By Jonah McKeown CNA Staff, Feb 21, 2025 / 15:30 pm Statues of dozens of prominent American Catholics — including numerous saints and popular figures such as the late basketball star Kobe Bryant — will be among those included in a proposed “National Garden of American Heroes,” a project President Donald …

By Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Jul 13, 2024 / 07:00 am Relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Juan Diego, and five other saints will be available for veneration each day of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis next week. Catholics attending the congress will have the rare opportunity to pray with …

St. Junípero Serra was born on November 24, 1713 on the island of Majorca, Spain. He joined the Franciscans in 1730, and became so accomplished as a student that he was appointed a lector of philosophy before his ordination. As an academic, he was promising. After earning his PhD, he …

by Christine Rousselle Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2021 / 12:04 pm A California bill to replace a statue of St. Junipero Serra at the state capitol unfairly slanders the saint’s legacy, two archbishops claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Sunday, Sept. 12. Last month, California lawmakers voted overwhelmingly …

CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2020 / 04:34 pm MT (CNA).- The historical preservation commission of Santa Cruz, California last week advised the city council to remove a replica mission bell from a city intersection, saying the bell represents painful history for the indigenous people of the city. In a Nov. …

by Jonah McKeown Denver Newsroom, Oct 14, 2020 / 03:33 pm MT (CNA).- Catholics in California rallied in a peaceful demonstration Tuesday evening at the former site of a statue of St. Junipero Serra, which a group of activists defaced and pulled down earlier this week. The riot at which …

by Jonah McKeown Denver Newsroom, Oct 13, 2020 / 03:54 pm MT (CNA).- A group of activists near San Francisco on Monday defaced a statue of St. Junipero Serra on private property with red spray paint before tearing it from its foundation. Serra, an 18th-century Franciscan priest and missionary, is …

CNA Staff, Aug 30, 2020 / 04:00 am MT (CNA).- Bishop Robert Barron this week delivered a homily in support of St. Junipero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan missionary whose legacy has drawn renewed scrutiny in recent months from some who consider him a symbol of an oppressive colonial system. …

by Kevin Jones Denver Newsroom, Jul 21, 2020 / 05:40 pm MT (CNA).- A proposal to remove St. Junipero Serra from Ventura County’s official seal is unwarranted, and elected officials need to know Serra’s true story, according to the priest who heads the final mission the sainted Spanish missionary founded …

CNA Staff, Jul 15, 2020 / 12:30 pm MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has elevated a California mission church founded by St. Junipero Serra to the rank of minor basilica. The San Buenaventura Mission in Ventura was granted the title by the pope in an announcement from the Archdiocese of Los …