Kate Scanlon

Five years after Pope Francis updated the catechism to clarify the Catholic Church’s teaching on the death penalty, there is “renewed momentum” in the United States to end the practice, a leading Catholic activist said.

The Texas Supreme Court has temporarily stayed a district judge’s Dec. 7 ruling in favor of a pregnant mother who sued the state for an exemption to its abortion ban, after arguing her pregnancy would endanger her life and future fertility.

A Texas judge ruled Dec. 7 in favor of a pregnant mother who sued the state to seek an exemption to its abortion ban after she argued that continuing with her pregnancy would endanger her life and future fertility.