News & Commentary

Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, Calif., the main celebrant, distributes Communion to a detainee during a Mass on the grounds of the ICE Processing Center near Adelanto, Calif., Dec. 10, 2025. Attendees said the Mass, which took place in the Mojave Desert, was deeply emotional for both the bishops and the roughly 300 detainees present.

California bishops celebrate ‘very powerful’ Mass for detainees in ICE facility

A group of seven California bishops celebrated Mass at the ICE Processing Center outside the town of Adelanto in the Mojave Desert on December 10, providing communion to the roughly 300 detainees present.
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A law enforcement officer works near the scene of a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., Sept. 4, 2024.

Atlanta bishops say ‘hearts ache’ for lives ‘cruelly cut short’ by latest high school shooting

The Catholic bishops of Atlanta prayed "for healing and strength" for those injured during a Sept. 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
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Pope arrives in Indonesia at start of four-nation tour

Pope Francis landed in Jakarta after a 13-hour flight from Rome and was greeted by the religious affairs minister of Indonesia and two children in traditional dress who offered him flowers.
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A combination picture shows undated handout images of hostages Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi, were kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Their bodies were found underground in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip Sept. 1, 2024, and returned to Israel, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Pope calls for cease-fire as young Israeli-American found dead in Gaza tunnel along with 5 other hostages

In what was a devastating Sunday morning for hostage families, Israel said Sept. 1 that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose parents became outspoken global advocates for all hostages to ...
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Police officers stand near the burned wreckage of a bus Aug. 9, 2022, that was set on fire by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel following the detention of one of its leaders by Mexican federal forces in Zapopan in the Mexican state of Jalisco. (OSV News photo/Fernando Carranza, Reuters)

Guatemala cardinal: Drug cartels wield ‘total power’ on border with Mexico

Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, has warned that drug cartels control the border between Mexico and Guatemala, provoking spasms of violence which have sent hundreds of Mexicans fleeing into his diocese.
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A group of protestors stand outside the Shrine of Our Lady of Valverde in the southern Italian city of Enna Aug. 22, 2024, to protest the local clergy’s role in covering up clerical sexual abuse. Among those present was Antonio Messina, center-right, who was 16 when Father Giuseppe Rugolo, a priest of the Diocese of Piazza Armerina, abused him. Father Rugolo was convicted March 5 on charges of aggravated sexual assault against Messina and another unnamed victim and sentenced to more than four years in prison. (OSV News photo/courtesy Antonio Messina)

Catholics in Southern Italian diocese protest abuse cover up

Catholics in the Southern Italian city of Enna, Sicily, protested the local church's role in covering up sexual abuse after a court recently ruled that the diocesan bishop sought to protect a priest accused of having abused several minors as a ...
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A file photo shows Nigerian security personnel standing by a burnt building after violence in the town of Adikpo in Nigeria's Benue State. In an Aug. 23, 2024, statement, the US-based Catholic Medical Association called for the release of 20 Catholic medical school students kidnapped Aug. 15 in east-central Nigeria. (OSV News photo/George Esiri, Reuters)

Catholic doctors condemn kidnapping of Nigerian medical students

Catholic health care professionals have condemned the Aug. 15 kidnapping of 20 Catholic medical students in Nigeria.
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