The U.S. Catholic bishops issued a nationwide call to prayer and action July 27 over the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug.
Pro-life
In a sweeping address to the Spanish parliament, Pope Leo XIV delivered a forceful defense of the dignity of every human life, declaring that its protection is not a partisan issue but “a goal of civilization,” while addressing the issues of abortion, migration, freedom of conscience, the seal of confession, and the Church’s role in public life.
The number of executions around the globe in 2025 surged to the highest recorded figure in 44 years, a new Amnesty International report said.
The Catholic Church is the guardian of hope, whose members are called to speak clearly against all evil and in defense of human life, Pope Leo XIV said.
On Nov. 3, Virginia voters will face a referendum on an amendment that, if passed, would enshrine virtually unlimited access to abortion in the state constitution.
A Vatican diplomat in Geneva issued a call for greater commitment to the defense of the dignity and rights of people with Down syndrome, decrying the current “discriminatory and eugenic practices” related to prenatal screening.
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.
On the eve of the 2026 March for Life in Washington, Pope Leo XIV issued a message to participants, expressing his deep gratitude for their “eloquent public witness” and imparting his apostolic blessing.
Ahead of the French Senate debate on the “assisted dying” bill Jan. 20, French bishops reaffirmed their opposition to the projected law, saying, “We do not care for life by giving death.”
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.”