Jessica Smith’s kids, ages 16 to 22, will be among the 400,000 registered young adults and as many as 2 million general pilgrims anticipated to attend World Youth Day this year with Pope Francis.

Some 20 Jewish and Christian scholars began a three-month hybrid course in mid-July at the Vatican Library to dig into more than 1,000 years of teachings contained in more than 800 ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the 9th to 16th centuries housed in its collections.

The chairman of U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, has described religious freedom conditions in Nigeria as “abysmal.”

Natural family planning, or NFP, provides “a skill set” to help Catholic and Christian couples “live out their beliefs that Christ is involved” in marriage and family life, a national expert told OSV News.

The issue of nuclear weapons is a “scary, difficult topic” but one “we have to face,” especially as Catholics, Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester said.

As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, young Ukrainian Catholics from the U.S. are traveling to World Youth Day with a mix of hope, excitement and urgency.

An Ohio measure that would codify abortion access in the state’s constitution has qualified for the November ballot, but its fate may be determined by the outcome of a special election in August that raises the threshold for amending the state’s constitution.

Former Vice President Mike Pence defended the role of faith in public life at a Catholic conference on July 27.

Kerry Alys Robinson has been named as the next president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, the organization representing the interests of its 167 member organizations dedicated to carrying out the domestic humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in the United States.

A recent analysis shows 25 percent of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married — a record high — and may indicate “the closing of the American heart,” according to W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project.