Kate Scanlon

The Supreme Court issued a ruling April 7 allowing the Trump administration to continue to deport migrants accused of gang membership using a wartime powers law for now, overturning a lower court that had paused such deportations.

As the Trump administration moved to formally dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development, Catholic Relief Services, the overseas charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., has advocated for U.S. foreign aid to continue on a new path shaped by Catholic principles.

The U.S. bishops' conference said it would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children's services and refugee support, after its government partnerships in those areas became "untenable."

Representatives of Catholic and immigration advocacy organizations, and Washington's new Cardinal Robert McElroy, grappled with the need to send a clear moral message on the dignity of migrants amid the "uncertainty" of the political moment at a recent event in the nation's capital.

The U.S. should not retreat from its vital role in defending and promoting religious freedom around the globe, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged in a March 25 event unveiling its 2025 annual report. The cover of the report featured Bishop Rolando Álvarez, a Catholic prelate imprisoned and later exiled by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, whose regime has targeted Catholic and other faith communities who voiced opposition to his dictatorship.

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Education said March 11 it planned to cut about 50% of its workforce. Such cuts could also impact Catholic education, experts told OSV News.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said March 10 that just 18% of programs of the now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development will remain intact, and those will now fall under his purview at the State Department.

As South Carolina prepared to carry out the first execution by firing squad in the U.S. since 2010, Catholic activists against the death penalty had sought clemency from that state's governor.

Rollbacks to USAID have already impacted the work of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief and development arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., and other faith-based entities around the globe that have partnered with USAID in their work abroad.

President Donald Trump touted the "swift and unrelenting action" taken by his second administration in its first six weeks, telling lawmakers March 4 in an address to a joint session of Congress he was "just getting started."

Some Catholic policy analysts expressed concern about potential cuts to key safety net programs, such as Medicaid, a health care program for low-income Americans, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Supreme Court on Feb. 25 threw out the murder conviction and death penalty for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who has been on death row for a quarter century. At issue in the case was whether Glossip received a fair trial, and the high court found he did not.

Ongoing uncertainty about funding from the National Institutes of Health could imperil medical research at academic institutions all over the country, including Catholic institutions, multiple sources told OSV News.

The U.S. bishops' migration chair called recent comments by Vice President JD Vance about the church's work with migrants "a tremendous mischaracterization" while speaking at an event in the nation's capital Feb. 12. But he also invited Vance to sit down and talk with him to set the record straight.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued layoff notices to about a third of the staff in its Migration and Refugee Services Office on Feb. 7 after it stopped receiving reimbursements from the federal government for its work with refugees who qualify for federal assistance, per an internal memo.

President Donald Trump Jan. 28 signed an executive order stating his administration would seek to prohibit certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

President Joe Biden used his farewell address to the nation on Jan. 15 to warn against the concentration of power not only in government but also in other elements of society, such as in corporations and the technology industry.

 In comments to New York's PIX11 Morning News on Christmas Eve, Dolan said he will join the opening prayer during the ceremony as he did for Trump's previous inauguration.

Mourners including all five living U.S. presidents attended the late President Jimmy Carter's funeral Jan. 9 at the Washington National Cathedral, the first time they have all been in public together since 2018, and an increasingly rare occurrence in an era of bitter partisanship.