2+ week, 5+ day ago (55+ words) Live updates from the 2025 Fall plenary assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore -- new president vote, U.S. Sacred Heart consecration and more on agenda. Live blog: Public session of 2025 USCCB Fall assembly opens today US bishops celebrate Mass to "beg the Holy Spirit to inspire" their fall assembly...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (960+ words) (OSV News) "A TikTok content creator's following exploded after she posted videos of her informal study on whether churches across the country would give baby formula to a mother whose 2-month-old infant had not eaten in more than half a day. Of the dozens of churches Nikalie Monroe called, nine said yes including at least three that are Catholic. The short videos show a screen grab listing of the Google-searched church on the screen with Monroe, of Kentucky, on a call, asking for baby formula. In the noncontrolled study, the real mom of two little boys sometimes used a recording of a crying baby in the background and did not read from a prepared script. Once she received a "yes" (or sometimes a "no") she would reveal to the person on the line that the inquiry was a hypothetical scenario…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (1224+ words) (OSV News) "They were the first generation to have technology at their fingertips from birth " "digital natives" who grew up with the Internet, iPhones, iPads, and computers. They're Generation Z, better known as "Gen Z" " born between 1997-2012 " and they're estimated to be nearly a quarter of the world's population. In the U.S., Gen Z is part of an under-30 demographic known to have 97% smartphone ownership, where six in 10 say they use the internet "almost constantly," according to Pew. But for all their virtual connectivity, a perhaps startling fact has emerged: Gen Z craves in-person religious worship experiences. New data from the Barna Group " a leading marketing research firm focused on the intersection between faith and culture " indicate Gen Z now leads a surge in church attendance across Christian churches, outpacing older generations in regular weekend worship. Gen Z attends church, on…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (640+ words) BALTIMORE (OSV News) "Pope Leo XIV is eager and excited to enter into a dialogue with young people in America in a unique digital encounter, according to those facilitating the Nov. 21 event taking place at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. On Nov. 12, the upcoming encounter was highlighted during the U.S. bishops" fall plenary assembly by Archbishop Nelson J. P'rez of Philadelphia alongside others involved in organizing the event. Archbishop P'rez told reporters that the encounter "reflects the Holy Father"s desire to connect with young people" and it "represents a virtual visit of the Holy Father to them." "The Holy Father"s choice to encounter the American youth, as he will do next week, is an expression of his closeness to the youth of the world," he added. "This historic moment will mark a powerful opportunity for young people to…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (228+ words) (OSV News) " A new English version of the Bible will be released in 2027 with the name The Catholic American Bible, according to Bishop Steven J. Lopes, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops" Committee on Divine Worship. The announcement was made Nov. 11 during the Fall Plenary of the USCCB. The translation "is meant to be the common text between the lectionary at Mass, the Scripture that is used in the Liturgy of the Hours and a Bible text that you can have as a physical Bible for your own private prayer and devotion," Bishop Lopes said. The Latin Church bishops approved the revised New American Bible for liturgical use in 216-4 vote, with three abstentions, in November 2024. A Spanish New Testament, La Biblia de la Iglesia en Am'rica Nuevo Testamento, is also in the works, with availability for Ash Wednesday 2026. The Catholic…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (1269+ words) (OSV News) "As thousands of those in need flock to Rome for the Jubilee of the Poor Nov. 14-16, Catholics across the globe mark World Day of the Poor Nov. 16, established by Pope Francis to shed light on those in perilous life situations. The first observance of the day was marked in 2017, following the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, when the late pontiff called the global church to look directly at the suffering of the poor and to place their needs at the center of its mission. In 2025, Pope Leo XIV has echoed that call. "Helping the poor is a matter of justice before a question of charity," he said, noting that the goods of the earth and the fruits of human labor are meant to be accessible to all. He urged renewed efforts to confront old and new forms of poverty…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (627+ words) (OSV News) "Cardinal Dominik Duka, whose life was defined by communist persecution, was remembered by the master of his Dominican order as one that "played a key role in restoring Dominican life in Czechoslovakia and later in the Czech Republic." Cardinal Duka died Nov. 4 at age 82. Father Gerard Francisco Timoner III, the master of the Order of Preachers, remembered the late cardinal's courage to persevere in faith amid communist persecution. When "his state authorization to exercise priestly ministry was revoked, forcing him to take a civilian job at the "koda Works in Plze," in 1975, he "continued his pastoral and formation work in secret, training young Dominicans, organizing underground theological studies, and maintaining contact with Dominicans abroad." For this, the master said, Cardinal Duka was arrested in 1981 and convicted of "obstructing state supervision of churches." He spent 15 months in the Plze-Bory…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (213+ words) Summary of Pope Leo XIV's Nov. 12, 2025 general audience (OSV News) "This is the text from Pope Leo XIV's Nov. 12, 2025 general audience given in St. Peter's Square. Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! To believe in the death and resurrection of Christ and to live paschal spirituality imbues life with hope and encourages us to invest in goodness. In particular, it helps us to love and nurture fraternity, which is without doubt one of the great challenges for contemporary humanity, as Pope Francis saw clearly. I greet the English speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today's audience, in particular the groups from England, Ireland, Finland, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Canada and the United States of America. In this the month dedicated to the holy souls, our…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (1016+ words) (OSV News) "Prominent Catholic philosophical and legal scholar Robert P. George has resigned from the board of the conservative Heritage Foundation, saying he "could not remain" without its president fully retracting a video defending a controversial interview, platforming a leading white supremacist, that has split conservatives over the issue of antisemitism. The furor erupted just days after extensive Vatican commemorations of the 60th anniversary of "Nostra Aetate" ("In Our Time"), the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, in which the Catholic Church formally denounced antisemitism. George's resignation, announced in his Nov. 17 Facebook post, marks one of the latest flights from that institution as its president, Kevin Roberts, has found himself enmeshed in defending " and then attempting to distance himself from " an Oct. 27 interview by media personality Tucker Carlson with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, which featured…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (329+ words) VATICAN CITY (CNS) " At a time when young people spend so much time in "digital environments," members of the Catholic Biblical Federation need to ask how they are fulfilling the Second Vatican Council's mandate to give everyone access to the Bible, Pope Leo XIV said. "What does "easy access to Sacred Scripture' mean in our time? How can we facilitate this encounter for those who have never heard the Word of God or whose cultures remain untouched by the Gospel?" the pope asked members of the federation's steering committee and its regional representatives. Pope Leo welcomed the group to the Apostolic Palace Nov. 17, expressing particular concern for people who "find themselves in cultural spaces where the Gospel is unfamiliar or distorted by particular interests." At the end of the audience, Mary Sperry, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Office for the…...