Father Mike Depcik offer Mass at the Seton Shrine Basilica in Emmitsburg, Maryland, during a recent retreat at the shrine. / Credit: Courtesy of the Seton Shrine CNA Staff, May 7, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA). One of the few Deaf Catholic priests in the United States is working to renew the Church’s ministry to the Deaf in Maryland and beyond through signed Masses, retreats, and an upcoming Eucharistic congress for the Deaf.  Father Michael Depcik, who last year became the chaplain for the Deaf Ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was born deaf and grew up in a Deaf Catholic family in Chica ..read more

null / Credit: txking/Shutterstock CNA Staff, May 7, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA). As global fertility rates continue to decline, even majority-Catholic and historically Catholic countries aren’t free from the demographic collapse, which increasingly threatens to shrink the populations of countries below the necessary rate of replacement.  Global fertility has been falling for decades, with the problem often most acute in industrialized nations with higher standards of living, even while the fertility rates in many developing nations with strained resources, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, con ..read more

null / Credit: Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 6, 2024 / 18:37 pm (CNA). Ryan Burge, a leading researcher on religion and politics, recently compiled data indicating that “cafeteria Catholicism” is rampant in the United States. Specifically, the country’s Catholics express widespread disagreement with the Church’s teaching on abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty. The term “cafeteria Catholic” refers to a Catholic who picks and chooses which Church teachings he or she affirms and adheres to. Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory recently used the term to describ ..read more

The Diocese of Pittsburgh's Gismondi Job Training Program helps those in need. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 6, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA). Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh is expanding its social services offered to people who are homeless and those in poverty with a newly created “Compassion Corner” opening in August.  The nonprofit charity group is renovating a former office building located in downtown Pittsburgh to provide health care services, mental health services, job training programs, a place ..read more

Naples Archbishop Domenico Battaglia kisses the reliquary containing the blood of St. Januarius on May 4, 2024. / Credit: Chiesa di Napoli ACI Prensa Staff, May 6, 2024 / 16:48 pm (CNA). The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, bishop, martyr, and patron saint of Naples, Italy, was repeated in St. Clare Basilica on May 4. The Archdiocese of Naples reported on its website that on May 4 at 6:38 p.m. local time, the miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius occurred once again.  St. Januarius was martyred in the year 305, during the fierce persecution un ..read more

President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 3, 2024. / Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images CNA Staff, May 6, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA). Katie Ledecky, Olympic swimmer, devout Catholic, and winner of 10 Olympic medals, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Friday.  “Thank you Mr. President for this honor, and thank you to everyone at the White House for an incredibly special day!” Ledecky wrote in a post on X. Since she began her Olympic career in 2012 as ..read more

Pro-lifers march in Colombia on May 4, 2024, in the country's capital, Bogotá, and other cities and towns throughout the country. / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/ACI Prensa ACI Prensa Staff, May 6, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA). Under the theme “Colombia, With Life There Is Hope,” tens of thousands of Colombians took to the streets May 4 in more than 110 cities and towns during the South American country’s 18th National March for Life, according to the United for Life platform, which organized the event. The marchers called on Colombia’s Constitutional Court to annul its rulings that decriminalized and subs ..read more

Abortion pill reversal seeks to counter the effects of the first progesterone-blocking abortion pill, providing an opportunity to save the unborn child. / Credit: Shutterstock CNA Staff, May 6, 2024 / 14:57 pm (CNA). New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday filed a lawsuit against multiple pregnancy resource centers and a pro-life group over what the prosecutor alleged were misleading statements about abortion pill reversal.  James said in the filing that the defendants — the group Heartbeat International and 11 crisis pregnancy centers affiliated with the nonprofit — h ..read more

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli prayer and address on Sunday, May 5, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media ACI Prensa Staff, May 6, 2024 / 14:07 pm (CNA). A priest armed with several weapons and dressed in a cassock tried to enter St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to participate in the Regina Caeli prayer with Pope Francis on Sunday, May 5. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the priest, who is from the Czech Republic, tried to pass through the metal detector carrying an air pistol, two knives, a cutter, and a screwdriver. After being arrested ..read more

The Vatican announced on May 6, 2024, that Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor John McDermott as the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont. / Credit: Diocese of Burlington, Vermont CNA Staff, May 6, 2024 / 11:52 am (CNA). Pope Francis has appointed Vermont priest John McDermott as the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington in that state, the Vatican announced Monday. The Burlington bishopric was previously headed by Bishop Christopher Coyne, whom Pope Francis named as coadjutor archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut, last year and who on May 1 took over as archbishop there. McDermott has bee ..read more