As Hong Kong Catholic activist’s trial reaches final stretch, appeals grow to ‘save him’ August 18, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, Uncategorized, World News At the start of final submissions in his landmark trial, Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was provided with medication and a heart monitor Aug. 18, after health concerns had delayed proceedings the previous week.
Report: Christian church attacks down, but recent totals still higher than 2018-2022 August 13, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News Attacks on Christian churches in the U.S. last year totaled 415 — down from 485 in 2023 — although they are “significantly higher” than totals recorded from 2018 to 2022, according to a new report from the Washington-based Family Research Council.
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.
Salvadoran Catholic leaders speaking out more amid worries over democratic erosion August 11, 2025By David Agren OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador issued a pair of petitions for lawmakers during a Mass celebrated for the feast of the Divine Savior, observed in the country to commemorate the Transfiguration. Both petitions ventured into the realm of politics.
When nuns perished during adoration in wartime Warsaw, white doves rose into sky August 8, 2025By Alina Petrowa-Wasilewicz OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, Saints, World News The wartime story of the heroic nuns from Warsaw begins during the uprising in August 1944, when their convent became a site of both faith and tragedy.
‘Free Gena,’ plead colleagues of kidnapped Irish missionary in Haiti August 6, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Missions, News, Religious Freedom, World News Staff of a charity serving Haiti are pleading for the return of a kidnapped Irish lay missionary and her companions — including a 3-year-old child — taken by armed gunmen who stormed an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, amid the Caribbean nation’s long-running armed gang violence and political instability.
Indian nuns released on conditional bail; advocates, superiors call their arrest ‘unlawful’ August 5, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News Two Catholic nuns and an Indigenous youth jailed for alleged human trafficking and forced conversion in central India have been released on bail under strict conditions by a special court dealing with terror cases.
Kidnapped Nigerian priest who served in Alaska freed July 22, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Missions, News, Religious Freedom, World News A Nigerian priest kidnapped by Boko Haram in June has been released, OSV News has learned.
Huckabee demands Israel punish settlers for ‘act of terror’ on West Bank church July 21, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Religious Freedom, World News U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the desecration of any holy place an “act of terror” and a “crime” that required “harsh consequences,” following a visit to the West Bank village of Taybeh.
Myanmar opposition court sentences 9 men to 20 years for killing priest July 21, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News A court affiliated with Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government has sentenced nine men to 20 years in prison for the killing of a Catholic priest in the country’s conflict-torn Sagaing region earlier this year, according to Fides agency.
FBI to investigate anti-Catholic, antisemitic vandalism at Pittsburgh area church July 21, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News Newly installed Bishop Mark A. Eckman of Pittsburgh has expressed his “great sorrow” over “hateful vandalism” at one of his parish churches, which federal authorities are now investigating.
Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served July 17, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News A kidnapped Nigerian priest, who previously served in Alaska, has managed to contact his home diocese, OSV News has learned.