U.S. population in 2021 held steady at 21% in the latest Pew Research Center survey, issued Dec. 14.
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Catholic groups challenge federal mandate on gender transition procedures

Several Catholic hospitals, a Catholic university and Mercy sisters who run health clinics filed a challenge to a federal mandate for performing gender transition procedures with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit Dec. 15.
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Papal commission looks at role, rights of alleged victims in abuse trials

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors hosted a three-day seminar looking at the rights in church trials of those alleging they suffered sexual abuse as children.
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Mourning, prayer and a resolve to rebuild follow devastating tornadoes

Mourning, prayer and a resolve to rebuild shattered lives, homes and businesses in Mayfield followed one of the most powerful twisters in U.S. history that leveled the city of 10,000 in western Kentucky overnight Dec. 10.
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Picture of Dorothy Day at Mass

Mass marks end of diocesan phase of inquiry for Day’s sainthood cause

More than 1,500 people filled St. Patrick's Cathedral Dec. 8 to witness the formal end of the diocesan phase of the sainthood cause for Dorothy Day.
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Survey: Most don’t see reasons to seek vaccine religious exemption as valid

A poll released Dec. 9 showed a strong majority of Americans don't see the reasons for a religious exemption to the coronavirus vaccine as valid.
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