For families who’ve lost a loved one, choosing a headstone is one of the final things they do as part of funeral and burial arrangements. The finality of the stone can bring closure. But for families who have lost someone during the pandemic, getting a headstone has become a long process.
During a nearly 90-minute meeting in the library of the Apostolic Palace, which included 75 minutes of closed-door discussions, Pope Francis gave President Joe Biden a large painted ceramic tile of a pilgrim walking along Rome’s Tiber River, pointing to St. Peter’s Basilica in the distance.
This year, Lisa Muller-Leo transferred her first-grade daughter Harley from public school to St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in Flushing. The school where Harley attended kindergarten apparently had no clue several weeks into the academic year.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas submitted a lengthy document Oct. 29 that he hopes will lead to the eventual end of a policy designed to keep asylum-seekers to the U.S. on the Mexico side of the southern border until their cases are heard.
The Supreme Court sent a case back to a lower court Nov. 1 asking it to reconsider a ruling against the Diocese of Albany, New York, and other religious groups that challenged the state’s mandate requiring employers to provide abortion coverage in their employee health insurance plans.
The U.S. bishops’ conference point person for the preparatory period of the Synod on Synodality has welcomed the Vatican’s extension of the diocesan phase after what in many places was considered a rushed start to the opening on Oct. 17.
During oral arguments just shy of three hours Nov. 1, the Supreme Court closely examined — and seemed to have concerns about — how the new abortion law in Texas was framed and is enforced.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace in August when faced with numerous accusations of sexual harassment, has been criminally charged with forcibly touching a female aide during an alleged incident in the governor’s mansion in Albany in December 2020.
The criminal sex abuse case against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was continued until Dec. 21 after a brief pretrial hearing in Dedham District Court on Oct. 28.
Upon arriving in Rome to take part in this weekend’s G20 meeting, United States President Joe Biden will pay a visit to Pope Francis. They have met three times before, both in Rome and on American soil, but this will be the first time they share facetime since the U.S. elected its second Catholic president last November.
