AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) — It was just past 9 p.m. on June 22, during the Texas State Board of Education meeting, when Shaimaa Zayan, a staffer with the Austin chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was called up to testify. She braced herself, knowing what was coming. “Can we have a leader of a…
(RNS) — While there is growing awareness of the severe humanitarian crisis in Cuba, in large measure brought on by the U.S. fuel blockade, few are paying attention to the damage that decades of sanctions are inflicting on the Catholic Church’s ability to serve the Cuban people. The United States has pressed economic sanctions on…
Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said his decision to remove a high-profile priest as an archdiocesan exorcist was driven by the public way he exercised his ministry, not by his specific beliefs about UFOs. Following comments on social media linking UFOs to demonic activity, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti was removed in early June as an exorcist for…
What was the purpose of the Founding Fathers in uniting 13 North Atlantic colonies into an independent nation in 1776? What is the purpose of the United States of America today? Over the July Fourth weekend, Pope Leo XIV modeled a two-pronged approach to these questions. His approach issues a challenge: Can we make the…
FLUSHING, N.Y. (RNS) — Temple bells echoed through the sanctuary as priests chanted Sanskrit prayers before black granite deities draped in silk and fresh flowers. Barefoot worshippers carrying coconuts, bananas and jasmine garlands moved from shrine to shrine as families from across the country gathered to mark the anniversary of the Hindu Temple Society of…
I went into our nation’s semiquincentennial weekend feeling as I normally do around overtly patriotic events: deeply conflicted. There is much that I love about being American and what our country can represent. When I went to Boston on my recent soccer pilgrimage, I walked a bit of the Freedom Trail and was struck by the ways…
(The Conversation) — One Saturday afternoon in May 2026, families gathered on Poklonnaya Gora, a hilltop war memorial park in western Moscow. They came for a procession and a “moleben,” an Orthodox prayer service, for the well-being of Russian families. Church media billed it as the first Day of the Sanctity of the Family. May…
The Vatican has released the framework for a fall meeting with the heads of Eastern Catholic Churches and presidents of bishops’ conferences, marking the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia and focusing on the Church’s pastoral approach to families. Pope Francis’ issued his post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the pastoral care of families. It was published after the 2014 and 2015 Synods on…
After spending the morning praying for migrants on the island of Lampedusa, Italy, Pope Leo XIV celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See and his family. “I am deeply honored to celebrate this special day with a fellow American and the Bishop of…
The Michigan Attorney General’s office released its report June 25 detailing the findings of its investigation related to clerical sexual abuse in the Diocese of Saginaw, the sixth of seven such investigations into the handling of abuse in each of Michigan’s Catholic dioceses. Over a 75-year period, the report said, allegations were made against 37 Saginaw…
