The absence of pilgrims has left the local economy in ruins, affecting all sectors that rely on religious tourism, from hotels and restaurants to olive wood craftsmanship and souvenir sales.

In a partial legal win for pro-life protesters outside abortion clinics, a federal judge in Minneapolis has allowed a First Amendment challenge to proceed against the city’s 2022 “abortion bubble” ordinance.

Oklahoma’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond is challenging the constitutionality of the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school after a state school board approved the Catholic school’s application.

The pope celebrated a memorial Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for Pope Benedict XVI and the six cardinals and 147 bishops who died over the past year.

Pope Francis will travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates Dec. 1-3 to participate in the U.N. Climate Change Conference, the Vatican press office confirmed.

In the 25 years since the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act became law, “restrictions on religious freedom have been steadily increasing for several years” around the globe, said the chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ religious liberty and international policy committees.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has issued a sharp rebuke against surging religious hatred in the U.S. amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The United Auto Workers labor strike against the “Big Three” car producers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, whose 14 automotive brands include Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep — has ended with a series of contracts experts say emphasizes the importance of unions in Catholic social teaching, especially for achieving family wages through collective action.

In an hourlong interview with Italy’s main news program, Pope Francis announced he would travel to Dubai in early December for the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP28.

As the sun broke through the morning sky after a torrential downpour in Rome, Pope Francis was wheeled past dozens of gravestones that marked the final resting place of members of the military forces who died during and immediately after World War II.