Pope Leo XIV said prayers for victims of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in the central part of the Philippines that killed at least 72 people late Sept. 30, according to Archbishop Alberto Uy of Cebu.

Pope Leo XIV expressed concern about rhetoric used by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shortly after their Sept. 30 meeting with top U.S. military officials.

A Catholic health care system in California is being sued for its refusal to perform an abortion on a woman who twice experienced miscarriage, with the plaintiff alleging the hospital’s religious directives endangered her life while failing to meet the proper “standard of care” for her condition.

In a city renowned for its seemingly genetic ability to parade, party and partake, the 100th anniversary of Xavier University of Louisiana has focused on the gifts of faith, love and reading the signs of the times.

A large majority of Americans said political violence is a big problem, but sharp partisan differences persist on who they see as responsible, a new Marquette Law School national survey found.

A Catholic school educator in New Jersey has been pulled from her classroom, after she advised a school official her pregnancy was a surrogacy — a practice gravely contrary to Church teaching — while the church engages her in a pastoral conversation over the matter.

Migrants and refugees often are “privileged witnesses of hope through their resilience and trust in God,” Pope Leo XIV said.

Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities, spoke with OSV News Oct. 1, the first day of Respect Life Month, about maintaining hope in a culture with a widespread disregard for human life and why abortion remains the preeminent issue in the “moral hierarchy” of life.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has decided not to receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” scheduled to be presented in November at the archdiocese’s “Keep Hope Alive” celebration, according to a statement by Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich Sept. 30.

Since a new front in America’s ongoing battle against drug smuggling has apparently opened — there have been two additional U.S. attacks on Venezuelan boats, the latest on Sept. 19, and a total of at least 17 related deaths — Catholics may be wondering: Are we at war? And if so, where do such enforcement actions fall on the spectrum of the church’s “just war” criteria?