world news
Monsignor Ratzinger, retired pope’s brother, dies at 96
Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, a musician and retired Pope Benedict XVI’s elder brother, died July 1 at the age of 96.
Court says religious schools should not be excluded from tax credit program
The Supreme Court said the exclusion of religious schools in Montana’s state scholarship aid program violated the federal Constitution.
U.S. Catholic media must inspire unity amid division, pope says
Catholic media outlets in the United States are called to break down barriers that prevent dialogue and honest communication between people and communities, Pope Francis said.
Catholic leaders denounce court’s rejection of federal death penalty appeal
When the Supreme Court announced June 29 that it would not hear an appeal by federal death-row inmates challenging the method to be used in their upcoming executions, a longtime advocate against capital punishment said the court “abdicated its legal and moral responsibilities.”
San Francisco archbishop leads prayer, blesses site of toppled Serra statue
Several dozen people joined San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone as he led the rosary June 27 and recited the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel for protection from evil at the site of the now-toppled statue of St. Junipero Serra in the city’s Golden Gate Park.
Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law
In a 5-4 decision June 29, the Supreme Court ruled that a Louisiana law requiring that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals could not stand.
Asylum at the border is ‘effectively over,’ El Paso bishop says
After visiting a group of pregnant migrant women on the Mexico side of the border, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, issued strong words June 25 about the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program and other restrictive immigration measures, saying that turning away those seeking asylum in the U.S. amounts to sending them to their death.
Trump’s order on foster care backs partnerships with faith-based agencies
President Donald Trump June 24 called for creating partnerships between state agencies and public, private, faith-based and community organizations “to help keep families together and, when that is not possible, to find children forever families.”
Catechesis is about a relationship, not just information, Vatican says
Teaching the faith is a work of evangelization meant to lead people to a deeper relationship with Jesus and not just impart information, said the updated “Directory for Catechesis.”
Bishops praise Bolivians who seize drug-trafficking plane at airstrip
Bishops in Bolivia’s Amazon region praised residents of a small town who seized a light plane, apparently owned by drug traffickers, that had violated their ban on landing at the local airstrip.