Illinois Catholic bishops back pregnancy centers’ suit over law requiring abortion referrals December 17, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, News, Religious Freedom, Respect Life, World News Catholic bishops in Illinois offered their support to a lawsuit from pro-life pregnancy centers that say a Prairie State law requiring those centers to refer women for abortions violates their First Amendment rights.
Trump, lawmakers call for Jimmy Lai’s release after ‘unjust conviction’ December 16, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News President Donald Trump, the State Department, and members of Congress expressed concern after Hong Kong’s prominent Catholic media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai was convicted of national security offenses under the city’s controversial national security law.
Little Sisters of the Poor again appeal for protection from contraceptive rule December 16, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, Respect Life, Supreme Court, World News The Little Sisters of the Poor appealed an August ruling from a federal district court that struck down a religious conscience rule, their legal representatives said Dec. 15.
Increase in U.S. executions largely driven by Florida, year-end report says December 16, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News Although there was a significant increase in executions in the U.S. in 2025, a smaller number of new death sentences was imposed, a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center found.
Federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody ‘immediately’ December 11, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Immigration and Migration, News, World News In a Dec. 11 court filing, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident at the center of a high-profile immigration case, from ICE custody “immediately.”
USCCB’s racial justice chair discourages ‘dehumanizing language’ after Trump Somali comments December 5, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, Immigration and Migration, News, Racial Justice, World News While the statement from Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, did not name President Donald Trump, it came after Trump took aim at Somali immigrants during comments at a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Dec. 2, calling them “garbage.”
Military archbishop urges respect for rule of law after follow-up strike on alleged drug boat December 4, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, World News The head of the U.S. military archdiocese on Dec. 3 urged respect for the human person and the rule of law amid new questions about the legality of a deadly U.S. military attack Sept. 2 on a boat in the Caribbean.
New coalition aims to end capital punishment as executions increase but public support wanes December 3, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, Supreme Court, World News Despite an uptick in executions in the U.S. in 2025, opponents of the death penalty lauded decreases in new death sentences and waning public support for the practice during comments at a Dec. 3 press event announcing a new coalition called the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty.
Supreme Court weighs appeal from New Jersey faith-based pregnancy centers December 2, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, Respect Life, Supreme Court, World News The Supreme Court on Dec. 2 heard oral arguments in an appeal from a group of faith-based pregnancy centers in New Jersey challenging an investigation by that state’s attorney general alleging they misled people about their services and seeking information about their donors.
Catholic advocates raise alarm at Trump’s call to ‘pause’ migration from ‘Third World Countries’ December 2, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, World News President Donald Trump said in a series of social media posts on Thanksgiving Day that he will “permanently pause” all immigration from what he called “Third World Countries,” prompting concern from Catholic immigration advocates.
White House ‘border czar’ calls U.S. bishops ‘wrong’ after immigration statement November 18, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, Immigration and Migration, News, World News The White House “border czar” Tom Homan called the U.S. Catholic bishops “wrong” Nov. 14, two days after the body of bishops in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to issue a rare group statement voicing “our concern here for immigrants” at their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.
House to vote on shutdown deal; Catholic groups urge action on health care costs November 12, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Health Care, News, U.S. Congress, World News A key procedural vote in the Senate signaled the beginning of a funding deal that may bring about the end of the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. But Catholic groups expressed concerns that the potential deal leaves the matter of health insurance subsidies to a future vote with an uncertain outcome and just as premiums are skyrocketing.
