Pope Leo XIV’s recognition of St. John Henry Newman as a “doctor of the church” will be an ecumenical celebration, a sign of esteem for the excellence and ongoing relevance of his teaching, first as an Anglican and then as a Roman Catholic, said a key figure in preparing the declaration.

The Trump administration indicated it would restrict the number of refugees it admits annually into the country to 7,500, with most of that number to be white South Africans.

Kierre Williams entered the plea Oct. 28 in Washington County, Nebraska, District Court, admitting to first-degree murder in the 2023 stabbing death of Father Stephen Gutgsell.

With funding for SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a major part of the nation’s social safety net — scheduled to lapse Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown, that need could stretch many hunger relief ministries, and those they serve, to the limit.

Days before a looming lapse in federal food assistance programs, Catholic Charities USA, the network organization dedicated to carrying out the domestic humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in the United States, announced a national fundraising effort to provide an emergency supply of food to Catholic Charities agencies around the country.

Young people must take control of technology and “humanize” online spaces to be friendly, creative places — not isolated echo chambers, forms of addiction or ways to escape, Pope Leo XIV said.

In the Gaza Strip, the fragile calm following the Oct. 13 Israel-Hamas peace deal has brought little relief to the enclave’s small Christian community.

A national pro-life organization and two Republican senators said Oct. 29 that they would push the Trump administration for more information regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of a new generic form of mifepristone — a pill commonly, but not exclusively, used for early abortion.

As Hurricane Melissa continued its devastating course through the Caribbean, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged Catholics to pray for and support the people and communities impacted by one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

With Pope Leo XIV set to proclaim of St. John Henry Newman as a doctor of the church Nov. 1, let’s consider what criterion is used to make this decision, whether a layperson could be named a doctor and what sort of writings church doctors must have produced to be given this title.