OSV News

 As Pope Francis prepares to mark the tenth anniversary of his pontificate in March, one hallmark of his papacy has been to make both sides of the American political aisle "uncomfortable," panelists, including Washington's Cardinal Wilton Gregory, said at a Feb. 28 event hosted by Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life.

On Feb. 25, just following a snow flurry that morning, a tent with seats for about 100 people was put up among gravesites on the property behind Sacred Heart Parish's chapel in the Washington suburb of Bowie for an afternoon prayer service honoring the departed.

The dark clouds of a weather system of historic proportions added to the heaviness already felt by the thousands at the 2023 LA Religious Education Congress Feb. 23-26 in Anaheim, a week after the death of beloved Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell.

As the continental phase of the synod travels across the globe in February and March with sessions in Europe, Oceania, North America, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the Middle East encounter took place during a time of mourning for victims of the tragic earthquake.

Prosecutors are challenging the medical report claiming former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on charges he sexually abused a teen in the 1970s.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Robert Taylor Jr. ruled Feb. 24 that a redacted version of the Maryland Attorney General Office's report on child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore must be released publicly.

The Biden administration Feb. 21 proposed its most restrictive border control measure to date, announcing it plans to issue a temporary rule blocking asylum-seekers who cross the border without authorization or who do not first apply for protections in other nations before coming to the United States. Catholic immigration advocates condemned the proposal.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Feb. 22 that the suspect arrested in the shooting death of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell has been charged with murder.
 

Wrapping up his three-day visit to Poland Feb. 22, President Joe Biden attended Ash Wednesday Mass in his hotel room in Warsaw. The Mass took place at the Marriott Hotel, where the U.S. president stayed during his trip to Poland's capital, and was celebrated by a Polish priest, Fr. Wieslaw Dawidowski.

The latest phase of the 2021-24 Synod on Synodality is coming to a close, with a final document to be written over the next six weeks and submitted to the Vatican by March 31.

The church is called to pray, preach the Gospel and be attentive to God's word in all circumstances, but even more so in the time of war, explained both the Vatican's ambassador to the United Nations and the U.S. archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The Archdiocese of New York has announced that 12 of its Catholic schools will close at the end of the 2022-23 academic year and four others will be merged into two schools due to the schools' financial outlook.

Pope Francis has expressed sorrow for the victims of a bus crash in Panama, which claimed the lives of 39 migrants transiting the Central American country.

U.S. President Joe Biden's unexpected Feb. 20 visit to Kyiv, calmly walking alongside Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as air raid sirens wailed in the capital, is being hailed as a surprise and a signal to the world.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell, a native of Ireland who spent most of his four decades as a priest ministering in L.A.'s inner city, was found dead of a gunshot wound Feb. 18. 

 Gov. Josh Shapiro called on Pennsylvania's legislature Feb. 16 to end the death penalty, marking the first time a governor of the Keystone State has formally called on lawmakers to abolish the practice. Shapiro also said he will not authorize its use during his term.

Catholics have a responsibility to address rising threats to democratic norms in civic and social life, panelists said at a Feb. 16 event hosted by Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life.

Political theology, centered in the person of Christ, can spark the "renewal of common life," said Catholic theologian M. Shawn Copeland during a Feb. 15 presentation at Villanova University where she received its prestigious Civitas Dei Medal.

Fr. David Misbrener, pastor of parishes in East Palestine and Columbiana, Ohio, said he and his parishioners are deeply concerned about the long-term environmental impact of a train derailment Feb. 3 that resulted in the spillage and burning of hazardous materials.

Two Catholic priests imprisoned in Nicaragua since August arrived in Charlotte late Feb. 12 to hugs and tears from family and friends, after their release and deportation to the United States Feb. 9.