Hagia Sophia belongs ‘to all of humanity’, Eastern Orthodox patriarch says amid mosque plans

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2020 / 04:01 pm MT (CNA).- While Turkey’s president has made moves to close the museum at the former Christian basilica Hagia Sophia and revert it to a mosque, the Patriarch of Constantinople has said the massive site should remain as it is, a place of …
Cardinal Tobin asks Trump for clemency in death row case

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2020 / 03:00 pm MT (CNA).- Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark has joined several U.S. bishops in asking President Donald Trump to commute the death sentence of a federal inmate scheduled to be executed on July 17. Exercising clemency, the cardinal told the president, can help …
A Change of Plans, Versailles Wedding Derailed by Pandemic Doesn’t Shake Couple’s Faith

by Susie Bergman On Aug. 15, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, they have planned what they jokingly call “round two.” When Dylan and Clair Hesson of Versailles began planning their May 2020 wedding in Oct. 2019, they knew they might encounter a few small challenges along the way, …
Conjoined twins can have ‘normal lives’ after Vatican hospital performs separation surgery

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2020 / 01:00 pm MT (CNA).- Twins who were conjoined at the head are likely to return home within months from the Vatican’s pediatric hospital where their bodies were successfully separated by doctors, and they have a high chance of living normal lives, the hospital’s chief …
Kanye West says Planned Parenthoods ‘do the devil’s work’

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2020 / 02:00 pm MT (CNA).- American hip-hop singer Kanye West has denounced the nation’s largest abortion provider as racist and demonic after announcing an unexpected run for the Oval Office on July 4. Excerpts and a summary of an interview with Forbes magazine were published …
Tucson diocese again halts public Masses to curb rise of coronavirus cases

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2020 / 12:08 am MT (CNA).- As cases of COVID-19 spike in Arizona, the Diocese of Tucson has once again suspended the public celebration of Mass to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. “I wish to inform you that after a careful review of the medical situation, …
Catholic builds a shrine to St. Junipero Serra on the site of destroyed Sacramento statue

by Jonah McKeown Denver Newsroom, Jul 8, 2020 / 03:00 am MT (CNA).- After rioters pulled down a statue of St. Junipero Serra in Sacramento on July 4, a local Catholic told CNA that she felt compelled to clean the spot where the statue once stood, to pray there, and …
Catholic at Home: Ways to Pray as a Couple

Last month we covered why praying as a couple is essential to every Christian marriage. Husband and wife are each made in the image and likeness of God, and together form a new creation in Christ. The relationship is inherently lifegiving and imitates God in its own particular way. When …
USCCB Chairmen Praise Supreme Court Decision Recognizing the Right of the Church to Choose Its Own Leaders

July 8, 2020 WASHINGTON –The Supreme Court of the United States has issued its decision in the consolidated cases of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel. These cases involved the right of Catholic schools, free of government interference, to choose teachers who will teach and model …
Catholic school teachers are ‘ministers’, SCOTUS rules

CNA Staff, Jul 8, 2020 / 08:55 am MT (CNA).- The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a long-awaited religious liberty decision on the right of religious schools to hire and fire teachers. The court found in favor of two Catholic schools in California, ruling that a “ministerial exception” to government …