US & Canada

Ann Rodgers reports on Angelus News: Four days after Corpus Christi Church was incinerated in the Palisades fire, Captain Bryan Nassour of the Los Angeles Fire Department picked his way over a six-foot layer of rubble in the ashen bones of the sanctuary and recovered the tabernacle. "I did it because the whole community has been decimated - it looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off and nothing is... Read More

Outgoing US President Joe Biden has awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the United States' highest civilian honour. Biden announced this directly to the Pope, in a telephone call on Saturday, 11 January. The two were due to meet in person on 10 January at the Vatican, for a private audience, as part of Biden's trip to Italy, the last international trip before t... Read More

Several buildings at the Passionist Mater Dolorosa Retreat Centre in Los Angeles has been destroyed in the wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles, but all the staff and residents were safely evacuated. Fr Febin Barose, CP, Director of the Mater Dolorosa Retreat Centre in Los Angeles writes: It is with heartfelt emotion and in solidarity with all those affected and lost their homes that I update y... Read More

Pablo Kay writes on Angelus News: Several Catholic parishes opened their doors to families evacuated from their homes as wind-driven fires continued to burn through parts of Los Angeles County on Wednesday, 8 January. St Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica was open until almost midnight Tuesday night, offering evacuees from the nearby Palisades Fire a place to freshen up, get snacks, and charge... Read More

A Catholic Church has been totally destroyed in the wildfires ripping through Los Angeles today. More than 65 Catholic schools have been closed. Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Pacific Palisades appears to have been completely gutted. There are also reports that Corpus Christi's parish school has been damaged. Built in the 1950s between Santa Monica and Malibu, Pacific Palisades is an affluent n... Read More

A religious sister who befriended Billy the Kid, calmed a lynch mob, testified against human trafficking, opened hospitals and schools in New Mexico and gave refuge to immigrant children, is one step closer to canonization. Servant of God Sister Blandina Segale - an Italian immigrant who served during the days of the Wild West, is close to being named "Venerable," said Allen Sánchez, the petition... Read More

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy, currently Bishop of San Diego, as the eighth Archbishop of Washington today, 6 January 2025. McElroy, 70, succeeds Cardinal Wilton Gregory, America's first black cardinal, who at 77 is two years above the normal retirement age for bishops. The appointment comes just as Washington prepares for the arrival of President Trump on 20 January. Trump ma... Read More

On January 6, 2021, some who stormed the US Capitol wore or carried messages suggesting that their faith had motivated them to attack American democracy. One of the first rioters to enter the Senate Chamber carried a Christian flag, while others at the Capitol waved Bibles. Many who committed acts of violence that day in the name of their faith faced justice for their actions are now seeking and m... Read More

Pope Francis has said he is "deeply saddened" to learn of the "loss of life and injury" caused by the terror attack in New Orleans. In a message to Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Pope Francis expresses his 'spiritual closeness' to those affected by the recent terrorist attack in the southern US city. On Wednesday, 1 January 15 people were killed, and dozens injured, when a 42-year-old m... Read More

President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of the 40 prisoners on the federal Death Row. These men will now stay in prison for life without parole. A statement from the White House says: "President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system. He believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal le... Read More

Pax Christi USA is one of more than two dozen national Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas-Justice Team, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Franciscan Action Network, and the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, to name only a few, that have signed a new letter to President Biden urging him t... Read More

Michelle Martin writes in the Chicago Catholic: More than 900 people on horseback gathered in the Cook County Forest Preserve along the Des Plaines River south of Dundee Road on 7 December to make their way along the forest preserve bridal path to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Illinois, a journey of more than five miles. They came to celebrate their Mexican heritage and to a... Read More

In a letter to his diocese on Wednesday, Cardinal Blase J Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, advises against solo kneeling to receive Communion. He points out that the Second Vatican Council called for "the full, active and conscious participation of all the baptized in the celebration of the Eucharist to reflect our belief that in the sacred liturgy the faithful become the Body of Christ that they r... Read More

Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), the leading faith-based organization working to end US capital punishment and promote the healing practices of restorative justice, publicly released a letter today that was sent on 20 November to President Joe Biden - a fellow Catholic - urging him to "act in the spirit of mercy and the kind of justice that upholds the dignity of all life, no matter the harm one... Read More