Opinion

MOSCOW — A Russian court on Tuesday fined a coronavirus-denying monk who has challenged Kremlin lockdown orders for spreading false information about the pandemic. The court in the Ural Mountains region ordered Father Sergiy to pay 90,000 rubles ($1,250). The 65-year-old monk, who has attracted nationwide attention by urging followers to disobey church leadership and ignore church closures during the ... read more

TOCANCIPA, Colombia — When Alba Rada arrived in Colombia, members of the Focolare movement gave her a warm welcome, got her kids in school and helped her with housing until she found a place to rent. Now the 44-year-old Venezuelan immigrant replicates that kindness through a nonprofit that is helping more than 200 Venezuelans who live in Tocancipa — and ... read more

LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Pro-life groups in the UK expressing relief after the failure of an attempt to “hijack” the Domestic Abuse Bill to liberalize the country’s abortion laws. On Monday, the Speaker of the House said Parliament would not debate an amendment to the bill – called New Clause 29 – that would have allowed abortion on demand up ... read more

ROME – On Tuesday, the Vatican COVID-19 taskforce issued a call for global disarmament during the coronavirus pandemic, and investment in what they said are peacemaking measures such as healthcare, food security and the environment. Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican department for Integral Human Development and president of the taskforce, said during a July 7 press briefing ... read more

SIENA, Italy — Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi underwent a five-hour surgery Monday to reconstruct his face following a crash on his handbike last month. It was the third major operation that Zanardi has had since he crashed into an oncoming truck near the Tuscan town of Pienza on June 19 during a relay event. Dr. Paolo Gennaro of ... read more

CARMEL, Indiana — Supporters of an Indiana priest who was suspended for calling organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement “maggots and parasites” walked out of a service and shouted at a bishop who ended his remarks with the words, “Black lives matter.” The counterprotesters Sunday at St. Elizabeth Seton church in Carmel, Indiana, were opposing the suspension Father Theodore ... read more

NEW ORLEANS  — An organization of victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is seeking dismissal of a bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said in a Monday news release that its filing, submitted Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Orleans, claims the archdiocese filed the petition for Chapter ... read more

MEXICO CITY — Central America’s bishops have urged their governments and people to join together to provide health care and protect lives as the COVID-19 pandemic heaps misery and economic consequences on one of the poorer parts of the hemisphere. In a July 5 statement, the episcopal secretariat of Central America, known by its Spanish acronym as SEDAC, referenced Pope ... read more

BELLEVILLE, Illinois — A restaurant has closed after more than 50 years at a popular Catholic site in southwestern Illinois. Management cited the impact of the coronavirus. The Shrine Restaurant & Banquet Center in Belleville was in the visitor center at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, a Catholic retreat affiliated with the Missionary Oblates of Mary ... read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an opinion piece in The Washington Post daily newspaper, Sister Norma Pimentel, known for her work with migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border near Brownsville, Texas, made a public plea July 6 to keep an eye on the plight of asylum-seekers during the coronavirus pandemic. She also called for an end to the Migrant Protection Protocols, known ... read more

JERUSALEM — It’s hard to say what exactly will change in the West Bank if Israel follows through on its plans to annex parts of the occupied territory, but east Jerusalem, which was annexed more than a half-century ago, may provide some answers. Israeli leaders paint Jerusalem as a model of coexistence, the “unified, eternal” capital of the Jewish people, ... read more

TUCSON, Arizona — Tucson Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger announced July 1 that state health officials have “strongly recommended” the suspension of public worship and that he agrees the recommendation is a wise course of action. “Along with many of you, I too have been carefully following the pandemic’s growth here in Arizona,” he said in a statement to the faithful ... read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is slated for July 19-25 this year and has as its theme: “Live the truth and beauty of God’s plan for married love!” The weeklong observance is a national educational campaign of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that celebrates “God’s design for married love and the gift of life and to ... read more

ROME – Reporters covering the Vatican find ourselves in a frustrating bind right now, because we’ve got news we can’t fully report — in part because we’re bound by journalistic ethics, and in part because we don’t know ourselves what happened. That vacuum hasn’t stopped the left v. right ideological sausage grinders from swinging into action anyway, running the risk ... read more

ROSARIO, Argentina – With the number of coronavirus victims growing throughout Latin America, life for the Catholic Church has also been affected. Mexico With few security measures ordered by the national government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the weeks after the first confirmed positive case, it was little surprise when Mexico surpassed 30,000 deaths on July 6. Among ... read more

MOSCOW — A Russian court on Tuesday fined a coronavirus-denying monk who has challenged Kremlin lockdown orders for spreading false information about the pandemic. The court in the Ural Mountains region ordered Father Sergiy to pay 90,000 rubles ($1,250). The 65-year-old monk, who has attracted nationwide attention by urging followers to disobey church leadership and ignore church closures during the ... read more

TOCANCIPA, Colombia — When Alba Rada arrived in Colombia, members of the Focolare movement gave her a warm welcome, got her kids in school and helped her with housing until she found a place to rent. Now the 44-year-old Venezuelan immigrant replicates that kindness through a nonprofit that is helping more than 200 Venezuelans who live in Tocancipa — and ... read more

LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Pro-life groups in the UK expressing relief after the failure of an attempt to “hijack” the Domestic Abuse Bill to liberalize the country’s abortion laws. On Monday, the Speaker of the House said Parliament would not debate an amendment to the bill – called New Clause 29 – that would have allowed abortion on demand up ... read more

ROME – On Tuesday, the Vatican COVID-19 taskforce issued a call for global disarmament during the coronavirus pandemic, and investment in what they said are peacemaking measures such as healthcare, food security and the environment. Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican department for Integral Human Development and president of the taskforce, said during a July 7 press briefing ... read more

SIENA, Italy — Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi underwent a five-hour surgery Monday to reconstruct his face following a crash on his handbike last month. It was the third major operation that Zanardi has had since he crashed into an oncoming truck near the Tuscan town of Pienza on June 19 during a relay event. Dr. Paolo Gennaro of ... read more

CARMEL, Indiana — Supporters of an Indiana priest who was suspended for calling organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement “maggots and parasites” walked out of a service and shouted at a bishop who ended his remarks with the words, “Black lives matter.” The counterprotesters Sunday at St. Elizabeth Seton church in Carmel, Indiana, were opposing the suspension Father Theodore ... read more

NEW ORLEANS  — An organization of victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is seeking dismissal of a bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said in a Monday news release that its filing, submitted Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Orleans, claims the archdiocese filed the petition for Chapter ... read more

MEXICO CITY — Central America’s bishops have urged their governments and people to join together to provide health care and protect lives as the COVID-19 pandemic heaps misery and economic consequences on one of the poorer parts of the hemisphere. In a July 5 statement, the episcopal secretariat of Central America, known by its Spanish acronym as SEDAC, referenced Pope ... read more

BELLEVILLE, Illinois — A restaurant has closed after more than 50 years at a popular Catholic site in southwestern Illinois. Management cited the impact of the coronavirus. The Shrine Restaurant & Banquet Center in Belleville was in the visitor center at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, a Catholic retreat affiliated with the Missionary Oblates of Mary ... read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an opinion piece in The Washington Post daily newspaper, Sister Norma Pimentel, known for her work with migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border near Brownsville, Texas, made a public plea July 6 to keep an eye on the plight of asylum-seekers during the coronavirus pandemic. She also called for an end to the Migrant Protection Protocols, known ... read more

JERUSALEM — It’s hard to say what exactly will change in the West Bank if Israel follows through on its plans to annex parts of the occupied territory, but east Jerusalem, which was annexed more than a half-century ago, may provide some answers. Israeli leaders paint Jerusalem as a model of coexistence, the “unified, eternal” capital of the Jewish people, ... read more

TUCSON, Arizona — Tucson Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger announced July 1 that state health officials have “strongly recommended” the suspension of public worship and that he agrees the recommendation is a wise course of action. “Along with many of you, I too have been carefully following the pandemic’s growth here in Arizona,” he said in a statement to the faithful ... read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is slated for July 19-25 this year and has as its theme: “Live the truth and beauty of God’s plan for married love!” The weeklong observance is a national educational campaign of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that celebrates “God’s design for married love and the gift of life and to ... read more

ROME – Reporters covering the Vatican find ourselves in a frustrating bind right now, because we’ve got news we can’t fully report — in part because we’re bound by journalistic ethics, and in part because we don’t know ourselves what happened. That vacuum hasn’t stopped the left v. right ideological sausage grinders from swinging into action anyway, running the risk ... read more

ROSARIO, Argentina – With the number of coronavirus victims growing throughout Latin America, life for the Catholic Church has also been affected. Mexico With few security measures ordered by the national government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the weeks after the first confirmed positive case, it was little surprise when Mexico surpassed 30,000 deaths on July 6. Among ... read more