Catholic News

  • CWN closed for Ascension Thursday (CWN)
    The offices of Catholic World News will be closed on Thursday, May 29, so that our staff may celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. Barring unexpected developments, no headline stories will be posted. Regular coverage will resume on Friday, May 30.
  • Pope, at audience, says personal encounters show who we are (Vatican News)
    At his Wednesday public audience of May 28, Pope Leo XIV remarked that “life is made up of encounters, and in these encounters, we emerge for what we are.” The Pope offered a meditation on the parable of the Good Samaritan, beginning with the observation that Jesus told the parable in response to a request to define what it meant to love one’s “neighbor.” The word neighbor, the Pope said, “literally means ‘he who is near.’” We often encounter people unexpectedly, and the way we relate to people in these chance encounters reflects the level of our charity. Pope Leo suggested that the priest and the Levite who passed by the stricken man “are in a hurry to return home,” and their preoccupation with their own affairs makes them blind to the man’s needs. “When will we too be capable of interrupting our journey and having compassion,” the Pope asked.
  • Germany's priestly ordinations hit record low (Pillar)
    The number of ordinations for the German Catholic Church hit a record low in 2025, with just 29 new priests ordained. Of the country’s 27 dioceses and archdioceses, only five ordained more than two priests, and only one (Trier) ordained four. The decline in ordinations continues a long and steady downward trend since 1962, when 557 men were ordained. The disastrous collapse of Catholicism in Germany is confirmed by official statistics from the bishops’ conference showing that more than 320,000 people formally left the Catholic Church last year—again confirming a trend. More than 2 million Catholics officially renounced the faith the in past decade. That figure is more than twice the number of active Catholics who attend Mass in Germany each week.
  • Cardinal Ranjith hopeful new government in Sri Lanka will pursue justice (Fides)
    “Sri Lanka is going through a period of profound political and democratic renewal,” Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo said in an interview with the Fides news service. The cardinal said that the country’s new government, headed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is “changing the old power structure linked to a corrupt political class guilty of abuse of power and human rights violations.” Cardinal Ranjith, who had frequently protested the failure of the government to investigate the terrorist bombing of Christian churches on Easter Sunday in 2019, reported: “President Dissanayake has announced a new investigation to create transparency and find the truth.”
  • Pray for peace in Ukraine, Pope urges (Vatican Press Office)
    Pope Leo XIV renewed his plea for peace in Ukraine during his weekly public audience on May 28, specifically urging the faithful to pray the Rosary, asking the Virgin to promote the spirit of peace. “The cry of mothers, of fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of children and who are continually forced to move in search of a little food and safer shelter from bombing, rises ever more intensely to the sky,” the Pope remarked.
  • Charlotte priests urge bishop to reconsider decision to end traditional Latin Mass in parishes (CWN)
    The pastors of the four parishes where the traditional Latin Mass is celebrated in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, have asked Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, to reconsider his plans to end the celebration of the extraordinary form in parishes.
  • Polish order appeals for prayers as priests face draconian sentences in Belarus (Our Sunday Visitor)
  • Togo's bishops lament end to presidential term limits (ACI Africa)
    The end of presidential term limits in the West African nation of Togo was “carried out without real national dialogue, has created misunderstandings, and poses [a] serious risk to Togo’s social cohesion and stability,” the nation’s bishops warned in a statement.The nation of 8.9 million (map) is 50% Christian (34% Catholic) and 17% Muslim, with 32% adhering to ethnic religions.
  • In loss for religious-freedom advocates, Supreme Court rejects Apache appeal of mine on sacred land (CWN)
    In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the Apache Stronghold, a group of Native Americans seeking to halt the federal government’s transfer of land sacred to the Apaches to a copper mining company.
  • Filmmaker tells life of Cardinal Czerny (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)
    Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, is the subject of a new Czech documentary, Kardinál Michael Czerny – Kněz s židovskými kořeny [Cardinal Michael Czerny: A Priest with Jewish Roots].The documentary, produced by the Mehrin Foundation and Czech Television, premieres on May 28 in the prelate’s hometown of Brno, Czechia, in the presence of the cardinal. Cardinal Czerny’s mother, a Catholic of Jewish heritage, survived two years of Nazi imprisonment during the Second World War, and the family emigrated to Canada in 1948, when the future cardinal was two years old.
  • Vatican City issues postage stamps with Pope Leo's photo (Poste Vaticane)
    The Vatican City State’s Postal and Philately Service has released a series of stamps bearing various photographs of Pope Leo XIV.The stamps became available on May 27, a month after the issuing of sede vacante stamps, and a week after the postal service launched a new website separate from that of the Vatican City State.
  • Missionary assesses situation in Myanmar, lauds faith of nation's Catholics (Fides)
    Father Stephen Chit Thein, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Myanmar, discussed the situation there, amid a civil war and following a devastating earthquake that caused an estimated $11 billion in damage.“What strikes me the most is to see so many people suffering, who have been living in extreme precarious conditions for the past four years, yet they continue to live and practice a deep faith,” said the priest. “The faithful continue to trust in God and hope, they do not sink into despair, but keep the light of hope alive.”Buddhism is the official religion of the Southeast Asian nation of 57.5 million (map); the nation is 74% Buddhist, 9% ethnic religionist, 9% Christian, and 4% Muslim.
  • New president not likely to bring change at Pontifical Academy for Life (National Catholic Register)
    Vatican journalist Edward Pentin, writing in the National Catholic Register, explores the background of Msgr. Renzo Pegararo, newly appointed by Pope Leo to be president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and concludes that he is likely to continue the policies pursued by his controversial predecessor, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.
  • Can Leo XIV help the Swiss Church out of its crisis? (Pillar)
  • Pope Leo XIV installed as Bishop of Rome, emphasizes listening to God and others (CWN)
    Pope Leo XIV took possession of his cathedral, the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, on May 25, seventeen days after his election and a week after the Mass inaugurating his Petrine ministry.