The Catholic Church is not a “club” for the elderly; it needs the participation of young people to keep it alive and ensure it does not “grow old,” Pope Francis said.

In a federal suit, the public interest firm Alliance Defending Freedom is suing the state of Vermont over a law, signed in May, that restricts advertising by the centers, considered an alternative to abortion clinics, and prohibits non-licensed health care professionals from working there.

The July 26 death of acclaimed Irish singer and songwriter Sinéad O’Connor, who was 56, has seen an outpouring of tributes from all walks of Irish life.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican seeking his party’s presidential nomination in 2024, faced criticism after defending a controversial portion of Florida’s 2023 Social Studies curriculum suggesting “slaves developed skills” that could be used for their “personal benefit.”

Catholic immigration groups and the U.S. bishops have objected to the asylum ban, arguing it violates existing U.S. immigration law, and exposes those who may otherwise be eligible for asylum to additional danger.

The Justice Department on July 24 sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a floating barrier recently installed on the Rio Grande, part of the Republican governor’s latest attempts to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico as part of his “Operation Lone Star” program.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, the Catholic Church’s first African American cardinal, reacted to President Joe Biden establishing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois July 25, saying it was important to remember that youth’s brutal, tragic murder and his mother’s heroic quest for justice as the work for civil rights continues.

The Jesuits have expelled from their religious order the well-known artist and preacher Father Marko Rupnik for refusing to uphold his vow of obedience and confront allegations of sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing some two dozen women and at least one man over the course of 30 years, the order said July 24.

When Pope Francis arrives in Lisbon for World Youth Day 2023, there will be plenty of pilgrims from the U.S. ready to greet him — close to 29,000.

Young people today must be open to love and let themselves be led and accompanied by God in the face of life’s challenges, Pope Francis said.