OSV News

The U.S. bishops' migration chair called recent comments by Vice President JD Vance about the church's work with migrants "a tremendous mischaracterization" while speaking at an event in the nation's capital Feb. 12. But he also invited Vance to sit down and talk with him to set the record straight.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund, known as UNICEF, sexual violence against minors grew 1,000% between 2023 and 2024 — "a staggering" number, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said Feb. 7.

In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of the death of Sister Stang, who is considered by many as a "Martyr of the Amazon," a relic containing blood-soaked soil from the site of her murder was enshrined at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island in Rome on Jan. 10.

The Feb. 8 statement from the foreign ministry of the regime accused the Vatican of using its "websites and platforms" to transmit statements "that constitute an insulting aggravation for the Sovereignty and Dignity of the Nicaraguan State."

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey announced he has engaged a law firm to investigate whether the current president of Seton Hall University, Msgr. Joseph R. Reilly, "acted appropriately" regarding disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued layoff notices to about a third of the staff in its Migration and Refugee Services Office on Feb. 7 after it stopped receiving reimbursements from the federal government for its work with refugees who qualify for federal assistance, per an internal memo.

Sunday Mass attendance in person at Catholic churches in the U.S. is back to pre-pandemic levels — although just under one quarter of the nation's Catholics are in the pews on a regular weekly basis.

This year, in addition to a charitable donation, there has been some talk of cheesesteaks — a culinary delight that originated in Philadelphia — heading to the Midwest should the Chiefs capture an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl.

For decades, Altadena has been a diverse hamlet that boasted higher than average Black home ownership, thriving Black small businesses, and churches with ministries that specifically serve Black Catholics. But now, in the wake of such devastation, local leaders recognize Altadena faces a daunting challenge: retaining its identity in the face of a very real chasm between residents' desire to stay, and the financial ability to stay.

As an uneasy calm returned to the Congolese city of Goma, following a unilateral ceasefire declared by the rebels, people began burying the dead, and agencies rushed aid to thousands of displaced civilians, now camping in churches and schools.

More than 50 people meeting at St. John Neumann Church received briefings from experts from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., known as CLINIC, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

An official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said Pope Francis' decision to suppress Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was based on the fact that there was no authentic charism, or spiritual gifts, in the controversial lay movement founded by Luis Fernando Figari in 1971.
 

By the afternoon of Feb. 2, there were 67 crosses standing under a leaden gray sky — one for each victim from the Washington aviation disaster, 64 on the jet and three crew on the helicopter. Names will also be added to the crosses, crafted with concerned diligence by Dallas-based Roberto Marquez, a self-trained, immigrant artist originally from Mexico.

The long-awaited and elusive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has silenced bombs and halted air raids on the Gaza Strip, for the time being, but the humanitarian situation there is dire.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou wants to split an "end of life" bill to separate the issue of "active assistance in dying" from that of palliative care — a proposal seen as a smart attempt to give a pro-life approach to the legislation without antagonizing rival political sides.

The Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone in Italy made history Jan. 20 by publishing the country's first diocesan abuse report, titled "The Courage to Look." Experts called it a hopeful sign in a country where the Catholic Church has yet to tackle the abuse crisis and seek answers on the scale and scope of clergy abuse.

New York's fashion models — as some of the most visible faces of a $2.5 trillion global business — have long worked without the benefit of basic labor protections. The Fashion Workers Act, signed into law Dec. 21 by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, takes effect in June. It will afford models a host of employment safeguards in an industry where many say they have previously felt mute and isolated.

Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, Washington, knows the gritty realities of the people he shepherds. The bishop's own diocese is located in central Washington, one of the world's leading sources of apples and other produce, largely harvested through migrant labor. On Jan. 27, Tyson offered a plenary policy session titled "Pope Francis' Vision for Ecology, Dialogue, and the Common Good" to hundreds of attendees at the 2025 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington. 

President Donald Trump Jan. 28 signed an executive order stating his administration would seek to prohibit certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

Church leaders across Europe marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with calls to remember German Nazi-inflicted sufferings and to counter a new rise in antisemitism and extremism.