OSV News

Jesuit Father Luis María Roma wrote in a diary of abusing girls, whom he often lured to a river and photographed inappropriately, according to the Spanish newspaper El País. The Jesuit province in Bolivia compiled a report on Father Roma's acts in 2019, but withheld it from prosecutors, according to El País, which obtained a copy of the priest's diary and the Jesuit's investigation.

After the Supreme Court June 14 struck down a Trump-era federal ban on bump stocks June 14, the U.S. Senate tried to pass a ban on the devices by unanimous consent, a procedure in which the Senate considers a matter agreed to if no senator objects.

The Biden administration June 18 announced an executive action that allows certain noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for lawful permanent residency without first having to leave the country, as they were previously required to do.

Just days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met June 12-14 for their Spring Plenary Assembly in Louisville, the bishops finally achieved the threshold needed to pass their national pastoral framework to guide ministries with youth and young adults.

A lawyer representing Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants, told reporters shortly after a June 17 hearing in the case that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempt to shut down that ministry is an "attack on religious liberty."

Longtime Detroit-area radio personality Al Kresta died June 15 six weeks following a liver cancer diagnosis. He was 72.

The Diocese of San Diego will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization June 17, a decision Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said "offers the best pathway" to both provide "just compensation" for sex abuse victims and allow the diocese to continue its ministries.

Pope Francis has replaced Bishop Paul J. Bradley as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, with Bishop Edward M. Lohse of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Steubenville Diocese announced June 14.

The discovery of a Byzantine-period church in the northern Negev, with wall art displaying ships, opens a window to the world of Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land 1,500 years ago, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Father Rob Cole was dismissed effective June 12 from St. John the Apostle Parish in Virginia Beach by Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond.

The launch of a mental health initiative by the U.S. bishops last year has "received a lot of traction," according to one of its leaders.

Saulos Chilima, 51, died alongside nine others, including the former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, aboard a military aircraft.

A national gathering will explore how Black Catholics can "embrace the gifts" they bring to the church, particularly to the Mass, according to organizers.

"Padre Jorge," as locals refer to him, is remembered fondly. "He used to come here to be with us often," according to Nipo Chan, an elderly guest of the soup kitchen whose parents came as immigrants from Japan before World War II.

Michael R. Lovell, 57, president of Marquette University, died June 9 in Italy while on a Jesuit formation pilgrimage with members of the Society of Jesus and the Jesuit university's board of trustees.

On June 11 — at a breakfast before the annual spring meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Louisville, Kentucky — Pax Christi received the inaugural Dorothy Day Peacemaker Award from the Dorothy Day Guild. 

Pope Francis once again renewed his call for a cease-fire in Gaza following the rescue of four hostages that led to what officials in Gaza said was the killing of more than 270 Palestinians in an Israeli rescue operation that one European Union diplomat deemed a "massacre."
 

New Zealand's retired archbishop of Wellington has been cleared to return to ministry following a Vatican inquiry into an historical abuse complaint.

Catholic activist Jimmy Lai's trial on charges of violating a Chinese-imposed national security law is nearing the 100-day mark. He is the highest-profile Hong Kong resident to be tried under the law, and his case is considered a landmark case.

In a case involving parental preferences, a "congregation preference" and hiring decisions at two Catholic preschools, a federal judge in Denver ruled June 4 that Colorado's government violated state law by excluding those preschools from participating in the state's universal preschool program.