OSV News

Ohio voters Aug. 8 rejected a measure that proposed raising the threshold to make changes to the state's constitution.

On the 78th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle and Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Pilgrimage of Peace delegation from their archdioceses participated in an interfaith prayer ceremony and a peace memorial ceremony.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization could be an inevitability for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, according to a statement released Aug. 4 by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee called on Catholics and all people of goodwill to pray that the leaders of the United States and other nations around the globe "who govern the control" of nuclear weapons "will earnestly seek to make critically needed progress on arms control."

Mergers for several Archdiocese of St. Louis parishes are temporarily on hold pending an appeal to the Vatican by parishioners.

The community of Highland Falls in southeastern New York is still reeling after a July 9 rainstorm caused widespread devastation. Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish has served as an impromptu aid center and shelter for those hit hard by the storm.

More than 80 million Americans are currently under dangerous heat advisories. Temperatures in California's Death Valley hover around 120 degrees Fahrenheit at midnight. Phoenix as of July 31 had seen 31 straight days of heat over 110 F, the cause of 25 deaths. Spain, Greece and Italy have recorded all-time high temperatures. In several Middle Eastern countries, the heat index mid-July reached 152 F, considered almost at the limit for human survival.

The organization that oversees the Catholic Church's English-language translations for the Mass and other liturgies of the Roman Rite has a new leader as of Nov. 1.

Priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have called for breaking ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, following a Russian attack on Odesa that destroyed a historic cathedral while killing two and injuring at least 22, including four children.

Catholics in Greece have called for lessons to be learned after a wave of fires devastated parts of the country amid highest summer temperatures for half a century. "The pope has talked many times about how we all need to collaborate in reversing climate change," said Archbishop Josif Printezis of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos, secretary-general of Greece's Catholic bishops' conference.

In a statement announcing Kerry Alys Robinson's appointment as Catholic Charities USA president and CEO, the group's board said Robinson's "entire professional life has been devoted to serving and bettering our church." 

The Mobile County District Attorney's office is asking the public for information about a young Alabama Catholic priest who was publicly placed under restriction by the Mobile Archdiocese for walking away from his parish and reportedly leaving the country with a recent Catholic high school graduate for an exorcism.

The July 26 death of acclaimed Irish singer and songwriter Sinéad O'Connor, who was 56, has seen an outpouring of tributes from all walks of Irish life.

A federal judge July 25 blocked the Biden administration's rule permitting immigration authorities to deny asylum to migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking asylum protections in a different country.

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Davenport, Iowa, as the next Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa. Zinkula's installation Mass is scheduled for Oct. 18.

The Justice Department on July 24 sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a floating barrier recently installed on the Rio Grande, part of the Republican governor's latest attempts to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico as part of his "Operation Lone Star" program.

Catholic bishops in Kenya appealed for an end to violence and for a pivot to dialogue, as scores are killed in anti-government protests.

Catholic migrant advocates condemned a report alleging inhumane treatment of migrants seeking to cross the border into Texas, including an allegation that the state directed its personnel to withhold water from migrants despite extreme heat.

The United States endured a record number of mass killings in the first half of 2023, according to a new analysis. The report came in tandem with news that at least four people were killed in a mass shooting in Hampton, Georgia, south of Atlanta, on July 15.

When the next consistory convenes at the Vatican on Sept. 30, a South Sudanese archbishop -- whose installation met stiff resistance -- will be among the 21 recipients of the red hat.