Kate Scanlon

During a contentious hearing, a top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security on July 16 appeared to walk back a previous statement that Catholic entities are among the nongovernmental organizations subject to a probe by the committee about their work with migrants.

As the Trump administration implements its hardline immigration policies, a record-high share of U.S. adults said immigration generally benefits the country, a new Gallup Poll found.

The Trump administration plans to appeal a federal judge's July 11 ruling that bars immigration officers in Southern California from conducting immigration enforcement actions based solely on a person's race or the fact that person is speaking Spanish.

The U.S. House on July 3 approved the bill that would enact key provisions of Trump's legislative agenda on taxes and immigration, meaning the legislation will reach the president's desk for his signature.

Mercy Sr. Mary Haddad, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, called the legislation a moral failure, citing its cuts to safety-net programs like Medicaid and SNAP.

 In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said President Trump's effort is an attempt to  rewrite the long-standing legal interpretation of the practice.

The contrast reflected the sharp ideological division in the U.S. bishops conference over prioritizing opposition to abortion versus highlighting severe cuts to safety net programs included in the president’s plan. 

A group of Orthodox churches filed a federal lawsuit over a new law in Washington state requiring clergy to report child abuse or neglect without exceptions for clergy-penitent privilege that is also being challenged by that state's Catholic bishops.

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 18 upheld a Tennessee state law banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

If Donald Trump succeeds in ending the policy, "It would be like stealing his future, the future that we came to the United States to seek."

The Washington State Catholic Conference previously supported a version of the legislation to make clergy mandatory reporters that did include an exception.

Pope Leo may bring unique insight to the problem of polarization in the U.S. and in the U.S. church, analysts say.

In July, a state judge denied the effort to shut down the nonprofit, arguing the state's case violated the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, among other issues. 

An analysis from the Congressional Budget Office said the tax provisions in the House version would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over a decade, 

In a letter to mark the 10th anniversary of the late Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', U.S. bishops have urged young people to "lead the way" on the climate crisis.

Catholic Relief Services said May 21 that most of its projects under a federal international food aid program were terminated, leaving hundreds of thousands of children more vulnerable to hunger.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance met Louis and Deborah Prevost at the White House on May 20. Louis Prevost, the older brother of Pope Leo XIV, has described himself as a "MAGA type."

Catholic immigration advocates said they were "disturbed" by a Supreme Court order allowing the Trump administration to end legal protections from deportation for about 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants. The Venezuelans, a typically Catholic population, were permitted to remain in the United States without risk of deportation due to dangerous conditions in their homeland.

Planned Parenthood's latest annual report shows an increase in abortions from the previous year's report, while also showing a $100 million increase in government funding amid an overall decrease in cancer screenings and prevention services.

Critics have expressed concern that the new law makes no exception for clergy-penitent privilege.