By Rocio Rios , OSV News (OSV News) — En solo unas semanas, la vida de Amayrani Higueldo va a dar un paso de profunda riqueza espiritual. Su vida cambiará radicalmente. Ella es uno de los 24 jóvenes que participarán de la Peregrinación Eucarística Nacional, que empezará entre el 17 al 19 de mayo — el fin de semana de Pentecostés — y que concluirá con el Congreso Eucarístico Nacional, que empieza el 17 de julio. “Es una gran bendición. Algo único en mi vida, porque ¿quién puede decir que ha caminado dos meses con Nuestro Señor? No es algo común. Esta experiencia significa todo para mí espiritua ..read more

(OSV News) — When people are impacted in their daily lives by strong examples of priests and religious faithfully living out their vocations, Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus believes that’s when vocations to the priesthood and religious life flourish. Bishop Fernandes, who spoke with OSV News ahead of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on April 21, said that he has tried to build “a culture of vocations” in his diocese, which has seen a doubling in the number of vocations to the priesthood over the past two years. When he was ordained as bishop on May 31, 2022, he observed that there w ..read more

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — Aunque los problemas alrededor del mundo corren el riesgo de sumir a la gente en el pesimismo, los cristianos están llamados a perseguir su vocación de ser “hombres y mujeres de esperanza”, dijo el Papa Francisco. “Como individuos y como comunidad, en la variedad de los carismas y de los ministerios, todos estamos llamados a ‘darle cuerpo y corazón’ a la esperanza del Evangelio en un mundo marcado por desafíos epocales”, escribió el Papa en su mensaje para la Jornada Mundial de Oración por las Vocaciones del 21 de abril. Desafíos globales como la guerra, la migraci ..read more

(OSV News) — By any measure, Louis Anthony “Lou” Conter, a Catholic hero of World War II who died April 1 at his home in Grass Valley, California, at age 102, led a celebrated life. Conter’s funeral Mass will be celebrated April 23 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Grass Valley, followed by burial with full military honors. Born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin, on Sept. 13, 1921, Conter graduated from high school in Colorado. He escaped a hardscrabble life — at age 7, he hunted rabbits in Kansas, where his family was living, in order to provide dinner — and a job in a Hormel meatpacking plant by enlistin ..read more

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — A bipartisan coalition in the House, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., moved to advance a $95 billion package providing aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over the objections of some far-right lawmakers who indicated they would attempt to remove Johnson from his role over the deal. U.S. bishops reiterated the church’s concern for immigrant workers and workplace conscience protections. And the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ religious liberty chair expresses concern about Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations including abortion. Foreign aid deal could i ..read more

(OSV News) — Efforts to pass a Russian-style foreign agent law could end up restricting the work of the Catholic Church in the nation of Georgia, the leader of an aid agency told OSV News. “I worry,” said Anahit Mkhoyan, executive director of Caritas Georgia, part of Caritas Internationalis, the universal Catholic Church’s global federation of more than 160 humanitarian organizations. As a locally registered nongovernmental organization, Caritas Georgia is “the biggest social service provider” in the nation and also “invests a lot into the development of social protection systems,” she said. B ..read more

Five years ago, on April 15, flames engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral.  It had long been on my bucket list of places to visit. I remember watching online videos of the fire burning and finding a virtual tour of the building, mourning the loss of this edifice of faith, history, art and culture. Happily, Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen later this year on December 8 — recently the Archbishop of Paris shared what that would look like, declaring it will be “six months of celebration and praise.” But being a simple soul, something the cathedral’s rector said in an interview struck me even more so ..read more

(OSV News) — En pasados días monseñor Roberto O. González Nieves, arzobispo metropolitano de San Juan de Puerto Rico, publicó una carta pastoral en respuesta a la declaración de emergencia por el dengue proferida el pasado 25 de marzo por Carlos Mellado López, secretario del Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico. El arzobispo de San Juan dijo “queremos expresarnos como colaboradores del Departamento de Salud, al igual que de la comunidad médica estatal, en este asunto tan grave y que nos toca a todos y todas, porque la solidaridad nos hace corresponsables los unos a los otros para proteger la v ..read more

(OSV News) — Poland’s church is seeking the beatification of a young lay missionary, who was stabbed to death in a bungled robbery shortly after starting work with Catholic nuns at a children’s home in Bolivia in 2017. “In five years as a volunteer, she discovered her calling to spread the Gospel — and it gave her a sense of happiness and fulfillment, of being in God’s hands,” explained Father Pawel Wróbel, postulator in the missionary’s sainthood cause. “Her life and example can show young people it’s possible to find your place in the church, despite what’s said today, sharing your God-given ..read more

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Final regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will grant workers protections for time off and other job accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions like miscarriage, stillbirth and lactation — but also for abortion, which was opposed by many of the bill’s supporters. The regulations govern the implementation of the bipartisan legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in December 2022, and went into effect the following June. The law prohibits employment practices that discriminate against making reasonable accommodat ..read more