Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin marked the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel Thursday by calling for a shared commitment to religious freedom and combatting anti-Semitism. “The peace process and the future of the region are in the heart of the pope and the Holy See,” Parolin said

The thing on which journalists reporting the story of Pope Francis’s meeting with papal diplomatic representatives on Thursday rightly seized, was a line at the end of the fifth section in the Pope’s prepared remarks. He hand-delivered the speech, by the way, preferring as he often does an unscripted conversation to a set piece. The

While two Illinois bishops are unified in their strong opposition to the state’s new abortion law, they differ on the question of prohibiting to receive Holy Communion the Catholic state legislators who led the effort for the bill’s passage. “I think that our Catholic people are rightfully scandalized when they see Catholic politicians not only

Abolishing the Hyde Amendment, a proposal made recently by both Congressmen and presidential candidates, would unravel over 40 years of broad, bipartisan consensus, the head of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee told CNA. “I think it’s a very important principle that’s at stake here. And it’s something that there historically was broad consensus (on) and

Pinterest, a social media site with 300 million active users, has banned pro-life activist group Live Action from its platform, just days after a whistleblower revealed documents that purport to show active suppression of pro-life and Christian content by Pinterest. Alison Centofante, Live Action’s director of external affairs, posted a screenshot June 11 of an

Pope Francis challenged Catholics to be a source of hope for those in poverty, especially in the face of divisions in wealth and a throw-away culture. The Pope released Thursday his message for the third annual World Day of the Poor, which will take place Nov. 17. In the June 13 text, he drew a

Pope Francis sent a message to apostolic nuncios Thursday informing his ambassadors that they have a responsibility as papal representatives not to criticize the pope or to join groups hostile to the Roman curia. “It is therefore irreconcilable to be a pontifical representative criticizing the pope behind his back, having blogs or even joining groups

Illinois’ new abortion law is a “death penalty” for the unborn and will add to pro-life momentum across the U.S., critics said after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law on Wednesday. “The bill Illinois lawmakers passed is so radical, they even went out of their way to repeal the state’s ban on

In a seemingly unlikely alliance, Catholics and secular feminists in New York are opposing a bill that would legalize commercial surrogacy in the state. The bill passed the state Senate and has the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who proposed the measure. But it is stalled in Assembly due to strong opposition, notably from female

The Order of Malta’s letter banning Extraordinary Form Masses “does not accurately present” Summorum Pontificum, the International Una Voce Federation has said. Two priests accused of abusing deaf children in Argentina will stand trial in August (Washington Post). Marlo Safi reports on a spate of attacks on Egypt’s Christians. Michael J O’Loughlin and Christine Rousselle

For several months, parents in Birmingham have been gathering on the street. They are campaigning against what they see as inappropriate lessons about LGBT issues being delivered to their primary school-age children. Kids having to run a gauntlet of protestors to attend school is not a good look, whatever the cause. But the parents have a point

It is generally agreed that something happened to the culture in the 1960s. Immediately during the post-war period, higher education was still in the hands of the mandarin classes and deference was paid to their superior knowledge and authority. There was even a popular advertising poster of the 1950s which read “Top People take The