A district judge in Texas has temporarily blocked an attempt by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to shut down a Catholic migrant shelter in El Paso, allowing the shelter to operate as normal while the standard civil process plays out.
National News
Chicago Archdiocese to Cut Government Contracts, Reduce Staff
As part of a new strategic plan, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Chicago has decided to transition out of 75 government contracts amid what the organization’s leadership has labeled an “increasingly complex and uncertain government funding environment.”
Archbishop, Activists Seek to Halt Execution of Intellectually Disabled Georgia Inmate
In response to Georgia’s planned execution of a death row inmate by lethal injection March 20, the archbishop of Atlanta has urged the state parole board for clemency and state anti-death penalty activists launched an online petition similarly asking the state to reconsider.
Iowa Legislators Propose Making Death of an Unborn Person a Felony
Iowa’s House Republicans passed a bill March 7 that would make it a felony to cause the death of an unborn person defined as “an individual organism … from fertilization to live birth.”
2024 Laetare Medal Winner Claire Babineaux-Fontenot Called ‘Beacon of Hope’
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the chief executive of the nation’s largest nonprofit working to feed the hungry nationwide, will receive the 2024 Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame, one of the oldest and most prestigious honors given to American Catholics.
U.S. Bishop Decries In Vitro Fertilization In Wake Of Alabama Law
Two days after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill into law to protect in vitro fertilization, the head of a U.S. bishops’ committee reiterated the Catholic Church’s stance against the fertility treatment.
Biden Promises to Restore Roe V Wade as the ‘Law of the Land’
The state of the union “is strong and getting stronger,” President Joe Biden said in his March 7 address.
Military Archbishop ‘Deplores’ Plan for VA to Permanently Provide Abortions
Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, has called the federal government’s decision to make permanent a policy to provide abortions under certain circumstances “at odds with the notion that the military protects the innocent.”
NY Lawmakers Are Backing Assisted Suicide Legislation Catholic Bishops Call ‘Dangerous’
While New York legislators argue that assisted suicide legislation would allow terminally ill patients to die with dignity, the state’s Catholic bishops on March 5 countered that it would put the state on a “dangerous path that contaminates medicine and turns the notion of compassion on its head.”
Pope Francis Selects American Priest for Position in Vatican’s Highest Court
Pope Francis has designated a Catholic priest hailing from the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to a prominent role in the Vatican’s highest court.