Catholic News

The statue of St. Matthew above the crypt altar beneath the cathedral of Salerno, Italy. / Credit: Berthold Werner/Wikimedia Commons CNA Staff, Sep 21, 2023 / 04:00 am (CNA). Sept. 21 marks the feast day of St. Matthew, also known as Levi, an apostle of Jesus and, according to tradition, the author of one of the four Gospels. Surprisingly little is known for certain about Matthew’s life, even though his Gospel is so crucial for the Church. The manner of Matthew’s calling by Jesus is well known — Matthew was a Jew but worked as a tax collector for the Romans in Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee, making him a pariah among his own people. When Jesus called Matthew to follow him, […]

Attorney General Merrick Garland. / Credit: Justice Department Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 20, 2023 / 19:25 pm (CNA). Attorney General Merrick Garland strongly objected to accusations that the Department of Justice would discriminate against Catholic Americans during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.  Garland called the suggestion of anti-Catholic bias “outrageous” and “absurd” when questioned about a memo that originated with the Richmond Federal Bureau of Investigation. The memo, dated Jan. 23 and leaked to the media in February, revealed an FBI Richmond investigation into “radical traditionalist” Catholics and their possible ties to “the far-right white […]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a high level Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine on the sidelines of the 78th U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Sept. 20, 2023. / Credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 20, 2023 / 18:50 pm (CNA). As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is making his case to the United Nations and the U.S. Congress for more military aid against Russia, a growing number of Republican lawmakers have expressed reservations about sending the country tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars.“While Russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing […]

An FBI agent stands outside the Houck residence in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 23, 2022. Mark Houck was arrested that day and charged with assaulting a Planned Parenthood escort outside an Philadelphia abortion clinic on Oct. 13, 2021. / Courtesy of the Houck family Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 20, 2023 / 18:10 pm (CNA). Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy and 25 House Republicans introduced a resolution Tuesday to repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law that has been used extensively by the Biden administration to penalize pro-life activists.Passed in 1994, the FACE Act imposes criminal penalties on individuals convicted of “violent, threatening, […]

This summer 30 students from Archdiocesan high schools attended the Service Learning in Public Policy program hosted by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.

Sen. Kamala Harris speaks during National Action Network 2019 convention. / Credit: lev radin/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2023 / 14:32 pm (CNA). A monthlong nationwide college tour by Vice President Kamala Harris, meant in part to promote the expansion of abortion under law, has prompted repudiation from pro-life advocates. The tour, announced Sept. 7, is aimed at bringing together “thousands of students for high-energy, large-scale events” focused on “key issues that disproportionately impact young people across the country — from reproductive freedom and gun safety to climate action, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and book bans.”Harris is set to visit “around a dozen […]

Black smoke billows over the city after drone strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Sept. 19, 2023, amid Russia's military invasion on Ukraine. Drones attacked Ukraine's western city of Lviv early on Sept. 19, and explosions rang out, causing a warehouse fire and wounding at least one person. / Credit: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images Vatican City, Sep 20, 2023 / 12:29 pm (CNA). Cardinal Konrad Krajewski is in Ukraine this week to open the House of Refuge “in the name of Pope Francis, as a sign of support and closeness.”

There are 22 permanent deacons in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia certified to offer pastoral counseling and formation in the area of bioethics.

Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 20, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Sep 20, 2023 / 10:04 am (CNA). St. Daniele Comboni witnessed “the horror of slavery” as a missionary in the mid-19th century in what is now Sudan.

Pope Francis speaks at his general audience on Sept. 20, 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA Vatican City, Sep 20, 2023 / 05:50 am (CNA). Speaking to more than 15,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said Wednesday that he was troubled by the news he received Tuesday from Nagorno Karabakh.

A new statue of St. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, a Korean martyr, was unveiled at St. Peter's Basilica on Sept. 16, 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2023 / 04:00 am (CNA). The feast of the Korean martyrs, celebrated by the Catholic Church on Sept. 20, remembers 103 men, women, and children who died for their faith in the first decades of Korean Christianity. The Korean martyrs marked on this day are collectively known as Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions. They were among the 8,000 to 10,000 Korean Christians killed for refusing to deny Christ.Persecutions began in 1791, with five additional waves through the 19th century. Catholics in Korea celebrate the […]

Jonathan Darnel speaks at a news conference at the Hyatt Regency on April 5, 2022, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images CNA Staff, Sep 19, 2023 / 17:20 pm (CNA). The fight for the unborn continues, even from jail, Jonathan Darnel, one of the three pro-life activists who was convicted in federal court last Friday under the controversial Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act), told CNA.Darnel, 41, who was charged with a felony conspiracy against rights and a FACE Act offense, now faces up to 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $350,000 maximum fine along with Jean Marshall, 73, of Kingston, Massachusetts; and Joan Bell, 74, of […]

null / Credit: Kseniya Ivanova/Shutterstock Denver, Colo., Sep 19, 2023 / 15:00 pm (CNA). In the United States, there are no federal policies that guarantee maternity leave for new mothers. The time and pay a woman receives varies by state and organization. FemCatholic, a media company dedicated to having honest conversations about Catholic women, published a report in 2022 showing that very few dioceses in the United States provide comprehensive maternity leave.Samantha Povlock, founder of FemCatholic, and Renee Roden, a journalist who worked on the report, joined “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” on Aug. 24 to discuss their findings and why they believe Catholic organizations should be leading […]

They are three of only 353 total schools and among just 40 private schools selected nationally.

Father Marko Rupnik. / Credit: Screen shot/ACI Prensa Rome Newsroom, Sep 19, 2023 / 14:00 pm (CNA). The diocese described the Aletti Center — where Father Marko Rupnik has been accused of abuse — as having “a healthy community life.”

null / Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2023 / 13:30 pm (CNA). The United States Catholic bishops are calling on the faithful to embrace “radical solidarity” with mothers who are facing difficult or challenging pregnancies this October, which the Church in the United States has observed as “Respect Life Month” since 1973.Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge, the chairman of the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, echoed St. John Paul II’s call for “radical solidarity,” which means, according to the bishop, “putting our love for them into action and putting their needs before our own.”“This new mindset […]

Sister Ellen McCarthy SSJ, (formerly Sister Thomas Maureen), age 93, died September 9, 2023, at Saint Joseph Villa. The daughter of the late Thomas and Ellen McCarthy, she attended St. Mary Grade School and Evening High in Bayonne, NJ. In September 1950 she entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Chestnut Hill, and professed her final

The 9th Annual AbbeyFest took place on Saturday, September 16. Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez was the principal celebrant and homilist at Mass.

See scenes from the 8th annual Padre Pio Festival held Sept. 16-17 in Bucks County.

On Monday, Sept. 18, staff and administrators at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Center City gathered for “Ignite Your Ministry: Missionary Discipleship and the New Evangelization.”

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill., mother church of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Credit: Edlane De Mattos/Shutterstock. / null Rome Newsroom, Sep 19, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA). Auxiliary Bishops Andrew P. Wypych and Joseph N. Perry will step down after the Holy Father accepted their resignations.

Original painting of the Divine Mercy, by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in 1934. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons 4.0 Denver, Colo., Sep 18, 2023 / 17:40 pm (CNA). A campaign ad for Ohio’s pro-abortion ballot measure Issue 1 wrongly used a Catholic image of Jesus Christ, several Catholic commentators say.The newly released 30-second video ad from Issue 1 backer Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights shows a montage of people in various contexts, including a man kneeling in prayer in what appears to be a Catholic church. A divine mercy image of Jesus Christ hangs on the wall in the background.“The ad describing Issue 1 dangerously misrepresents the proposed amendment and how the Catholic Church […]

Former President Trump addresses attendees at CPAC 2020. / Credit: Valerio Pucci/Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2023 / 17:04 pm (CNA). Pro-life leaders condemned President Donald Trump for calling a six-week abortion ban a “terrible mistake” during a Saturday NBC interview. Trump made the comments in reference to Florida’s six-week Heartbeat Protection Act abortion ban signed by his chief opponent in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. During Trump’s more than hourlong interview with Kristen Welker, he said: “DeSantis is willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban” and “I think what he did was a terrible thing and a […]

Former President Bill Clinton and Pope Francis have a virtual conversation during the Clinton Global Initiative meeting at the Hilton Midtown on Sept. 18, 2023, in New York City. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2023 / 16:30 pm (CNA). During a conversation with former President Bill Clinton, Pope Francis urged stronger action on climate change, called for diplomacy instead of war, promoted greater health care access for children, and highlighted the crises facing migrants and refugees.“It is important to spread a culture of encounter, a culture of dialogue, a culture of listening and of understanding,” Pope Francis said on Monday morning, […]

Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron, with Deacon Tim O'Donnell to his left, answers questions from the crowd following his lecture "The Catholic Intellectual Tradition" on Harvard University's campus on Sept. 17, 2023. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sep 18, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA). Addressing a packed audience of approximately 1,000 on the campus of Harvard University on Sunday, Bishop Robert Barron offered those in attendance a window into the “Catholic intellectual tradition” by emphatically proclaiming: “The glory of God is man fully alive!”The founder of the Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire, Barron is one of the most outspoken American prelates […]

AbbeyFest took place Sept. 16 at Daylesford Abbey in Paoli.

Mrs. Antonia Acutis, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, will be at Malvern Retreat House in October.

null / Credit: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA). Prospective college students in Florida who want an alternative to the long-used SAT exams can now submit to a test that offers what its publishers call “foundational critical thinking skills” from a battery of classical subjects.The State University System of Florida announced earlier this month that it had “voted to accept the Classic Learning Test (CLT) as a path to admission” in the schools that comprise its system.“The system is pleased to add the CLT to reach a wider variety of students from different educational backgrounds,” the announcement said. “Not intimidated by […]

As part of its upcoming 75th anniversary celebrations, Gwynedd Mercy University will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its state-of-the-art Frances M. Maguire Healthcare Innovation Center.

Pope Francis meets with Russia’s new ambassador to the Vatican Ivan Soltanovsky on Sept. 18, 2023, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media St. Louis, Mo., Sep 18, 2023 / 13:45 pm (CNA). The meeting comes days after papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi visited Beijing to discuss efforts to bring about peace in Ukraine.