Court Ruling Upholds Rights Of Conscience

In a narrowly tailored 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court June 30 said closely held companies may be exempted from a government requirement to include contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

Pope to Mafia: You Are Not in Communion With God

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In the stronghold of an Italian crime syndicate believed to be richer and more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia, Pope Francis said, “Those who follow the path of evil, like the mafiosi do, are not in communion with God; they are excommunicated!” During a Mass June 21 in the southern region […]

State Bishops Cite Failure of Leadership in Albany

As the Legislative session concluded in Albany, N.Y., Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it “a very productive week,” but the N.Y.S. Catholic Conference chided Cuomo and the legislature for failing to provide tax credits to people who donate to private school scholarship agencies.

US Bishops in New Orleans: Focus on Families

Speakers addressing the U.S. bishops on the second day of their spring general assembly in New Orleans urged them to continue their ministry of caring for those in need – reach out in a special way to couples and families.

Appeals Court Rules Against Church Groups on Mandate

LANSING, Mich. (CNS) – The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a temporary injunction that had stopped enforcement of the federal contraceptive mandate against several Catholic entities in Michigan and Tennessee while they pursued further appeals of the mandate.

Ariz. Priest Killing Suspect Nabbed

PHOENIX (CNS) – Clergy, religious and laity jammed into St. Catherine of Sienna parish in Phoenix for a standing-room-only funeral Mass for Father Kenneth Walker June 16.

Iraqi Christians Were Targeted for Months

AMMAN, Jordan (CNS) – The fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, to Islamist militants in early June sent half a million residents scurrying for safety, but Christians from the city say they were targeted long before Iraqi security forces abandoned the major political and economic hub.

Group Backs Married Priests for Orthodox

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation voted in early June to encourage the “lifting of the restrictions regarding the ordination of married men to the priesthood in the Eastern Catholic Churches of North America.”