U.S. News

Mike Ditka dies at 86: A life of football, fire, and Catholic faith

Josh Knebels · October 10, 2026

Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame football player and fiery coach who led the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl championship, died Friday, Oct. 9, at age 86. His family announced his death, remembering him not only as a football legend but as "the heart of our family."

Hegseth announces 'Office of Religious Affairs' in speech on Pentagon policy

Kate Scanlon · October 2, 2026

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new "Office of Religious Affairs" during a speech Sept. 30 on Pentagon policy.

Trump backs Irish unification, bucking US neutrality, drawing US Irish Catholic praise

Kate Scanlon · September 15, 2026

President Donald Trump backed Irish unification during a meeting Sept. 12 with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, a move that drew praise from a U.S. Irish Catholic fraternal organization.

Faith carries Catholics who lost family on 9/11

25 years since terror attacks on U.S.

Simone Orendain · August 19, 2026

Joseph Connor had his back turned to the large window of his 36th floor office when he “suddenly more felt than heard” the massive impact of a commercial jet slamming into the north tower of the World Trade Center half a kilometre away on Sept. 11, 2001.

Nuns fight law to force assisting in patient suicide

New York passes assisted dying law

Kate Scanlon · July 21, 2026

Four orders of women religious and Catholic health-care ministries sued the state of New York July 17 over a new law allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide.

Las Cruces Diocese demands jury trial, just compensation in feds' effort to seize pilgrimage site

Gina Christian · July 16, 2026

The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is demanding a jury trial as it fends off the Trump administration's move to seize a long-revered pilgrimage site for a border wall as part of Trump's hardline crackdown on immigration.

Exorcist role should be 'private' says cardinal after priest's removal tied to UFO controversy

Josephine Peterson · July 11, 2026

Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington said his decision to remove a high-profile priest as an archdiocesan exorcist was driven by the public way he exercised his ministry, not by his specific beliefs about UFOs.

Pope Leo invites Americans to cultivate 'moral greatness' as he accepts Liberty Medal

Gina Christian · July 3, 2026

Religious liberty "holds sacred the inner sphere of the person where convictions are formed and where conscience can guide the decisions made in the intimacy of the human heart," said Pope Leo XIV, as he accepted a major civic award for upholding freedom of belief on the eve of the nation's 250th anniversary.

Tentative Iran deal reached, but obstacles remain

Kate Scanlon · June 16, 2026

After a framework was reached for a deal to end the war in Iran, a Catholic expert in peacekeeping said that while there is cause for optimism, key obstacles remain.

San Diego mosque shooting an 'attack on the sacred dignity of all human life,' says bishop

Gina Christian · May 19, 2026

Bishop Michael M. Pham of San Diego said the faithful there "stand united in solidarity and prayer with the Muslim community" after a deadly May 18 shooting at a mosque complex in that city killed three adults, including a security guard.