Catholic News Service

A federal circuit court said a Trump administration executive order to allow state and local government officials to reject refugees in their jurisdiction violated long-standing resettlement practices.

"Something is happening here which is undermining democracy," said Sr. Anna Mirijam Kaschner, general secretary and spokeswoman of the Nordic bishops' conference.

"Those images are going to attach themselves and become an iconic symbol of the Trump presidency," said Michael Kimmage, a professor of history at The Catholic University of America.

Swiss Cardinal Henri Schwery, whose diocese was home to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's priestly society, died Jan. 7 at the age of 88.

Canadian churches faced new restrictions as public health officials tried to contain a post-holiday surge of COVID-19.

The count had been interrupted by hundreds of pro-Trump extremist marauders who breached the Capitol that afternoon, bringing the count to a halt.

People inside and outside the church are calling on authorities to get to the bottom of mystery funds transferred from the Vatican to Australia.

In times of doubt and suffering, Christians must lift up their eyes to God, who leads them toward the hopeful promise of great things to come, Pope Francis said.

The head of French bishops' conference testified to a special commission of the National Assembly that while he understands the need to strengthen national security, a proposed law designed to rein in extremist militancy would place religions and religious believers under particular surveillance.

The church and monastery were vacated in 1967 at the outbreak of war between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors, including Jordan, just across the Jordan River. After Israel took control of the area from Jordan, it was laid out with land mines by both the Israeli army and Palestinian gunmen who battled there in the 1960s and 1970s.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben would replace Fr. Pat Conroy, who has served as the 60th House chaplain since 2011.

Gloria Purvis, who was told after the Dec. 30 broadcast of the EWTN radio show "Morning Glory" that the show was canceled effective immediately, said she has no regrets about using the show to discuss racial matters following the police killing of George Floyd last May.

Philippine Catholic leaders condemned the killing of nine Indigenous group leaders during an attempted mass arrest and denied claims that they opened fire on security forces.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk, Belarus, who had been blocked from entering his homeland for four months, ending in December.

"We do not know what 2021 holds for us, but what each one of us, and all of us together, can do is to take care of each other and of creation, our common home," Pope Francis said.

A $1.5 million grant awarded by the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions will support Catholic Extension's ongoing disaster recovery work in Puerto Rico three years after two devastating hurricanes.

Like everyone else, Pope Francis' 2020 was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, as tens of thousands of people nationwide protested racial injustices, Catholics similarly took to the streets and also joined in prayer services and discussions.

"We must stop the execution of Lisa Montgomery. Lisa was psychotic — unable to act rationally — when she committed a terrible crime. She desperately needed psychiatric care and instead she got a death sentence," said Sr. Helen Prejean in a Nov. 12 Facebook post.

The gratitude that comes from encountering Christ's love and mercy is enough to bring joy and hope to a troubled world, Pope Francis said.