St. Mary's Church

Con motivo de los 500 años de la aparición de la Madre de Dios en México, se lanzó una iniciativa que busca llevar la imagen de la Virgen de Guadalupe a todas las diócesis del país, mediante la peregrinación de una réplica de la Sagrada Tilma de San Juan Diego.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 17, 2025 / 19:30 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking a federal district court to block the government from enforcing any portion of an abortion “accommodation” rule against them while they appeal a court order that provided only partial relief from the rule.

Under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) abortion accommodation rule, the USCCB can deny workplace accommodations for employees who obtain purely elective abortions, but they may still have to provide accommodations for abortions related to treating medical conditions.

Qualifying medical conditions are broad. According to the EEOC rule, conditions include “modest” or even “minor” anxiety, depression, nausea, dehydration, and changes in hormone levels that result from a pregnancy.

Because of this, the USCCB asked the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to fully block the EEOC’s abortion accommodation rule during their appeal. The rule comes from the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, passed under President Joe Biden, which requires employers to offer reasonable workplace accommodations for women with limitations from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

Although the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act itself makes no mention of abortion, the EEOC regulation states that “having or choosing not to have an abortion” qualifies as a related medical condition. The rule provides for religious exemptions only on a case-by-case basis, which would be determined after the accommodation request was made and denied.

Daniel Blomberg, the lead attorney for the bishops, told CNA that the case-by-case exemption is “facially inadequate.” He said USCCB policy is to never provide accommodations for an abortion and warned that the USCCB would need to change its policy to comply with the mandate, which the bishops have not done and will not do.

Numerous Catholic and other religious organizations have also sued the EEOC for its abortion accommodation rule and were given full relief from the mandate. Blomberg said the USCCB is the only entity that was denied full relief.

“They cannot change their policy,” Blomberg said. “They cannot violate the faith that animates what they do.”

Blomberg, who serves as vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act itself ensures that “religious organizations are protected.” He contested that the EEOC’s implementation regulations go against the text of the law and Congress’s intent.

“Congress did not intend to force the bishops or any other religious groups to accommodate abortions at any time,” he added.

In addition to arguing that the EEOC regulations are an improper implementation of the law, the lawsuit also appeals to the religious liberty protections in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment guarantee of the free exercise of religion.

Andrea Lucas, the new EEOC chair appointed by President Donald Trump, has vocally criticized the final rule. However, because Trump removed two Democrat-appointed commissioners from the EEOC, the body lacks the necessary quorum to issue new guidelines. 

Trump nominated Brittany Panuccio, a Republican lawyer, to serve on the commission. If she is confirmed by the Senate, the commission would have the necessary quorum.

Blomberg said the commission is likely “months away from any prospect of getting [a quorum]” right now, which means the rule will stay in place for the time being.

En el día de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, una gran cantidad de fieles se acercó a la Basílica y Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, en Maipú, para acompañar al diácono Carlos Iván Romero Villarroel en su ordenación sacerdotal

El Papa León XIV aseguró que ningún grito de las víctimas inocentes de la violencia quedará sin ser escuchado por Dios, en su discurso a los participantes de la peregrinación católica y ortodoxa que llegó a Roma procedente de Estados Unidos, su país natal.

El sacerdote Pedro Benítez Mestre fue nombrado rector provisional de la Universidad Pontificia de México (UPM) por un periodo de dos años, informó la Universidad Pontificia de México (UPM).

CNA Newsroom, Jul 17, 2025 / 15:58 pm (CNA).

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) delivered a speech on the Senate floor on July 16 denouncing cuts to federal funding of faith-based organizations that play critical roles in refugee resettlement and international humanitarian aid. 

The Rescissions Act of 2025, pushed by both President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, proposes $9.4 billion in cuts to previously appropriated federal funding, $800 million of which supports faith-based organizations like Catholic Relief Services (CRS) as well as World Vision, an evangelical organization.

The rescissions bill, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives 214-212 on June 12 and passed in an amended form in the Senate on July 17, threatens to dismantle funding for faith-based groups, including the U.S. bishop-supported CRS.

Kaine, a Catholic and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who opposes the cuts, on Wednesday called them an “attack on the religious organizations so that they cannot do the work that their faith in their Creator compels them to do.”

During the Senate’s consideration of the measure on July 16, Kaine unsuccessfully introduced a motion to recommit the bill to the Senate Committee on Appropriations with instructions to preserve funding for faith-based organizations involved in refugee resettlement and international assistance. The motion was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 48-51.

Kaine, the former governor of Virginia, had urged the Senate to preserve funding for the faith-based groups, many of which have already laid off employees.

According to Kaine, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society have fired staff, and the Episcopal Church has closed its resettlement program completely.

World Relief has warned that the cuts undermine protections for persecuted Christians, Kaine said.

While he said he was “not surprised” that Trump had supported the funding cuts, Kaine expressed dismay at the cuts’ support among Republicans, many of whom “go to churches just like me and hear sermons preached about the Good Samaritan, just like I do every Sunday.”

The senator said seven of the ten organizations resettling refugees in the U.S. are faith-based, with Catholic advocates leading efforts to integrate legal immigrants, such as Afghan allies and Congolese families, into American communities. 

In his speech Wednesday, Kaine spoke about his home parish, St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Richmond, Virginia, which was founded by Italian and German immigrants after World War I.

He said those immigrants chose to honor St. Elizabeth because she took bread to the poor, a symbol of serving those in need.

Kaine’s parish, which he said he has attended for 40 years, now has a large community of Congolese refugees.

“My church looks … different in some ways than when it was founded 100 years ago,” Kaine said, “but in other ways it’s exactly the same—a haven for … legal immigrants” who have “come to a place where they feel loved and cared for and safe and welcome.”

He highlighted the impact of the proposed funding cuts on his parish, where Congolese families fear for relatives still in refugee camps. 

“These families come to me after Mass, frightened about what these cuts mean,” he said.

The Senate passed a version of the measure on July 17 incorporating an amendment that preserved $400 million to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The amendment also protected some country-specific grants.

Because it was amended, the bill was sent back to the House. If Congress fails to pass the Rescissions Act by midnight on July 18, the White House must release the $9 billion in funds, including $7.9 billion in foreign aid cuts affecting faith-based organizations, to be spent as originally appropriated.

Correction: An earlier version of this story identified Catholic Relief Services as assisting with refugee resettlement in the United States. CRS does not perform refugee resettlement in the U.S., but Catholic Charities does. Sen. Tim Kaine's remarks have also been updated. (Published July 18, 2025)

Se dieron a conocer las cifras de lo recaudado en la edición 2024 de la Colecta Más por Menos, la tradicional iniciativa solidaria organizada por la Comisión Episcopal de Ayuda a las Regiones Más Necesitadas de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina.

Una multitud de fieles acompañó la procesión de la Virgen del Carmen en el centro histórico de Lima el 16 de julio, ciudad de la que es “alcaldesa perpetua”. Entre los participantes estaba el P. Grover Cáceres Rivera, superior mayor de los carmelitas descalzos en el Perú, quien destacó que María es “madre de la esperanza”.

Las comunidades cristianas en Siria han sido víctimas, en los últimos días, de una nueva y alarmante ola de violencia.

Tras el ataque a la Iglesia de Gaza, el director de Caritas Jerusalén alerta de que si el párroco no hubiera insistido en que permanecieran dentro hubiera sido "una masacre"