Catholic News Service

As the Supreme Court prepares to wrap up its current term by the end of June, Catholic Church leaders are paying particular attention to several of the 30 upcoming decisions.

The official tally of 64 deaths on the island of Puerto Rico attributed to 2017's powerful Hurricane Maria has been disputed for some time, but in late May, a study in a respected scientific journal said that figure may have underestimated the island's fatalities by the thousands.

Since the administration announced a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal border crossings, resulting in family separation, 2,000 more minors have entered U.S. custody.

A Catholic priest involved in the sainthood cause of a Polish cardinal has rejected claims the cardinal fostered anti-Semitism and refused help for endangered Jews.

Franciscans of the Order of Friars Minor in six of the order's U.S. provinces voted May 30 to form one new organization to reinvigorate Franciscan life in this country.

Pope Francis has named as apostolic visitor to Medjugorje the Polish archbishop he had initially sent to the town to study the pastoral needs at the site of the alleged Marian apparitions.

The Supreme Court's decision May 29 not to hear a case against an Arkansas abortion law, thus letting the state's restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs stand, will have broad impact.

The murder of a socially poor Dalit Catholic man who had married a woman belonging to an upper-caste Syrian Christian family has fueled protests across India's southern state of Kerala.

The Church of Christ the Redeemer was built with Panama's hot and humid weather in mind. There are no walls on the building. Its tall round roof is supported by cement columns spread far apart so that a good amount of breeze can make its way down the church's aisles.

Pope Francis asked Catholics to recognize and be thankful for the undeserved gift of the Holy Spirit they received with the sacrament of confirmation.

Everyone has "a stake in this fight" for religious freedom, said the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback.

Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, has joined other faith leaders in declaring their commitment to peace initiatives in the strife-torn southeast Asia country, a move welcomed by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

A life of holiness isn't defined by having visions or performing extraordinary feats of devotion, but by living with the hope of salvation promised by Christ, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople called on Christians to work together to build a culture of solidarity in the face of growing economic inequality and a lack of respect for the human dignity of the poor and of migrants.

Continuing his occasional series of "Mercy Friday" visits, Pope Francis surprised the students at a school renamed in March in honor of a student who died of leukemia at the age of 11.

In the aftermath of Iraq's elections, Christians want to see a government formed that is free from the sectarianism that has torn apart the country, and they want Iran's influence to diminish. Both issues have played a huge role in politics since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. 

The world lacks tenderness today, but families can help bring it back, Pope Francis said.

Revised guidelines governing Catholic and non-Catholic health care partnerships will be on the agenda of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' spring general assembly June 13-14 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Holy Communion is exclusively for Catholics in a state of grace and not something to be shared between friends like beer or cake, said a former senior adviser to two popes.

Nicaragua's bishops have suspended their participation as mediators and witnesses in a national dialogue, citing a "lack of consensus among the parties" on resolving the political crisis engulfing the Central American country.