Pope Leo XIV didn’t just write his first message as pontiff for World Communications Day Jan. 24. He wrote a programmatic document on artificial intelligence in response to the challenges of the modern world, just like Pope Leo XIII faced the industrial revolution more than a century before.

Jan. 23 was what Lauren Handy called “my freedom anniversary.” It was exactly one year since President Donald Trump pardoned her and 22 others for violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act.

A “complex” political environment presents both challenge and opportunity for the pro-life movement, Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said at the 27th annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life on Jan. 24.

Nationwide, 26 states have mandated complete bans on smartphones in K-12 public schools, while others allow usage with on-campus restrictions. According to Education Week, “31 states either already limit or ban students from using their personal devices in school or plan to do so for the 2025-26 or 2026-27 school years.”

The calming space is designed to help children relax, refocus, and build coping skills so they can return to class ready to learn.

Efforts to combat human trafficking have languished in the first year of the second Trump administration and their revival requires bipartisan support, according to five former diplomats who served as ambassadors-at-large to combat human trafficking.

Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates descended on the March for Life demonstrating their strong motivation to give witness to the importance of protecting the right to life for the unborn.

The theme of the 53rd annual March for Life was “Life Is a Gift” and both the crowd and the speakers at the rally embraced their personal experience of the gift of life.

Amid the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25, OSV News spoke with Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton, Pa., who serves as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Catholic co-chair of the Holy See’s International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue committee, part of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Archdiocese of Paris is launching a major churchwide council in response to a surge in adult and youth conversions across France.