Category: 2025 News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A federal district court in Philadelphia Aug. 13 struck down a religious conscience rule implemented by the first Trump administration exempting employers with religious or moral concerns from having to provide their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives and other drugs or procedures to which they have an objection.

The Little Sisters of the Poor, defendants in the suit, are expected to appeal.

In a nationwide ruling, U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia found the rule, which expanded the parameters for the types of nonprofits that could use the exception, were not necessary to protect the conscience rights of religious employers.

The nuns will appeal the ruling “in the coming weeks,” said Becket, the religious liberty law firm representing the Little Sisters of the Poor in their ongoing legal efforts over their objections to paying for abortifacient drugs, sterilizations and contraceptives in their employee health plans.

“The district court blessed an out-of-control effort by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack the Little Sisters and religious liberty,” Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the Little Sisters, argued in a statement. “It’s bad enough that the district court issued a nationwide ruling invalidating federal religious conscience rules. But even worse is that the district court simply ducked the glaring constitutional issues in this case, after waiting five years and not even holding a hearing.

“It is absurd to think the Little Sisters might need yet another trip to the Supreme Court,” he continued, “to end what has now been more than a dozen years of litigation over the same issue. We will fight as far as we need to fight to protect the Little Sisters’ right to care for the elderly in peace.”

In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a federal mandate requiring most employers to provide contraceptive drugs in their health insurance plans. The mandate included a narrow religious exemption for entities such as churches, but did not include religious nonprofits.

After requesting and being denied an exemption due to the Catholic Church’s teaching against drugs like the morning-after pill, the Little Sisters filed a lawsuit. Their effort ultimately became part of the consolidated case Zubik v. Burwell, a 2016 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which sent the case back to lower courts, but effectively was in the Little Sisters’ favor.

The federal government later finalized new exceptions that would include entities like the Little Sisters. However, Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged those rules, arguing they were improperly expanded. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a narrow procedural ruling siding with the Little Sisters, but their suit has continued.

“As Little Sisters of the Poor, we dedicate our lives to caring for the elderly poor until God calls them home,” Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for the right to carry out our mission without violating our faith, and we pray Pennsylvania and New Jersey will end this needless harassment.”

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) – Arriving in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV told reporters he hoped U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin can find a way to reach a ceasefire in Russia’s war on Ukraine when they meet in Alaska.

Reporters were in the crowd that waited to welcome the pope back to the papal summer villa Aug. 13, and a journalist from the Italian agency ANSA asked him what his hopes for the Aug. 15 Trump-Putin meeting were.

“I’m always hoping for a ceasefire,” the pope said. “There must be an end to the violence and so many deaths. Let’s see how they can reach an agreement because the war has been going on too long.”

Pope Leo said that it is not even clear what the point of the war is, “so one must always seek dialogue, diplomacy and not violence.”

The pope also noted that just a few hours earlier, European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a video call with Trump.

The reporter also asked Pope Leo if he was worried about the humanitarian situation in Gaza as Israel continues its military operations to destroy Hamas, which attacked Israel in October 2023, killing close to 1,200 people and kidnapping hundreds of others.

The pope said he was “very” worried. “It cannot continue like this.”

“We know the violence, the terrorism” of Hamas, he said, and “we respect the many who died and the hostages, who must be released, but there also are many who are dying of hunger.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – God never gives up on anyone, even when the person betrays God’s love, Pope Leo XIV said.

Christian hope flows from “knowing that even if we fail, God will never fail us. Even if we betray him, he never stops loving us,” the pope said Aug. 13 at his weekly general audience.

Arriving in the Vatican audience hall, Pope Leo welcomed the visitors in English, Spanish and Italian and explained that the audience would be held in two parts – in the hall and in St. Peter’s Basilica – so people would not be forced to stay outside under the very hot sun.

Pope Leo was scheduled to leave the Vatican after the two-part audience to return to the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo where he had spent part of July. The Vatican press office said he would stay until Aug. 19 in the town, which is about 15 miles southeast of Rome.

Greeting English speakers in the basilica, the pope wished them “safe travels” and prayed that God’s grace would “accompany you and fulfill in your hearts that desire that we all share to live an authentic conversion, to walk united in the church, to renew our faith and to be authentic witnesses of Jesus Christ and his Gospel throughout the world.”

In his main audience talk in the hall, Pope Leo continued his series about Jesus’ final days, looking specifically at Jesus’ revelation during the Last Supper that one of the disciples would betray him.

Jesus does not make the statement to condemn or embarrass Judas in front of the others, the pope said, but does so “to show how love, when it is true, cannot do without the truth.”

In the Gospel, each of the disciples responds, “Surely it is not I?”

The question, the pope said, “is perhaps among the sincerest that we can ask ourselves. It is not the question of the innocent, but of the disciple who discovers himself to be fragile. It is not the cry of the guilty, but the whisper of him who, while wanting to love, is aware of being able to do harm. It is in this awareness that the journey of salvation begins.”

To be saved, he said, a person must recognize that he or she is in need of salvation.

But, at the same time, a disciple of Christ also should feel “beloved despite everything” and know that “evil is real but that it does not have the last word.”

“If we recognize our limit, if we let ourselves be touched by the pain of Christ” at being betrayed, “then we can finally be born again,” Pope Leo told the crowd. “Faith does not spare us from the possibility of sin, but it always offers us a way out of it: that of mercy.”

(OSV News) – Attacks on Christian churches in the U.S. last year totaled 415 — down from 485 in 2023 — although they are “significantly higher” than totals recorded from 2018 to 2022, according to a new report from the Washington-based Family Research Council.

The nonprofit, founded in 1983 to promote Judeo-Christian values, marriage and family, released its latest “Hostility Against Churches” findings Aug. 11.

The annual report – which is based on open-source data such as online documents, news articles, television coverage and media notices from advocacy organizations – was launched in 2022, with data in the inaugural summary dating back to 2018.

FRC classified incidents as vandalism; arson or attempted arson; gun-related events either taking place on church property or targeting the church or its members; and both real and hoax bomb threats.

A final category, “other,” encompassed physical assault, church service disruptions and general threats of harm.

Thirteen incidents in 2024 fell into more than one category, said the report.

FRC used search terms such as “church threats,” “church vandalism” and “church arson” to gather the open-source data.

The 415 incidents in 2024 affected a total of 383 churches, said FRC. OSV News’ review of FRC’s data showed at least 100 of those churches or church-related properties were Catholic.

Among the incidents included in the list were an attack on a Catholic shrine in Portland, Oregon, an assault on a Maronite Catholic priest in his Philadelphia rectory and vandalization at the National Shrine of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia.

FRC found the 12-month total for 2024 “is nearly equal to the findings from our very first report, which covered 57 months.”

California had the highest number of 2024 incidents, with 40 noted by FRC, followed by Pennsylvania (29), Florida (25), New York (25), Texas (23), Tennessee (19) and Ohio (19).

Vandalism accounted for more than 68% (284 out of 415) of the incidents, FRC noted in its report. It said that “in most cases, the motives and identities of the perpetrators were unknown, and some of the churches may have merely been victims of opportunistic vandalism.”

A number of churches “experienced repeated vandalism,” the FRC report said. It pointed to Bethel Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon, as one such example.

The report also noted, “Many instances of vandalism involved inexplicable destructive behaviors, such as smashed windows or destroyed statues.”

It stated, “Some acts of vandalism appear to have been motivated by anger toward a particular church or churches in general. Other incidents seemed to have had political motivations, targeting churches based on their views regarding human sexuality or dignity.”

FRC’s report noted some perpetrators were minors “or individuals likely dealing with mental health challenges.”

In addition, the report said, “A few vandals appeared motivated by financial gain, stealing valuable materials such as copper wiring and air conditioning parts.”

Arson, including attempted arson, represented 13% (55) of the 2024 incident total, with bomb threats at 3% (14) and incidents classified as “other” at 11% (47).

FRC’s report said the 28 gun-related incidents in 2024 were more than double those identified in 2023 (12), with the severity ranging from threats to the actual discharging of a weapon.

It highlighted two incidents in particular.

In late January 2024, then-22-year-old Debari Charvel Augustine was arrested for shooting out several windows at St. Augustine Catholic Church in San Francisco. Although two elderly parishioners were inside at the time, there were no injuries, and Augustine was later remanded for mental health diversion.

A woman armed with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle entered the 16,000-seat Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, during Sunday services last February and opened fire, injuring two. The shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno — who had obtained her gun legally and was being treated for mental illness — was killed after being confronted by two off-duty officers.

Motives for attacks on churches “are not always apparent,” said FRC in its report. However, the nonprofit’s research indicated that incidents spurred by pro-abortion sentiments “dropped significantly, with cases falling from “59 in 2022 and 11 in 2023 to just two in 2024.”

Satanic incidents also declined, from 12 in 2023 down to just one in 2024.

FRC also said, “Anti-LGBT incidents decreased as well, although they remained high at 33 in 2024 (compared to 42 in 2023).” It noted that many incidents occurred at LGBT-supportive churches and often took the form of stealing pride flags.

According to the FBI’s recently released crime statistics, just over 24% of the 12,093 hate crimes in 2024 were motivated by religious bias.

Of those 2,942 reported hate crimes, 69% were anti-Jewish; 8.7% were anti-Islamic; 4.9% were anti-Sikh; 3.9% were anti-Other Religion; 2.5% were anti-Other Christian; and 1.9% were anti-Catholic.

(OSV News) – The streets of Gaza are quieter than they used to be – not because peace has returned. The deep silence of hunger has replaced the noise of daily life.

Every corner bears the marks of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe: gaunt faces of children, long lines at makeshift aid points, and parents who have nothing left to give but words of comfort and prayer.

The humanitarian collapse in Gaza did not happen overnight. On March 2, the Israeli Defense Forces sealed all crossings into the enclave — 16 days before the collapse of the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. With borders sealed, the already limited flow of food, medicine and fuel stopped entirely. Within weeks, hunger and malnutrition spread at an unprecedented pace. Preventable diseases began to take hold.

By early August, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza reported 201 people had died from famine and malnutrition since the start of the war, including 98 children. Those numbers rise daily.

In the middle of Gaza City, amid rubble and market stalls selling a handful of overpriced simple popular sweets, 35-year-old Ahmed al-Sawafiri described the reality of survival:

“Out of poverty, we have children we want to feed — nothing more or less,” he said in an interview for Catholic Near East Welfare Association, or CNEWA. “The situation in general is really difficult, really tragic, and we hope from God things get better.”

Hunger, he added, is now part of everyday life. “The famine is great; children sometimes sleep without eating. What can we do? We just need to get by. It’s all in God’s will.”

For Sawafiri, faith is both a comfort and a lifeline. “Hopefully for the better,” he said, glancing at the street around him. “We ask God that things get better.”

A few steps away, a boy in a small stall, barely tall enough to see over the market crowd, spends his days trying to earn enough to support his eight siblings, “so we can eat and live, and feed my little siblings.” Abdul Rahman Barghouth, 12, dreams of school, but for now his hope is that “the war ends, and prices go down.”

Faith runs through these conversations as naturally as breath. People speak of God’s will even as they recount the impossible choices they face, whether to send a child to line up for aid despite the risk of shelling, whether to sell the last piece of jewelry for a bag of rice, whether to skip their own meal so a child can eat.

For 54-year-old Mozayal Hassouna, those choices leave deep emotional scars. “Some days we spent four days without bread,” she said. “My youngest son tells me, ‘You let me go to sleep hungry, Mom.’ But I can’t provide anything. My husband is 65 and sick; he can’t run after trucks for aid. We lost our stall in the market; our house was bombed like others. We have no income, nothing left to sell, but we do not object to God’s will.”

Her son has developed a stutter, which a doctor says is the result of trauma from bombardment. Now they live in a tent, displaced for two months. “I hope the war ends all over Gaza,” she says. “Let us live, and the children live a little.”

No story captures the cruel intersection of war, siege and hunger clearer than that of 2-year-old Muhammad Al-Mutawaq. His mother, Hidaya, has been displaced seven times since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Her husband was killed early in the conflict in Jabalia, leaving her alone with four children. Before the recent escalation, Muhammad weighed 20 pounds. Today, he weighs just 13.

“There is no aid entering Gaza,” she told CNEWA. “Borders are closed; prices are very high. His only cure is to eat and drink.”

She has tried hospitals, aid groups and community kitchens, but nothing has been enough. “I registered in many associations as a mother of orphans, but I didn’t benefit at all,” she said. “I got really tired going to hospitals, associations, schools, trying to find something for him.”

Muhammad suffers from muscle relaxation, worsened by malnutrition. Physical therapy has helped, but without proper food, recovery is impossible. “Since I lost my husband, these are all God’s tests,” she said. “We will be patient, and hopefully it will end, and Muhammad will be like he used to be.”

UNICEF spokesperson Salim Oweis calls the situation “a man-made catastrophe.” He warns hunger is now killing children in staggering numbers. “Over 90 have died from malnutrition since the war began — a staggering increase of more than 50 percent in less than three months,” he said. “We are witnessing a generation growing up with toxic stress, deprivation and trauma that will probably last a lifetime.”

In July, nearly 12,000 children were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, compared with 2,000 in February.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a collaborative initiative of worldwide crisis relief organizations, including UNICEF, warned in mid-July that Gaza’s food consumption and nutrition indicators were at their worst since the war began. More than one in three people were going days at a time without eating, and half a million people — nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population — were enduring famine-like conditions.

“Every hour we wait, more children will die — if not from bombs, then from the humanitarian crisis that follows them around every corner,” Oweis said. While some aid trickles in — the IDF controls what little aid is allowed into Gaza — he described it as “a drop in the ocean of needs.”

Airdrops, though symbolic, are inefficient, expensive and dangerous, sometimes killing people in the scramble for supplies. “They don’t compare to what could come in through land routes if full and unimpeded access is allowed,” he said.

At Al-Ahli Hospital, medical director Dr. Maher Ayyad describes a health system on the brink of collapse.

“Really, it is catastrophic,” he says. “We are short of medicine, supplies, equipment. Our machines are damaged, and there are no spare parts or engineers to repair them. We are dependent entirely on generators, needing about 238 gallons of fuel daily — often unavailable.”

Much of the hospital’s trained staff has fled or been displaced.

“Sometimes we receive 400 casualties in a single day,” Ayyad said. “We cannot deal with all of these patients, and we are sorry to lose some because of shortages.”

While Al-Ahli is primarily a surgical hospital, famine’s shadow is visible there, too.

“We can see people are starving,” he said. “Some goods are in the market, but they are so expensive nobody can buy them.”

Ayyad expressed gratitude for the symbolic gestures of airdropped aid but warns that without stopping the war, relief will always fall short.

“Please work for peace,” he urges. “Without stopping this war, the problem will go deeper and deeper.”

The layers of collapse in Gaza reach into every part of life. Drinking water is scarce, forcing people to drink untreated water that carries the risk of cholera and other diseases. Tens of thousands live in tents or overcrowded shelters, with no privacy and little safety. Livelihoods have been erased as markets are bombed, fishing is blocked, and farmland is inaccessible. Schools lie in ruins or serve as shelters, and many children have forgotten how to read or write under the weight of trauma.

The Ministry of Health warns of a dangerous increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome and other diseases linked with poor nutrition and sanitation, calling the situation “a warning of a real, potential infectious disaster.”

The common refrain is not only that aid is scarce, but that it is uneven. “Some people eat and some don’t,” Sawafiri said.

Hassouna describes how her family cannot physically reach aid drops, either because they are too far or because the scramble is too dangerous. UNICEF’s Salim Owais confirms this, saying that security risks, coordination delays and desperate crowds make it almost impossible to distribute aid fairly. The difference between survival and starvation, he says, can come down to whether someone is young and strong enough to run for a bag of flour.

Despite the destruction, there is a shared refrain: “Alhamdulillah,” praise be to God. Faith becomes the language that fills the space where certainty used to be.

For Sawafiri, that means believing things will “get better and better.” For young Abdul Rahman, it means thanking God for whatever food comes. For Al-Mutawaq, it means viewing her son’s suffering as a test from God, one that will one day end.

International agencies insist this crisis is not inevitable — it is preventable. UNICEF has called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unrestricted entry of humanitarian and commercial supplies, and protection for civilians and aid workers. Without these steps, the warnings are stark: Famine will deepen, disease will spread, and more children will die.

“All the help will not be enough without stopping this war,” said Ayyad. “The situation is catastrophic. I hope soon the leaders will reach comprehensive peace in this area.”

As Gazans wait for peace, Mozayal Hassouna repeated her faith-filled wish: “We have no objection to God’s will. But I hope the war ends completely, so we can live, and the children can live a little.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – About a decade after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, overturning state laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the justices have been directly asked to overturn the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The justices will have to decide whether or not to take up the case in the fall.

Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who sparked a national controversy in the wake of that ruling in 2015 when she declined to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple on religious grounds, sought to appeal a federal jury’s decision that she should pay $100,000 in damages — and $260,000 for attorneys fees — to the couple.

In a petition for writ of certiorari filed in July, Davis and her attorneys argued the First Amendment should protect Davis from personal liability for denying marriage licenses, since the suit was filed in her personal rather than official capacity.

“The case actually raises two questions, one: the First Amendment Defense for Kim Davis, based on the free exercise of religion, and two, that Obergefell should be reconsidered and overturned,” Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the firm representing Davis, told OSV News. He expressed optimism about the court considering the case.

However, Rick Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, told OSV News, “It is very unlikely that the Court is going to review a jury’s damages verdict in a case with these facts.”

“Among other things, it is not the case that the First Amendment’s religious-liberty guarantees authorize or protect the actions taken by Ms. Davis,” he said.

Since the Obergefell ruling was issued, Gallup polling has found that support for same-sex marriage among U.S. adults has increased from 58% in 2015 to 68% in 2025.

Gallup, however, found that among those who attend church services weekly only 33% said they believed same-sex marriage should be valid and 24% held that “gay/lesbian relations are morally acceptable.”

Regarding marriage, the Catholic Church teaches the sacrament of matrimony can only take place between one woman and one man as “a permanent union of persons capable of knowing and loving each other and God” ordered to “the good of the spouses” and the gift of children. At the same time, the church stresses that those experiencing same-sex attraction, like Christians in every state of life, are called to live chastely through prayer and sacramental grace, drawing on “the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom” as they pursue holiness.

William Powell, senior counsel for the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, which has represented David Ermold and David Moore, the Kentucky couple to whom Davis denied a license, said in a statement provided to OSV News, “Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis’s rehearing petition, and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis’s arguments do not merit further attention.”

Davis was jailed for several days in 2015 for her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but was released after her staff did so on her behalf and without her name on the forms. The Kentucky Legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from marriage licenses issued by the commonwealth.

Staver argued Davis has unique standing to challenge the Obergefell ruling, calling her a “victim” of it.

“It’s because of Obergefell, when it came down, that she asked for an accommodation to have her name removed (from marriage licenses),” Staver said. “When that accommodation wasn’t granted, then she faced a federal lawsuit by the plaintiffs, and then was put in prison for six days, and now she has a judgment against her personally for exercising or requesting to have her religious beliefs accommodated, so she clearly has been injured by Obergefell.”

In the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the court’s previous abortion precedent, Justice Clarence Thomas filed a concurrence in that case, in which he argued the justices should “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including Obergefell, an argument Davis’ petition cited.

Notre Dame’s Garnett, however, doubted the high court would take the case.

“Even if it were the case that a majority of the justices were interested in finding a vehicle for revisiting Obergefell, it is very unlikely that any of them would think that this particular case is a good vehicle for doing so.”

“There are a number of complicated legal questions — separate from the correctness of Obergefell — in play, that the justices, and their clerks, will think make the case a bad vehicle,” he said.

If the Obergefell ruling were to be overturned in the future, it would not render void existing marriage licenses under the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act. That law requires the federal government to guarantee recognition of existing same-sex and interracial marriages regardless of any changes in law.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Donald Trump said Aug. 11 he will place the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department “under direct federal control,” activate the National Guard, and “get rid of the slums” in what he called an effort to combat crime in Washington.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump said at a press conference at the White House. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”

Crime in the nation’s capital has declined from a pandemic-era increase, with an analysis of police data by The Washington Post showing homicides are down 32% year-to-date.

Trump said he would invoke his authority under Section 740 of the District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act, the law that established the district’s local government. That section gives the president the power to order Washington’s mayor to temporarily give control of the city’s police department if the president determines “special conditions of an emergency nature exist.”

However, that provision only grants the president the ability to do so for 30 days, and extensions must be authorized by Congress.

In a social media post prior to the press conference, Trump also said, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”

Trump said something similar during his press conference.

“We’re going to be removing homeless encampments from all over our parks, our beautiful, beautiful parks, which now a lot of people can’t walk on,” he told reporters.

“They’ve been very, very dirty — got a lot of problems — but we’ve already started that,” he said. “We’re moving the encampments away, trying to take care of people.”

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Washington directed OSV News to data about the archdiocesan Catholic Charities’ work with those experiencing hunger and homelessness. The organization said in its 2023-2024 annual report it provided 1,035 beds to shelter guests each night.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement that Trump’s decision constituted a “historic assault on D.C. home rule.” She called it “a counterproductive, escalatory seizure of D.C.’s resources to use for purposes not supported by D.C. residents,” and argued it was further evidence for why she believed the District of Columbia should be granted statehood.

“Crime in D.C. reached a 30-year low in 2024 and is down 26% this year compared to the same time period last year. The administration is justifying the decision by misleadingly citing years-old statistics,” she said, adding, “If the federal government wanted to be helpful, it could confirm judges to the D.C. Courts, which face a perpetual vacancy crisis due to inaction in the Senate.”

Norton pointed out that the district needed more local judges.

“Currently, 20 percent of the D.C. Superior Court is vacant, significantly impeding D.C.’s ability to try criminal cases in court, harming public safety and access to justice,” she said.

Norton also noted Trump’s reluctance to send in the D.C. National Guard when the U.S. Capitol was stormed on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters attempting to subvert congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s election. She argued the district should have a chief executive empowered to have control of the guard similar to state governors within their respective states.

Previously, Trump on July 24 signed an executive order titled, “Ending Crime And Disorder On America’s Streets,” directing the attorney general to attempt to reverse federal and state judicial precedents to make it easier for local governments to remove people experiencing homelessness from encampments into treatment centers.

“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order,” the order said. “Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens.”

The National Homelessness Law Center issued a statement July 24 condemning the order, arguing it “deprives people of their basic rights and makes it harder to solve homelessness.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, an annual report of the number of individuals in settings including shelters, temporary housing, and those who are unsheltered, found more than 771,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024, marking an 18% increase over the previous year, the highest number found by the annual report since it began in 2007.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Stories about “the first 100 days” are standard fare at the beginning of a U.S. president’s four-year term; the articles usually focus on how much the new president was able to accomplish and how quickly.

But a pope is elected for life and without having promised voters anything or having presented a platform.

Pope Leo XIV was elected May 8, making Aug. 16 the 100th day since he stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new pope. He will celebrate his 70th birthday Sept. 14.

While the first 100 days of a pontificate may hint at what is to come, the initial period of Pope Leo’s ministry as the successor of Peter and bishop of Rome seemed mostly about him getting used to the role, the crowds and the protocol.

According to canon law, the pope “possesses supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.”

In other words, he could have issued a slew of the canonical equivalent of executive orders in his first days in office. Instead, he lived up to his reputation as a person who listens before deciding — holding a meeting with the College of Cardinals and individual meetings with the heads of Vatican offices.

Like his predecessors, Pope Leo confirmed the heads of Curia offices on a temporary basis a few days after his election. Some major nominations are expected in September or early October, starting with his own replacement as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

His choices for members of his team, and whether he decides to have an international Council of Cardinals to advise him will send signals not only about what he wants to do but also how he wants to do it. (Pope Francis set up the Council of Cardinals early in his pontificate to help him with the reform of the Roman Curia and to advise him on other matters, but he did not make the council a formal body.) 

September also should bring an announcement about where Pope Leo will live. Several cardinals have said that in the days before the conclave they encouraged the future pope — whoever he would be — to move back into the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace. The move would make security easier, saving the Vatican money and allowing the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis chose to live, to return to full operation as a guesthouse.

In his first public address, moments after his election, the new pope said: “We want to be a synodal church, a church that moves forward, a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close above all to those who are suffering.”

Pope Leo went deeper when he spoke about the key objectives of his ministry — in a pontificate that easily could last 20 years — during a meeting with the College of Cardinals two days after his election.

He asked the cardinals to join him in renewing a “complete commitment to the path that the universal Church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.”

That path had six fundamental points that, Pope Leo said, “Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth” in his first exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.”

The six points highlighted by Pope Leo were: “the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation; the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community; growth in collegiality and synodality; attention to the ‘sensus fidei’ (the people of God’s sense of the faith), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety; loving care for the least and the rejected; (and) courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities.”

Those realities include the widespread media attention focused on the election of the first U.S.-born pope as well as the fact that people of all stripes feel free to use social media to proclaim what Pope Leo “should” do, “must” or “must not” do.

According to a Gallup Poll conducted in the United States July 7-21 and published Aug. 5, Pope Leo was the most favorably viewed of 14 world leaders and major newsmakers; 57% of Americans said they had a “favorable opinion” of him and 11% said they had an “unfavorable” opinion.

“These figures closely match Pope Francis’ ratings when he assumed the role in 2013, then viewed favorably by 58% and unfavorably by 10%, as well as Pope Benedict in 2005 — 55% favorable, 12% unfavorable,” Gallup said.

Among those surveyed, self-identified Catholics gave all three popes even higher ratings at the beginning of their pontificates, the polling group said, “with Leo viewed favorably by 76%, Francis by 80% and Benedict by 67%.”

As the weeks passed after his election, Pope Leo seemed to grow more comfortable with a crowd, spending more time blessing babies and enjoying his interactions with the thousands of people who came to St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audiences.

At his general audience Aug. 6 — held outside on a very warm summer day — the pope finished his formal program in less than an hour, then spent another two and a half hours shaking hands, posing for photos with pilgrim groups and having unusually long conversations with dozens of newlywed couples before offering them his blessing.

As a Curia official, the future pope had a reputation of being somewhat reserved, but Pope Leo has shown he has a special tool for connecting with a crowd: speaking English and Spanish as well as Italian, the Vatican’s official working language.

His ability to switch between the three languages effortlessly was on full display at the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers July 28-29 and the related Jubilee of Youth July 28-Aug. 3. The young people roared with approval as he spoke to them in languages that most could understand.

While his U.S. roots and Peruvian missionary experience undoubtedly will impact his papacy, he has been very respectful of the Italian tradition of not making major announcements or changes during the summer holidays.

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV tops a new Gallup poll on world leaders, appealing to U.S. residents broadly in a politically divided – and divisive – nation.

The poll, conducted by telephone July 7-21 with 1,002 adults throughout the country, found that 57% of respondents viewed Pope Leo favorably, with 11% disapproving of him and 31% having no opinion.

Of that last group, 18% said they were not familiar enough with the pope to weigh in, while the remaining 13% had not heard of him.

In addition, said Gallup, Pope Leo is viewed more favorably across party lines, “unlike the political figures measured in the latest poll.”

At the same time, Gallup noted that, “consistent with the ideological differences in his ratings, he is liked better by Democrats than Republicans.”

The Gallup poll was the first time it rated the U.S.-born pope since his May 8 election. Pope Leo marks his first 100 days in the papacy Aug. 16.

Respondents gave Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a 52% approval rating, with 34% disapproving and 14% indicating no opinion. Behind him was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who was viewed positively by 49% and negatively by 38%, with 14% having no opinion.

Most Americans surveyed (57%) disapproved of U.S. President Donald Trump, with 41% approving and just 2% having no opinion. Vice President JD Vance scored a 49% disapproval rating, with 38% viewing him favorably and 13% having no opinion.

Pope Leo also led the rankings according to net favorability — which represents the difference between positive and negative percentage points — at 46%.

Gallup noted that “net favorability is most effective for these comparisons because it accounts for large differences in Americans’ familiarity with the various figures.”

Except for Pope Leo, Zelenskyy and Sanders, all of the remaining leaders on the Gallup list had negative net favorability, with French President Emmanuel Macron at -1% and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk at -28%.

Trump (-16%), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-16%), former President Joe Biden (-11%) and current Vice President JD Vance (-11%) fell between Macron and Musk in the net negative rankings.

Gallup also compared Pope Leo’s rating with those of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI. It noted the new pope’s numbers “closely match” those of his predecessors in the early days of their respective pontificates. In 2013, Gallup found that 58% approved and 10% disapproved of Pope Francis, while in 2005 Pope Benedict was viewed favorably by 55% and unfavorably by 12%.

The polling firm clarified that it did not measure U.S. public opinion of Pope St. John Paul II as favorable or unfavorable until 1993, well after his 1978 election. However, the late pope enjoyed wide popularity among U.S. residents, with anywhere from 61% to 86% approving in a given poll over the years.

Among U.S. Catholics, Pope Leo (76%), Pope Francis (80%) and Pope Benedict (67%) “earned higher-than-average support in their initial ratings,” said Gallup.

The firm also noted that Pope Leo differs from predecessors in that his approval rating is “higher among liberals than conservatives (65% vs. 46%).”

In contrast, conservatives were more likely to view Pope Benedict and Pope Francis favorably during the early days of their pontificates.

Pope Benedict maintained that conservative approval edge through Gallup’s 2010 data, taken three years ahead of his 2013 resignation. Pope Francis’ ranking among conservatives declined, with his December 2023 Gallup numbers showing a 70% approval among liberals and 42% among conservatives.

ARCHBALD – On Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, parishioners and friends of Saint Thomas Aquinas Church in Archbald are invited to gather in joyful thanksgiving as the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, returns to celebrate a special Mass marking the 150th anniversary of the church’s dedication.

The liturgy will take place at 4:00 p.m. and all are welcome.

The anniversary celebration not only marks a milestone in bricks and mortar – but also an enduring legacy of faith and community that has defined the church community since the 1800s.

“It will be 150 years plus a day,” noted Father Ryan Glenn, pastor of Christ the King Parish, of which Saint Thomas Aquinas Church is a worship site. “It was originally consecrated by the First Bishop of Scranton on Aug. 15, 1875, and it really is a testimony to the faith of the people. They were primarily coal miners.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas Church was built during a time when nearly every man in the parish worked in the mines.

Historical records show that while the church was being constructed, the mines were on “half time.” A group of those early parishioners asked the officials of the D & H Gravity Mine to operate the mines an extra week so that the money could be turned over to the parish priest to meet the congregation’s obligations.

The company agreed and approximately $7,500 was paid into the church treasury to almost wipe out the debt of construction.

“It’s amazing to think of the faith of the people who really built such a magnificent church,” Father Ryan added.

WITHSTANDING TEST OF TIME

The deep connection between the church and its people has never been more evident than in moments of hardship. That was on display most significantly 15 years ago when the ceiling of the church collapsed. At the time, the pastor was none other than Monsignor Joseph Bambera, now Bishop of Scranton.

“That always comes up when people mention him here,” Father Glenn shared with a smile. “Saint Thomas Church has been through a lot … (It) has been renovated back to its original glory.”

Today, the church stands not only as a stunning architectural landmark, but as a living home for generations of faithful.

“We have Mass every day in Saint Thomas Aquinas Church,” Father Ryan explained. “It’s amazing to think of the countless individuals who have gone through here, were baptized, confirmed, had weddings and funerals. It’s not just the beauty of the building; it’s the extraordinary community housed here.”

One of the treasures inside is a painting of the Crucifixion that hangs on the back wall behind the altar – and is nearly as old as the building itself. Generations have prayed before it, creating an unbroken thread of devotion stretching across generations.

“To think for well over 100 years, people have been praying before that same image of the crucified Christ,” Father Ryan said. “It’s really amazing to have that connection in faith with people that were here well before us.”

‘LIVING COMMUNITY OF FAITH’

Over the past 150 years, the church has seen renovations and additions, including the vibrant stained-glass windows installed in 1949 and 1950, which reflect the life and concerns of Catholics in the mid-20th century.

One depicts Saint Maria Goretti, newly canonized at the time. Another includes a sickle and hammer symbol – an artistic reflection of prayer and hope for peace during the Cold War era.

“When you go in and pray and look around, it’s reflective of a faith that is living and alive,” Father Ryan explained. “The art and architecture are reflective of a living community of faith.”

Even children are drawn into that history. During First Communion preparation, Father Ryan gives a tour of the church – and one detail always delights.

“There are two dogs depicted in the church murals,” he laughed. “One sits at the feet of Jesus in the home of Mary and Martha. There is another dog in the big mural of Saint Thomas Aquinas that reflects the legend of Saint Dominic.”

HOMECOMING AND HOPE

Following the anniversary Mass, all are invited to a social in the church hall.

Father Ryan said whether a person has worshipped at Saint Thomas Aquinas Church their entire life, or moved away years ago, the upcoming anniversary Mass is a moment to come home.

“It is a nice moment for us to recognize our history – but also to realize that we keep moving forward,” he said. “The mission of the Church continues: to serve the poor, to preach the Gospel, and to worship the Lord.”