News - May 2020 RSS Feed

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of California’s limits on the number of people who may attend a church service, in a decision that saw justices debating whether religious services were being treated more strictly than similar gatherings under restrictions aimed to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

VATICAN CITY -- With a religious sister who survived COVID-19 and a woman who lost her mother to the coronavirus, Pope Francis led the recitation of rosary and asked Mary to intercede to save the world from the pandemic.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cardinal Peter Turkson has said that the principle of “non-violence” extends beyond opposing physical violence, and must include the protection human rights from exploitation.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Catholic bishops said May 29 they "are broken-hearted, sickened and outraged to watch another video of an African American man being killed before our very eyes."

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After California relaxed public health restrictions on churches on Monday, the Los Angeles archdiocese announced its plan to resume public Masses.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Buffalo, has launched a broad-based initiative focused on reenvisioning the mission of the Catholic Church of western New York "and bringing about diocesan-wide renewal," according to a May 22 diocesan news release.

CLEVELAND -- Catholic churches in Minnesota reopened for the public celebration of Mass May 27, but not before the state's bishops took a bold stance to assert that churches were as important as bars, restaurants and hair salons.

SAO PAULO -- Catholic missionaries in Latin America say they have noticed disturbing signs of an increase in child abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- The Leadership Conference of Women Religious said May 27 it will join a group of over 100 national faith leaders -- from Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions -- who have called for a National Day of Mourning and Lament June 1 for those who have died from COVID-19.

VIENNA -- As people spent more time online during the coronavirus lockdown, negative remarks and even the incitement of hatred based on national, cultural or religious identity increased, a Vatican representative said.

OXFORD, England -- Catholic groups across Europe have echoed Pope Francis' call for a universal basic wage as part of recovery plans after the coronavirus pandemic.

Approaching from the passenger side of the vehicle to maintain “social distance,” Father Spryow hears the driver's confession while the engine hums, the sandy-pink St. Raphael Church steeple rising above penitent and confessor. 

On May 23, 1960, parishioners formed the local conference, becoming part of an "old, deeply-ingrained tradition of compassion" dating back to the parish's origins as a Spanish mission.

MEXICO CITY -- Lawmakers in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato have shelved a pair of initiatives to legalize abortion, an issue being introduced for debate in legislatures around the country.

ST. PAUL, Minn.-- A video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed man repeatedly saying "I can't breathe," and who appears to lose consciousness or die while being pinned down, is "gut wrenching and deeply disturbing," Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda  of St. Paul and Minneapolis said in a May 27 statement.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As the coronavirus digs deeper into Navajo Nation, infecting Native Americans at a higher rate than anywhere in the country, 1,500 miles away a nonprofit in the Archdiocese of Louisville is working to ease the suffering.

ROME -- As Italian Catholics prepared to celebrate Pentecost, the second Sunday with Masses permitted with a limited number of faithful, bishops and priests were still debating whether to continue livestreaming Masses as well.

VATICAN CITY -- The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, publicly supporting a proposal to establish a national day in Italy to commemorate the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives to COVID-19, said formally remembering the dead is important.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis' recent message to the pontifical mission societies is a reminder that the church's primary mission is to proclaim the Gospel, not run institutions with businesslike efficiency, said Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

Newly issued state guidelines permit holding religious gatherings, as long as attendance does not exceed either 100 people or 25% of a building’s capacity, whichever number is lower. Counties must approve the guidelines before services resume.