Madeleine Davison

Letters and petitions from Catholic University of America students call for the cancellation of a Cardinals for Life event with Abby Johnson, a pro-life activist who has gained a reputation for racism and homophobia.

Experts and advocates warn that disabled people and communities of color in the U.S. are being left out of the early distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, even though the virus has disproportionately harmed them.

People who have experienced solitary confinement in U.S. prisons describe it as torture. So do psychologists. A group in New York is petitioning the state government to adopt rules for its use that are akin to the ones proscribed by the United Nations.

Bishop Gabriel Malzaire's recent support of LGBTQ criminalization laws in the Caribbean nation of Dominica highlight the church's varied involvement in this human rights issue.

While some U.S. Catholic bishops recently signed a statement in support of LGBTQ youth, others released a statement opposing a Biden executive order extending federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people.

Catholic organizations and individuals expressed a mix of emotions after Pope Francis' Jan. 11 announcement that officially opened altar serving, lectoring and eucharistic ministries to all "lay persons," rather than just men.

The Catholic social justice organization Call to Action sees many bishops as potential partners in a fight for racial justice, but says church leaders must go beyond 'thoughts and prayers' and turn talk into action.

Religious leaders in a Georgetown-hosted webinar said people of faith have a moral duty to end the death penalty and resist policies that treat human beings as disposable.

At a U.S. bishops' national forum on young adult ministry, a youth ministry coordinator said that ministers and leaders should be empowering young adults to work towards dismantling systemic racism.

At Catholic colleges across the U.S., students, faculty and staff have called for their institutions to confront racism, by cutting ties with local police departments and reforming their campus security.

Discussing the study's in-depth interviews with Latino Texans during the year prior to the election, anthropologist Cecilia Ballí said the "most interesting" finding was how politically flexible many respondents were.

More U.S. dioceses published audited financial documents in 2020 than before, according to Voice of the Faithful's annual financial transparency report. Laypeople can look up their own dioceses' financial transparency scores.

University of Dallas students faced pushback from some faculty and peers when they proposed a club to encourage dialogue around race, with the approval process for the group suspended by school administration until next semester.

Gina Chavez, 38, describes herself as a queer, multi-ethnic Latinx Catholic, who attends Mass with her wife in Austin. Her latest album "La Que Manda" is nominated for a Latin Grammy award for best pop/rock album.

To begin the process of restorative justice, the Catholic Church and individual religious orders must reckon with their histories of enslaving Black people and forcing Indigenous peoples into missions and abusive boarding schools, speakers said at a three-day conference sponsored by Catholic Mobilizing Network.

Dozens of rural hospitals have succumbed to financial strain in recent years. That trend has only been accelerating during the pandemic — just as COVID-19 infection rates have begun to spike in rural areas.

Religious voters were pivotal to Biden's victory over Trump, but political divisions by race and sect run deep among voters of faith, speakers said in a Nov. 10 panel discussion hosted by Georgetown.

Dominican Sr. Luisa Derouen, one of the speakers in the three-part series, said she believes most priests don't intend to harm trans people. She wants to be a resource for any priests — or other Catholics — who want to learn to support their trans community members.

Civil rights advocates are keeping an eye on the Supreme Court as it hears a religious liberty case in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia because the outcome could affect local anti-discrimination laws for LGBTQ people.

The U.S. Catholic hierarchy's extreme focus on ending legalized abortion has sown political division and prevented Catholics from confronting other pressing social issues, all without stopping a single abortion, said professor and theologian Steven P. Millies in a virtual lecture hosted by Loyola University Chicago Oct. 29.