The Texas Supreme Court upheld a state law on June 28 banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender, allowing it to remain in effect.

Presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution as it relates to core constitutional acts of their office, presumptive immunity for official acts, but none for unofficial acts, a divided Supreme Court ruled July 1.

Donations to the annual Peter’s Pence collection, which supports the work of the Roman Curia and funds the charitable activity of the pope, went up in 2023, with increased donations from dioceses, foundations, private donors and religious orders, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis prayed in thanksgiving for the release of two Ukrainian Catholic priests who were held in Russian captivity for more than 19 months, calling on Christians to pray for the release of all prisoners of war.

Heaven is not a secure vault protected from outsiders but a “hidden treasure” that is reached by cultivating virtues, Pope Francis said.

Reflecting on the Apostle Peter’s liberation from prison after an angel opened his cell, the pope said God “is the one who sets us free and opens the way before us” in his homily during Mass for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, participated in the first general election debate of the 2024 cycle on June 27, including on topics like abortion, immigration, foreign policy, and the economy.

The Supreme Court on June 27 dismissed a case concerning abortions for medical emergencies in Idaho, sending the case back to a lower court without resolving the central question of whether a conflict exists between Idaho’s abortion restrictions and federal law governing emergency health care.

Days after they gathered for their annual spring meeting, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference has laid off an unspecified number of employees as part of the reorganization of a key department tasked with promoting awareness of and advocacy for Catholic social teaching at home and abroad.

Despite tensions with Pope Francis which have sometimes boiled over into public view, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict XVI’s longtime secretary, will become the pope’s representative to the Baltic states.