News & Commentary

People attend a vigil in support of immigration detainees at the entrance of "Alligator Alcatraz" Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, detention center at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Fla., Aug. 10, 2025. (OSV New/Marco Bello, Reuters)

More states move to copy ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ amid reports of inhumane conditions

A Central American nonprofit center in Florida reports one of its client family members -- despite having an active asylum claim and no criminal record -- was recently detained on his way to work and sent to Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz."
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Pope Francis, St. John Paul ll, and Pope Benedict all smiling

Pope Benedict: St. John Paul's life marked by mercy, not moral rigidity

The continuity between St. John Paul II and Pope Francis is rooted in the message of God's divine mercy for all men and women, retired Pope Benedict XVI said in a letter commemorating his predecessor's birth.
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Vatican Workers Sanitize St. Peters Basilica

Vatican workers sanitize St. Peter's Basilica

In preparation for the May 18 resumption of public liturgies in Italy and a morning Mass with Pope Francis at the tomb of St. John Paul II, Vatican workers cleaned and sanitized the inside of St. Peter's Basilica May 15.
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Debt relief sought so poor nations can respond to COVID-19

Advocates for debt relief for the world's poorest countries are calling on international policymakers to cancel debt payments and expand debt relief for developing nations to bolster health care and protect vulnerable people and workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Bishops call for end to surrogacy as pandemic strands newborns

Border closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have highlighted another "pathology" in modern Ukraine: the practice of commercial surrogacy, said the country's Catholic bishops.
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Pope makes mini-pilgrimage to pray for end of pandemic

With Italy on lockdown and Rome streets almost deserted, Pope Francis left the Vatican March 15 in a mini-pilgrimage to an icon and to a crucifix associated with miraculous interventions to save the city and its people.
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Pope entrusts world threatened by COVID-19 to Mary

Pope Francis entrusted to Jesus’ mother the suffering and anguish of millions of people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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