News & Commentary

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa greets parishioners in the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City July 20, 2025. He entered the Gaza Strip July 18 together with Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, offering his support, closeness and prayers following the Israeli army's July 17 attack on the parish. He is accompanied by Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest who was injured during the attack, which killed three Christians sheltering in the parish. (OSV News/courtesy Holy Family Parish)

Patriarch’s visit ‘a miracle,’ while parishioners in Gaza feel desperation

Parishioners of Gaza's Holy Family Church are feeling "horror" and almost a sense of "desperation" after an Israeli tank shell struck the church.
Read More →
A young voter fills out her ballot at a polling station in Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 7, 2023. (OSV News photo/Megan Jelinger, Reuters)

Study shows more than half of young Americans don’t identify with a major political party

A recent report from Springtide Research Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, found that a growing share of young people do not identify with a political party, defying traditional political categories.
Read More →
Cathy Harmon-Christian, the executive director of "Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty," holds a photo of Willie James Pye outside of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson March 20, 2024. (OSV News photo/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson, Reuters)

Pope praises Catholic group that advocates for abolition of death penalty

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty Oct. 10 in an event at the Holy See's apostolic nunciature in Washington.
Read More →
Willow Brook, a pilot project of the new Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing Alliance in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, will feature a 74-unit apartment building near LA City College with below-market rents targeting transitioning foster youth and community college students. In August, the archdiocese that it was spearheading the new alliance to address the issue in collaboration with some of LA's leading philanthropic organizations. (OSV News illustration/courtesy Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing Alliance)

LA Archdiocese, philanthropists to develop unused buildings for affordable housing

The state of California holds multiple first-place distinctions in the latest annual homeless report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — but none of them are positive.
Read More →
Broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts are seen as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Fla., Oct. 9, 2024. As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida just days after Hurricane Helene, Catholic Charities USA announced Oct. 9 that it has launched a dedicated disaster relief donation campaign at ccusa.online/milton, with 100% of all funds raised to be allocated to local Catholic Charities agencies. (OSV News photo/Ricardo Arduengo, Reuters)

Catholic Charities USA launches Hurricane Milton relief fund

As Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida just days after Hurricane Helene, Catholic Charities USA has launched a dedicated disaster relief donation campaign.
Read More →
Children join in Aid to the Church in Need's "One Million Children Praying the Rosary" in Burkina Faso in 2023. (OSV News photo/courtesy Aid to the Church in Need)

Faith of children, power of prayer combine in million-strong rosary

As conflict rages worldwide, 1 million children are set to storm heaven with prayer.
Read More →
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike as displaced Palestinians make their way to flee areas in the eastern part of Khan Younis following an Israeli evacuation order, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Oct. 7, 2024. (OSV News photo/Hatem Khaled, Reuters)

As church prepares for Jubilee, ‘Holy Land is bleeding,’ Palestine ambassador says

Without a ceasefire, the upcoming Jubilee year in Rome will be marred by the suffering and bloodshed in the Holy Land, Palestine's ambassador to the Holy See said.
Read More →