News & Commentary

The caskets of senior Democratic state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, lie in state June 27, 2025, at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul.

Slain Minnesota lawmaker, husband remembered for lives lived ‘with purpose, meaning’

Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were shot dead in their home June 14, were remembered at their funeral Mass June 28 for living their lives "with purpose and meaning."
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Birmingham Diocese helping 60 families after spring tornadoes

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, is working with at least 60 families whose homes sustained damage in a spring tornado.
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Governor signs death penalty repeal at site of 101 executions since 1991

While standing outside the prison that housed Virginia's execution chamber, Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in the state March 24.
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Pope names Chilean survivor to Commission for the Protection of Minors

Pope Francis has named Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse by a notorious Chilean priest, to be a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
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Boulder, Colorado, police officer first to die in mass shooting called hero

Officer Eric Talley, an 11-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department, was the first to arrive at the scene of a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store the afternoon of March 22 and the first of 10 to ...
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Supreme Court to review Boston Marathon bomber’s death penalty case

The Supreme Court's March 22 announcement that it would hear a government appeal to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev brings the death penalty issue in front of the Biden administration.
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Cardinal, imam hold dialogue as follow-up to pope’s meeting with ayatollah

With personal warmth paired with the careful phrasing of diplomats, Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory and Imam Sayyid M. B. Kashmiri, a representative of Shiite Muslims in North America, held a dialogue on Christian-Muslim relations March 17.
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