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BALTIMORE -- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore joined faith leaders from across the city June 3 to pray for peace and healing after more than a week of nationwide protests and unrest in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody.

​​​​​​​WASHINGTON -- Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, condemned the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and warned the country must "leave behind the purveyors of polarization" in politics.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Pro-life advocates must speak out in defense of all human life--including issues of racial justice and deaths at the hands of police, a prominent pro-life lawmaker told CNA Wednesday.

WASHINGTON -- Pope Francis used his June 3 audience and a phone call with the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to express his solidarity and support following days of demonstrations protesting the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

WASHINGTON -- Justice is what George Floyd and his family and friends deserve, and justice "through equal and fair treatment under the law is what every person in this country deserves," said the U.S. bishop who is president of the National Black Catholic Congress.

DETROIT  -- The Archdiocese of Detroit will transition to a new pastoral and governance model for its 218 parishes called "families of parishes," made of groups of three to six parishes under one pastor.

VATICAN CITY -- Observing with great concern the social unrest unfolding in the United States, Pope Francis said no one can claim to defend the sanctity of every human life while turning a blind eye to racism and exclusion.

VATICAN CITY -- With anger and frustration still high in the United States over the death of George Floyd, religious leaders should organize ecumenical and interreligious prayer initiatives to bring people together and promote healing, said a top Vatican official.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington June 2 before he signed an executive order back at the White House to expand U.S. support for international religious freedom efforts.

WASHINGTON -- Even as the United States still finds itself grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, outrage, grief and anger over the latest killing of an unarmed black man outweighed caution as hundreds of thousands turned out nationwide to protest and many of the country's Catholic bishops joined the calls for justice.

WASHINGTON -- The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis "was senseless and brutal, a sin that cries out to heaven for justice," and protests taking place nationwide "reflect the justified frustration and anger" of millions of Americans who today suffer because of racism, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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.

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.

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.

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.

WASHINGTON -- The bishops of the state of Washington said suspension of the public celebration of Mass because of the coronavirus pandemic was undertaken "not out of fear, but out of our deepest respect for human life and health."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines for group gatherings are paramount, says Dr. Timothy Flanigan.