National News
In gathering for U.S. bishops like no other, annual meeting goes online
Some 300 bishops will meet online only for two days Nov. 16-17. The prelates will discuss tough issues including responses to the pandemic and the report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
At Jesuit agency event, Biden announces he will hike refugee cap
Weeks after the Trump administration said it would drop to a historic low the cap on the number of displaced people the U.S. resettles, President-elect Joe Biden said he would head in a dramatically different direction.
Report offers transparency that laity ‘have rightly demanded,’ archbishop says
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori was among a number of U.S. prelates reacting to release of the McCarrick report and praising sexual abuse victims' persistence in demanding an investigation.
Peace activists receive prison sentences for submarine base protest
Dorothy Day's granddaughter and other members of Catholic Worker will spend about a year in prison and pay $25 per month in restitution for trespassing on a U.S. naval base.
N.J. bishops’ letters helped pave McCarrick’s path to power
Three of the state's four bishops did not tell what they knew, according to the McCarrick report. That has led to a lack of trust in church leaders among priests and seminarians, said one priest and a seminary instructor.
Pope Francis congratulates Biden on winning presidential election
The pope called President-elect Joe Biden early Nov. 12 in Wilmington, where he is working with the presidential transition team. Biden will be the nation's second Catholic president.
2020 election once again highlights Electoral College
While white smoke didn't waft over Pennsylvania, there are parallels between the U.S. system of electors and the church's College of Cardinals, even as the viability of the former is under scrutiny.
News accounts of McCarrick report lay blame on popes, others
Catholic and secular media's coverage of the Vatican's long-awaited report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick shows how many different perspectives can be gleaned from a 460-page report.
Supreme Court seems ready to let Affordable Care Act stand
The two justices repeatedly stressed that they didn't see how it was necessary to strike down the entire health care law even if its individual mandate, requiring persons to buy health insurance, was invalidated.
Report’s look into U.S. abuse scandal digs up pain, hope in transparency
The report on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick shows why it's important to have a strong presence from those outside the closed clerical system to hold leaders accountable, said bishops and lay people.