News & Commentary

A wounded Palestinian Christian woman is brought into Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City July 17, 2025, following what initial reports and medics said was an Israeli tank attack on the church of the Holy Family Parish -- the only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip.

3 dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack

OSV News July 18, 2025

Three people were confirmed dead and nine were injured, including a parish pastor, following what initial reports say was a mid-morning Israeli tank attack on the Holy Family Parish Church in Gaza on July 17.

A file photo shows a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe as it is unloaded from a truck after a procession to the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico, where Mass was celebrated.

California bishops back migrants fearing mass deportation in Guadalupe message

OSV News December 13, 2024

(OSV News) — As President-elect Donald Trump threatens to enact “the largest deportation” in U.S. history, California’s Catholic bishops have issued a message of support for migrants, invoking the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe for them on her Dec. 12 feast. ...

Migrant farmworkers attend an outdoor Mass Sept. 26, 2019, in Hatch, N.M., during a pastoral encounter by U.S. bishops with migrants at the border.

No sanctuary? Trump reportedly plans to reverse policy, permit ICE arrests at churches

OSV News December 12, 2024

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals, ...

Luigi Mangione, 26, a suspect in the New York City killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, arrives for an extradition hearing at Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec. 10, 2024.

Family of suspected CEO killer ‘shocked and devastated,’ known for strong support of Jesuit education

OSV News December 11, 2024

(OSV News) — The suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson hails from a prominent Maryland family whose matriarch was a strong supporter of Jesuit education. Luigi Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five ...

The execution chamber in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.,

US bishops join pope, other groups urging Biden to commute 40 death sentences

OSV News December 10, 2024

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. bishops’ conference was among the groups that urged President Joe Biden on Dec. 9 to commute exiting federal death sentences before President-elect Donald Trump, who has sought to expand the use of capital punishment, ...

Clergy arrive for the inaugural Mass, with the consecration of the main altar, at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, five-and-a-half years after a fire ravaged the Gothic masterpiece, as part of ceremonies to mark the cathedral's reopening after its restoration, in Paris, Dec. 8, 2024.

With inaugural Mass, Notre Dame reveals ‘the Lord does not abandon his own’

OSV News December 9, 2024

PARIS (OSV News) — Chilling rain and the “City of Lights” completely locked down due to high profile guests did not stop the crowds from arriving as close to Notre Dame Cathedral as possible for its inaugural Mass celebrated Dec. ...

Displaced Syrians who fled from the Aleppo countryside ride on a vehicle with their belongings in Tabqa, Syria, Dec. 3, 2024. (OSV News photo/Orhan Qereman, Reuters)

Christians in Aleppo feel an uneasy calm amid rebel takeover of Syrian city

OSV News December 6, 2024

An uneasy calm hangs over Aleppo, Christian leaders report, following the recent lightning takeover of Syria’s second-largest city by Islamist rebels driving out forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.