As Pope Leo XIV prepares to visit Algeria as the first stop of his apostolic trip to Africa April 13–23, Bishop Michel Guillaud of Constantine-Hippone told OSV News the Holy Father’s presence will demonstrate that Christianity “is an asset and not a danger” to Algeria.

The university announced March 9 that Cooper Whitehead, currently serving as vice president of student affairs at Jesuit-run Boston College, will become its 29th president on July 1.

Molly Curtis was always a spiritual person, reading the Bible, studying other religious texts, finding wisdom in Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies. But while she found wisdom, she didn’t find peace.

As the United States indulges in a star-spangled celebration of its 250th birthday, a cornerstone of historical significance that stands out is religious freedom, and unlike for many other nations, it is a unique founding principle of this nation.

Israeli authorities closed Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher as part of wider closures for security concerns, beginning Feb. 28, when Israel and the United States launched attacks against Iran.

Pope Leo XIV, who graduated from the lower school of St. Mary of the Assumption on the city’s South Side in 1969, greeted and reminisced with 10 of his 82 former classmates after the general audience in St. Peter’s Square March 18.

Pope Leo XIV received King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace March 20, ahead of a solemn ceremony in which the Spanish king renewed a centuries-old bond with the Basilica of St. Mary Major by taking possession of his hereditary title as its protocanon.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended the role of religion in public life during comments March 19 at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington.

After the Rite of Election, the catechumens are called “the elect” until they are baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass.

President Donald Trump issued two messages marking prominent Catholic feast days, the feast of St. Joseph on March 19 and St. Patrick’s Day on March 17.