OSV News

Ivan Cantu was executed Feb. 28 by the state of Texas despite claims that the Texan's 2001 conviction for killing James Mosqueda and Amy Kitchen, his cousin and his cousin's fiancee, was based on false testimony.

Synodality is an issue that everyone in the church needs to understand and embrace, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, told an audience at the University of Notre Dame.

The announcement that Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Archbishop Andrzej Dziega of Szczecin-Kamien with no explanation in a Feb. 24 statement from the apostolic nunciature caused a bittersweet reaction in Poland.

The ability of Catholic and other faith-based groups to "meet migrants' basic human needs" at the U.S.-Mexico border is a religious liberty issue and must be defended, U.S. bishops said in recent statements.

Catholic leaders and local officials condemned Feb. 23 an attempt by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to shut down a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants and asylum-seekers at the Southern border, calling it an abuse of power and a violation of religious liberty.

On Feb. 20, the Ukrainian Catholic bishops of the U.S. announced that their Metropolia Humanitarian Aid Fund has been restructured as the "Healing of Wounds of the War in Ukraine Fund." 

An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos qualify as children under state law has raised complex legal questions about artificial reproductive practices opposed by the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna warned of schism as German bishops want to keep to their reform course despite the latest letter from Rome, which halted the vote on the statutes of a Synodal Committee.

A senior Russian Catholic has urged church leaders abroad to commemorate the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, as armed police dispersed citizens mourning his death at age 47 in a remote prison camp.

The Vatican's document permitting blessings for those in "irregular situations," including same-sex relationships, has continued to spark controversy and varied responses from bishops around the world.

Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak warns that failing to support Ukraine as Russia's war machine relentlessly presses its attack will have a vast impact on religious freedom in the region as well as on global security.

A suspected arsonist struck at Blessed Sacrament Church in downtown Regina, Saskatchewan, Feb. 9. Security cameras caught the culprit in the act in the early hours of the day, but the perpetrator has yet to be apprehended.

The Catholic Church in southeastern African Malawi is rallying residents to plant more trees to tackle climate change and end the hunger crisis that has put millions of people at risk for months.

Two local bishops offered prayers for victims after a shooting left one person dead and more than 20 people injured at the conclusion of the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade in front of Union Station on Ash Wednesday.

Msgr. Kieran Harrington, a priest of the Brooklyn Diocese, has resigned from his post as the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States after an allegation against him of "inappropriate conduct with an adult" was substantiated, the Diocese of Brooklyn announced.

The Nashville Diocese announced Feb. 9 that Fr. Juan Carlos Garcia, a former associate pastor at St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin, who was ordained to the priesthood less than four years ago, has been indicted by a grand jury on multiple sex abuse charges.

The head of the Jesuits in Ireland has said he is "ashamed" at the order's failure to confront abuse after the release of a new report revealing 93 complaints of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against a now deceased priest.

An annual Lenten collection taken up by Catholics across the U.S. provides "life-changing hope," said Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia, chair of the board of Catholic Relief Services.