World & Nation

Jimmy Lai's 2025 Christmas card featured a moving confession of faith amid suffering. (Courtesy photo) In a 1974 address to a group of lay Catholics, Pope Paul VI noted that "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" — an acute observation he later reiterated in his spiritual testament, the 1975 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi  (Announcing the Gospel). That witnesses can be more persuasive...

A family on mission, the Engbloms show how faith-filled communities live the Gospel together. Dr. Bethany Engblom with the addiction team. (Photo provided) By Jay Sorgi Dr. Bethany and Josiah Engblom’s journey of seeing the face of Christ has led them to be the hands and feet of Christ, and in turn, has brought them closer to a deeper love of Christ. This journey of service has led the Loveland residents to a life of deep commitment to a community in Tanzania, as well as instilling a similar...

(Photo: Lightstock) By Tessa Gervasini/CNA The United States bishops have invited Catholics to pray an annual Respect Life novena for the protection of the unborn. The Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is sponsoring the “9 Days for Life” prayer that will begin on Friday, Jan. 16, and end on Jan. 24. The novena is to be prayed in observance of the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on Jan. 22. The 2026 “9 Days...

John Adams by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1800. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) Having recently lamented in this space that book reading is on life support in these United States, I find myself in the awkward position of recommending a made-for-television series as good preparation for the nation’s 250 th birthday, which will soon be upon us. In fact, though, if you’re going to do just one thing over the next six months to recollect what a marvel the birth of this country was — not to...

As the annual FOCUS conference began on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Denver archbishop encouraged the thousands gathered to ponder with Mary and grow in faith, identity and mission. (Photo courtesy of FOCUS) As one year closes, another begins. And this year has begun with a bang, as thousands of faithful descended upon the Mile High City on Thursday from across the United States for FOCUS’ annual SEEK conference. This year’s conference, hosted simultaneously in Columbus, OH, and...

As tens of thousands of Catholics gathered for SEEK 2026 across Denver, Columbus and Fort Worth, they were united not only by worship and fellowship, but by a special message from the Successor of Peter himself. In a recorded video address shared with conference attendees, Pope Leo XIV offered words of encouragement, prayer and hope to the participants taking part in the national conference hosted by FOCUS. The Holy Father’s message resonated deeply with the conference’s theme, To the...

(Photo: Unsplash) Twenty years ago, I published a small book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God. It enjoyed a fair sale, got translated into French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, and Hungarian, and was named a FOREIGN AFFAIRS  Bestseller. In it, I argued that Europe was experiencing a crisis of “civilizational morale,” evident in sclerotic governmental bureaucracies, an unwillingness to contribute appropriately to the defense of the West, various...

German Bishops at Mass in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls during their visit in Rome, Nov. 17, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA) When it was first published in 1993, Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical on the reform of Catholic moral theology, Veritatis Splendor  (The Splendor of Truth), dealt a severe blow to the pride of many German theologians, who had long thought themselves the cutting edge of Catholic intellectual life. Indeed, within a year of the encyclical’s...

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops’ spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Photo: Courtesy of the USCCB) Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore, who confirmed my father, was a pugnacious Irishman with a taste for shocking people via undiplomatic language. In a conversation with the great historian John Tracy Ellis, Curley, who had had his share of tussles with the Vatican, once blurted out, “Rome will use you, abuse you, and then throw you away!” Like other...

St. Michael's Square in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo: Unsplash) Prior to the “Revolution of Dignity” that began on the Maidan, Kyiv’s Independence Square, in late 2013 and eventually gave birth to the country that has amazed the world with its courage, resilience, and ingenuity since the Russian invasion of February 2022, ecumenical dialogue and interreligious cooperation were not prominent features of the Ukrainian cultural landscape. The Maidan experience changed all that. An ecumenical and...

Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver leads hundreds in the Stations of the Cross outside an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Nov. 22, 2025. (Photo: André Escaleira Jr./Denver Catholic) By Francesca Pollio-Fenton/CNA Hundreds of Catholics gathered in front of the Denver Contract Detention Facility — an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado — on Nov. 22 for Stations of the Cross led by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver. ...

At a Stations of the Cross prayer gathering in Aurora, Archbishop Aquila condemns political gamesmanship and calls Catholics to defend the God-given dignity of migrants. (Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.) Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, together with Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodríguez, led a Stations of the Cross prayer service around the ICE Detention Facility in Aurora. Several hundred attended the peaceful procession and joined in saintly solidarity with the innumerable immigrants affected...