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?

People of faith cannot love God while despising his creatures, and people cannot call themselves Christians without caring for everything fragile and wounded, including the earth, Pope Leo XIV told climate activists and political and religious leaders.

Five years after the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on fraternal love, and amid a rise in political violence, the leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops is pleading for a rediscovery of — and respect for — a common humanity.

Sharing the joy of being loved by God despite one’s human flaws is the mission of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV said.