News & Commentary

A memorial honoring shooting victims sits outside the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Parents of children killed in Minneapolis Catholic school shooting speak out

8-year-old Fletcher Merkel "loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play" and the hole left in his family's hearts by his death will never be filled, his father remarked at an Aug. 28 ...
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Prayers for healing, justice mark anniversary of Floyd’s death

George Floyd's death left "a hole in the hearts of his family and friends" and "a hole in the fabric of our society," said the director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd May 25, ...
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Syriac Catholic patriarch says situation in Syria ‘humanly unbearable’

The Syriac Catholic patriarch said the situation in Syria "continues to be humanly unbearable and devastating" and risks emptying the war-torn country of its Christian community for good.
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US bishop echoes cardinal’s call for prayers for Chinese people

The chairman of the US bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace invited Catholics in the United States to offer prayers for the people of China and the well-being of the Catholic Church in that country May 23-30.
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Franciscan leaders urge ‘boldness’ by U.S. to end violence in Holy Land

The Franciscan order's six U.S. provincials told President Joe Biden in a joint letter May 19 that "now is the time for boldness to end the immediate violence" in the Holy Land.
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Archbishop Cordileone responds to Pelosi remarks on Cardinal Ladaria letter

San Francisco's archbishop said May 17 that the "positive reaction" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has expressed about a Vatican official's letter to the U.S. bishops about Catholic politicians who support abortion receiving Communion "raises hope that progress can be made ...
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Pope appeals for peace in Holy Land, says death of children ‘unacceptable’

The injury and death of so many innocent people, especially children, caused by escalating violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip is “terrible and unacceptable,” putting the area at risk of sinking into “a spiral of death and destruction,” Pope ...
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