Pope Leo XIV marked the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States on Saturday, with a letter extending his “heartfelt congratulations to all Americans” on the occasion and urging citizens to work together “toward a more perfect union” in the present. Entrusting the country to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of…
A pastor of a prominent underground church who was detained in China in October has been released, less than two months after US President Donald Trump brought up his case when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, his family and rights advocates said Saturday. Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri arrived in Los Angeles and “is…
On July 2 the Holy See formally declared the bishops of a breakaway traditionalist order to be in schism and excommunicated. The declaration came from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, just one day after the group illicitly made four men bishops without papal approval and in defiance of repeated warnings from senior…
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s humanitarian outreach assisted 9 million people in 2025 across conflict and disaster-affected regions, including Gaza and Ukraine, and has launched an emergency response in Venezuela. Speaking for the nearly 1,000‑year‑old humanitarian order, Josef Blotz, its grand hospitaller, told EWTN News Nightly about “the sobering degree of need” and the…
Nicaraguan police detained Bishop Emeritus Abelardo Mata again on June 30, just one day after his initial detention and subsequent release on June 29. The 80-year-old prelate is reportedly now under house arrest. Mata, bishop emeritus of Estelí, was arrested at a clinic where he had gone for a checkup for his pacemaker. This occurred…
A Pakistani trial court has acquitted a blind Christian man who spent 10 months in jail after being charged with blasphemy, an offense that carries a mandatory death sentence under the country’s laws. The director of the UK-based Minority Concern Pakistan, Aftab Alexander Mughal, told Crux Now the acquittal is an encouraging development but warned…
Bishop Iyad Akram Twal, auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said Christians face an increasingly precarious situation in the Middle East. War, economic instability, and continued emigration are placing increasing pressure on the Christian presence in the region, driving a significant decline in communities across the Holy Land and neighboring countries, Twal said…
As the Trump administration moves to seize a diocesan pilgrimage site for the border wall, bishops from New Mexico and Texas called on the faithful to join them for a June 28 Mass on the mountain. In a June 23 message, Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, New Mexico, announced that he and Bishop Mark…
Pope Leo XIV met privately with the heads of the Synod continental bodies on June 25, at the conclusion of three days of work dedicated to the implementation phase of the Synod. Held on June 23-25, the meeting brought together representatives from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, and North America, accompanied…
Santa Maria delle Grazie (Our Lady of Grace) parish in the small Italian town of Casalba has found itself in the media spotlight after a statue of St Padre Pio appeared to show a tear of blood trickling down its face. The discovery was made in April, when a parishioner noticed an unusual detail on…