While continuing to work to change laws to protect the unborn and support pregnant women in need, “we need to redouble our efforts to continue building, in the words of St. John Paul II, ‘a culture of life and a civilization of love,'” Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, said Jan. 22.
Nation
In a sudden development in a case that has lingered in the courts for nearly a decade, the state of New York has given up on trying to enforce an insurance regulation that would have forced Catholic and other religious organizations to pay for abortions.
It was a picture-perfect December afternoon in Pacific Palisades, and the sounds of a neighborhood coming back to life were in the air: the steady drone of jackhammers, the hum of emergency generators, the squeals of contractor pickup trucks loaded with building materials.
As the nation’s Catholics are set to remember unborn children in prayer, a U.S. bishop is stressing that amid several positive developments in safeguarding human life, “many challenges remain” in making abortion “unthinkable.”
The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is back for 2026 with a special route that will travel the East Coast from St. Augustine, Florida, to Portland, Maine, ending in Philadelphia, organizers announced Jan. 8.
In a revolutionary year, the spirited celebration of America’s 250th anniversary throughout 2026, the national shrine dedicated to the first U.S.-born saint is aiming to help patriotic revelers discover the place of “Mother Seton” among the pantheon of iconic nation-builders.
“Be open to what the Lord has in store for you,” Pope Leo XIV said in a video address to thousands of youth and young adults attending the SEEK 2026 conference.
Amid poinsettias and sparkling Christmas trees, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis told Catholics gathered Dec. 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul that the promise of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope did not disappoint, as the Church focused on mercy and conversion.
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father James A. Misko, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as the bishop of Tucson, Arizona.
Several parishes and schools across western Washington have shut down operations due to historic flooding in the state.