Judge blocks religious exemption to birth control coverage; Little Sisters of the Poor to appeal August 14, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News A federal district court in Philadelphia Aug. 13 struck down a religious conscience rule implemented by the first Trump administration exempting employers with religious or moral concerns from having to provide their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives and other drugs or procedures to which they have an objection.
Petition filed at Supreme Court seeks overturn of landmark same-sex marriage ruling August 12, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Marriage & Family Life, News, Supreme Court, World News About a decade after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, overturning state laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the justices have been directly asked to overturn the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Trump federalizes DC police force, says homeless encampments will be removed August 12, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Social Justice, World News President Donald Trump said Aug. 11 he will place the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department “under direct federal control,” activate the National Guard, and “get rid of the slums” in what he called an effort to combat crime in Washington.
Statue of Confederate general known as anti-Catholic to be reinstalled in nation’s capital August 12, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Racial Justice, Religious Freedom, World News The National Park Service announced Aug. 4 that it will restore and reinstall a statue of a senior Confederate officer in the nation’s capital that was toppled during riots following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Green card policy change may leave immigrants seeking legal status vulnerable to deportation August 11, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Immigration and Migration, News, World News U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reportedly closed off a pathway for citizenship for immigrants who apply for green cards through a spouse or other family members, raising the prospect of deporting them and breaking up their families.
Trump administration moves to reinstate VA health policy fully excluding abortion August 4, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Health Care, News, Respect Life, World News The Trump administration said Aug. 1 it would revoke its predecessor’s policy rule that included abortion as a covered health benefit for veterans and their dependents, and return to a policy of fully excluding abortion and abortion-counseling.
Amid shift in public opinion on immigration, Catholic advocates praise bipartisan attempt at reform August 2, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, World News Catholic immigration advocates praised the bipartisan effort behind the reintroduction of legislation in Congress that would give legal status to some eligible immigrants who currently lack legal authorization to be in the U.S.
Planned Parenthood defunding remains in question amid legal challenges August 1, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, U.S. Congress, World News Whether Planned Parenthood will ultimately be stripped of its federal funding remained in question amid ongoing lawsuits over a provision in President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda that would cut those funds for one year.
FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence July 25, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, World News Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee July 22 released an interim staff report alleging the FBI surveilled a Catholic priest after he declined to speak about conversations he had with a suspected neo-Nazi defendant, a self-described “radical traditional Catholic clerical fascist” the FBI was investigating for making violent threats online.
U.S. to withdraw, again, from UNESCO over Palestine and UN development goals July 23, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News The Trump administration on July 22 said the United States would withdraw from the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO, a group that has partnered with the Holy See on human development and cultural heritage projects.
Judge blocks defunding of some, but not all, Planned Parenthood groups July 23, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News A federal judge on July 21 extended an order blocking enforcement of a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, that would have stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid payments for a year.
Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing July 17, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Catholic Charities, Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, U.S. Congress, World News During a contentious hearing, a top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security on July 16 appeared to walk back a previous statement that Catholic entities are among the nongovernmental organizations subject to a probe by the committee about their work with migrants.
