Cardinals participate in the fifth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on April 30, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, May 1, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

Cardinals participate in the fifth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on April 30, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, May 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Members of the College of Cardinals have gathered in Rome in anticipation of the subsequent election of Pope Francis’ successor. 

There are currently 252 cardinals, 133 of whom are eligible and expected to vote in the conclave. They range in age from 45 to 99. 

Pope Francis chose 149 of the current members of the college, most of whom will help choose his successor as cardinal electors. Though cardinals over the age of 80 cannot vote in the conclave, they do participate in pre-conclave meetings, called general congregations, and can still have an influence over who is chosen. 

Here are some of the cardinals who will choose the next leader of the Catholic Church.

Vatican 

The cardinals serving in the Roman Curia have some of the most visibility and the most influence in the college, starting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state during Pope Francis’ pontificate. In that position, the Italian is among the highest-ranking members of the Roman Curia, the body that governs the Holy See together with the pope. Because the dean and vice dean of the College of Cardinals are both over 80, the 70-year-old Parolin will manage the conclave from inside the Sistine Chapel.

A relative newcomer to the college, 69-year-old Italian Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti has led the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches since late 2022, after over two decades in the diplomatic service of the Church as the pope’s representative in countries such as Ukraine, Great Britain, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. 

Before becoming prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and a cardinal in 2020, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, 77, was bishop of the Italian Diocese of Albano and secretary of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal advisers. As a bishop, Semeraro had several important roles in the Italian bishops’ conference.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna, began his episcopal career as an auxiliary bishop of Rome. The 69-year-old Zuppi is close to the influential Sant’Egidio community and, as a priest, worked with the Catholic lay association to help broker peace in Mozambique. Pope Francis tapped the experienced mediator as his peace envoy in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2023. 

Pope Francis demonstrated an immense amount of trust in 77-year-old Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who in addition to being made prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life was tapped to lead both a committee on investments and commission on confidential materials created as part of Vatican financial reform efforts. In 2019, Francis also named Farrell to be camerlengo of the holy Roman Church, the position responsible for ascertaining the pope’s death, organizing the papal funeral, and for managing Vatican administration during the “sede vacante.” 

Cardinal Luis Tagle, from the Philippines, was heavily involved in the organization of the 2019 Synod on Young People. The 67-year-old cardinal is pro-prefect for the Section of First Evangelization of the Dicastery for Evangelization (formerly the Congregation for Evangelization) and previously led the Vatican-connected charitable network Caritas Internationalis. 

As secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops since 2020, 68-year-old Cardinal Mario Grech oversaw the planning and execution of Pope Francis’ multiyear Synod on Synodality. The Maltese cardinal was also a prominent voice following the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family and helped organize the 2019 Amazon synod. 

A prominent canonist and former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Jesuit priest Gianfranco Ghirlanda was elevated to cardinal in 2022 at the age of 80. The following year, Pope Francis also appointed him patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Ghirlanda was a close adviser of popes and of Vatican offices on issues of canon law and assisted in the renewal of the religious congregation the Legion of Christ among others. At the age of 82, he is a non-elector. 

Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is recognized around the world for his spiritual writing and orthodox position on Church teachings. Originally from Guinea, where he became the youngest bishop in the world in 1975, in Rome the 79-year-old is considered an influential voice on the faith following his years as head of the pontifical council Cor Unum, and then prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He retired in 2021. 

Highly regarded in and outside the Vatican, Cardinal Peter Turkson, 76, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. From Ghana, his first role in the Vatican was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009 to 2017. Pope Francis then chose him as inaugural prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development from 2017 to 2021.

North America 

North America, comprising Canada and the United States, has 36 living cardinals, 20 of whom are eligible to vote in the conclave. One of the most senior is Cardinal Timothy Dolan, 75, archbishop of New York since 2009. A leading conservative voice among U.S. cardinals, Dolan’s previous posts include a four-year term as president of the U.S. bishops’ conference and seven years as rector of the Pontifical North American College, a seminary in Rome for U.S. students preparing for priesthood. 

Archbishop of Chicago for over 10 years, 76-year-old Cardinal Blase Cupich emerged during Francis’ pontificate as an unofficial go-between for the more left-leaning U.S. bishops and the Vatican. 

While not an American, in the North American region Cardinal Christophe Pierre wields significant influence as the pope’s representative to the United States of America since 2016. The 79-year-old Frenchman has served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since the mid-1990s as apostolic nuncio to Haiti, Uganda, and Mexico. 

Africa 

There are 18 cardinal electors from Africa in the college, 16 of whom were chosen by Pope Francis, including Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A champion for social justice, including in the political sphere, the 65-year-old cardinal has emerged as a leader of the Church in Africa. He is president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and led the Church in Africa’s opposition to Fiducia Supplicans, a declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith allowing the blessing of same-sex couples.  

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui, 58, was the Church’s youngest cardinal at the time of his elevation in 2016 and is the first-ever cardinal from the Central African Republic. In November 2015, he welcomed Pope Francis in the Diocese of Bangui where the Holy Father opened the first door of the Holy Year of Mercy. As a participant in the 2018 Youth Synod, Nzapalainga emphasized the importance of the Gospel and resisting Western “ideological colonization.” 

Europe 

Many of the important voices among cardinals in Europe are non-electors, including Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the archbishop emeritus of Genoa. The 82-year-old was president of the Italian bishops’ conference from 2007–2017 and served five-year terms as vice president and then president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). 

The 94-year-old Cardinal Camillo Ruini is also an influential figure in the Church in Italy. He has held many different leadership roles, most importantly as vicar general of Rome from 1991–2008 and president of the Italian bishops’ conference from 1991–2007. 

Luxembourg’s archbishop, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, was a key leader of the multiyear Synod on Synodality at the Vatican. The 66-year-old, who has occasionally expressed controversial opinions on issues such as women priests and homosexuality, was a member of the pope’s council of cardinal advisers and spent a term as president of the European bishops’ commission (COMECE). 

Cardinal Roberto Repole, archbishop of the northern Italian Archdiocese of Turin and bishop of Susa, is a rising star in the Italian episcopate. The 58-year-old theologian, made a cardinal in 2024, was one of the Italian bishop delegates to the Synod on Synodality, during which he was invited to speak as an expert at a public theological forum. He is also a member of a synod study group on “the synodal missionary face of the local Church.” 

Recently retired as archbishop of Vienna, Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, 80, is also a non-elector. A theologian who led Austria’s most populous archdiocese for three decades, Schönborn helped write the Catechism of the Catholic Church and chaired the Austrian bishops’ conference for 22 years. He was also chairman of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals. 

Asia/Oceania 

Cardinal Mario Zenari, 79, originally from Italy, has served as the pope’s representative in Syria since 2008, where he has been a powerful advocate for the people suffering for over a decade from civil war and for Christians throughout the Middle East. As a member of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps since 1980, he was stationed in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall. He has also been apostolic nuncio in Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Niger, and been the Holy See’s observer at several United Nations institutions. 

The head of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC), Cardinal Charles Bo became the first cardinal of Myanmar in 2015. The 76-year-old cardinal, who has led the Archdiocese of Yangon since 2003, told EWTN News in 2021 he feels called to be a voice for human rights for his people in the Church in Asia, including under Myanmar’s military coup. 

Latin America 

Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, OFM, is archbishop of Manaus in the Amazonian part of Brazil. The 74-year-old cardinal participated in both the Amazon synod and the Synod on Synodality and is known for being a defender of the poor and Indigenous. He is also considered “pro-LGBTQ.” In the past he has stated that “there will be a way” to end mandatory priestly celibacy. 

The 64-year-old Cardinal Jaime Spengler, OFM, has emerged as a prominent figure in the Church in Brazil and throughout South America, heading both the Catholic bishops’ conference of Brazil and the Latin American bishops’ conference (CELAM). As archbishop of Porto Alegre, he has also supported an Amazonian rite of the Mass and urged “openness” to the idea of married priests to combat priest shortages in his part of the world.  

A fellow Brazilian, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz retired as prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for consecrated life in January. The 78-year-old supports liberation theology and was one of Pope Francis’ hand-picked delegates to the 2019 Amazon Synod. 

Cardinal Fernando Sturla Berhouet, SDB, heads the Archdiocese of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Before becoming a bishop, Sturla, a member of the Salesian religious order, served as Salesian provincial for Uruguay and then president of the Conference of Religious of Uruguay. The 65-year-old cardinal has battled to preserve the faith as his country becomes increasingly secular. His priestly ministry is characterized by a care for the weakest and the spiritual accompaniment of young people. 

Archivists show a handwritten book of the Rule of St. Augustine found in the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine’s archives, an example of the materials that will be preserved in WRAC’s future heritage center. / Credit: Courtesy of the Women Religious Archives Collaborative

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A group of religious sisters in Cleveland is launching a multimillion-dollar archive center that will help collect, preserve, and share the stories of women religious in the United States. 

Sister Susan Durkin, OSU, told CNA that the Women Religious Archives Collaborative will ensure the preservation of the “tremendous stories of how sisters in the United States overcame insurmountable obstacles to serve the people in front of them.”

Durkin said that when she was serving as the president of the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, the congregation undertook a project to downsize its motherhouse. 

“In our downsizing we had to make a decision about what to do with our archives,” she said, describing the storage option in the reduced space as “not a long-term strategy.” 

Leaders in the Cleveland Diocese expressed interest in a possible archive project. The Ursuline congregation, meanwhile, was working with an archival consultant on its own collection. 

Durkin said the archivist told them: “Look, this project is bigger than the Diocese of Cleveland. You might want to reach out further.” 

The sisters began inquiring in multiple states. The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, meanwhile, provided seed money to help launch the project. After undertaking sustainability modeling, the project became incorporated in 2022. 

“We’re incorporated in the state of Ohio and we’re in the Catholic directory,” Durkin said. “We have a board, a board committee, bylaws, codes, and regulations. We’re an official nonprofit. We’re looking to build this heritage center here in Cleveland.”

‘Really a unique and inspirational story’

The project has already amassed dozens of collections from around the country, Durkin said. 

“Right now we have 41 collections and continue to be in conversation with other congregations,” she said. “It grew from something that was regional to something bigger.”

The collections will include historical information about why a religious community served in a certain area and why it expanded to other places, Durkin said. “There will be individual sister stories, ministry stories, and then the sisters’ influence in the arts and music.” 

One particular area of focus, she said, will be in how many congregations, post-Vatican II, experienced a shift in ministry from more institutional systems like medical care and education to broader endeavors. 

“There are so many tremendous stories of how sisters overcame insurmountable obstacles to serve the people in front of them,” she said. “It’s not just that we’re preserving history. It’s about animating those stories. The sisters aren’t going away, and we need to manage these collections in a way that becomes useful and visible.”

The centerpiece of the project is a major facility in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland, which Durkin noted is “one of the poorest per capita in the U.S.” The sisters are aiming to have the archival center revitalize the neighborhood.

“We’re making an investment there,” Durkin said, calling the effort “not gentrification, but a renaissance.”

The archival project has launched a major capital campaign to that end with the goal of raising $24 million. The building itself will cost $22 million and the sisters hope to cover operational costs for the first year. 

The facility will include research facilities for archivists and other historians as well as an exhibit space with permanent and rotating exhibits, along with multipurpose rooms and other accommodations.

Ultimately, Durkin said, the goal of the project is to ensure that people will have access to the history and the stories of women religious in the United States, offering “examples for up-and-coming generations to show how our faith motivates us and how it’s important to us.”

“I think that resilience and that determination, and just total reliance on the providence of God, is really a unique and inspirational story,” she said. “And we need to continue to tell that.”

In 2021, the Knights of Columbus announced the selection of this icon of St. Joseph holding the Child Jesus as the centerpiece of the current K of C pilgrim icon prayer program. The original icon was created (or “written”) by Élizabeth Bergeron, an iconographer in Montréal, based on a drawing by Alexandre Sobolev. / Credit: Courtesy of Knights of Columbus

CNA Staff, May 1, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. Joseph, the beloved spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and earthly father of Jesus, is celebrated twice by the Catholic Church every year — first on March 19 for the feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, and again on May 1 for the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

While the saint’s March feast dates back to the 10th century, his May feast wasn’t instituted until 1955. What was behind it?

May Day

Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1, 1955, so that it would coincide with International Workers Day, also known as May Day — a secular celebration of labor and workers’ rights.

During this time, the Soviet Union proclaimed itself as “the defender of workers” and utilized May Day as an opportunity to exalt communism and parade its military prowess. Pope Pius XII chose the date specifically to ensure that workers did not lose the Christian understanding of work.

In his address to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers on that day in 1955, Pius XII said: “There could not be a better protector to help you penetrate the spirit of the Gospel into your life … From the heart of the Man-God, Savior of the world, this spirit flows into you and into all men; but it is certain that no worker has ever been as perfectly and deeply penetrated by it as the putative father of Jesus, who lived with him in the closest intimacy and commonality of family and work.”

He added: “So, if you want to be close to Christ, we also today repeat to you ‘Ite ad Ioseph’ — Go to Joseph!”

The Catholic Church has long placed an importance on the dignity of human work. By working, we fulfill the commands found in the Book of Genesis to care for the earth and be productive in our labors.

In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II wrote that “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”

St. Joseph is considered a role model of this as he worked tirelessly to protect and provide for his family as he strove to listen to and obey God.

Even before the institution of this feast, many popes were beginning to spread a devotion to St. Joseph the Worker. One of these was Pope Leo XIII, who wrote on the subject in his encyclical Quamquam Pluries in 1889.

He wrote: “Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender of the divine house whose chief he was. And during the whole course of his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded from death the Child threatened by a monarch’s jealousy, and found for him a refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the bitternesses of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus.”

In addition to being the patron of the universal Church and workers in general, St. Joseph is also the patron saint of several professions including craftsmen, carpenters, accountants, attorneys, bursars, cabinetmakers, cemetery workers, civil engineers, confectioners, educators, furniture makers, wheelwrights, and lawyers.

This article was first publoshed on May 1, 2024, and has been updated.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri celebrates Mass on the fifth day of Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 30, 2025, at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 30, 2025 / 18:34 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri on Wednesday recalled one of the traditional titles for the pope, the “servant of the servants of God,” and emphasized the papal roles of service and confirming Catholics in the faith.

In several days, Sandri said, the cardinal proto deacon will announce to the Church and the world the “‘gaudium magnum’ (‘great joy’) of having a new pope.”

“It is from the paschal experience of Christ,” he continued, “that the ministry of the successor of Peter finds meaning, called at all times to live out the words just heard in the Gospel: ‘And you, once converted, confirm your brothers.’”

Sandri celebrated Mass for the College of Cardinals and the Papal Chapel (members of the Papal House) in St. Peter’s Basilica for the fifth day of the Novendiales, the nine days of mourning for Pope Francis, which include daily Masses for the repose of his soul.

Sandri is vice dean of the College of Cardinals. At 81 years of age, he is not a cardinal elector and thus will not participate in the conclave beginning May 7, but he is attending pre-conclave meetings with the rest of the cardinals in Rome.

In his homily at Mass, Sandri said: “Today it is the cardinal fathers who are called to participate in the Novendiales, almost a central stage of this ecclesial journey, huddling together in prayer as a collegium and entrusting to the Lord the one whose first collaborators and advisers they have been, or at least have sought to be, in the Roman Curia as well as in dioceses throughout the world.”

According to the Argentinian cardinal, just as Pope Francis exemplified the title of “servant” in many ways during his pontificate, the cardinals, too, are “called to serve, witnessing to the Gospel ‘usque ad effusionem sanguinis’ (‘even to the shedding of blood’), as we swore on the day of the creation of cardinals and is signified by the red we wear, offering ourselves, collegially and as individuals, as the first collaborators of the successor of the blessed Apostle Peter.”

Sandri also pointed out that the next pope will be entrusted with fulfilling Pope Francis’ vision for the rest of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, which has continued in a modified way during the time of the sede vacante and which points to an upcoming, important anniversary for the life of the Church: the 2,000-year anniversary of Redemption through Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection in 2033.

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House. / Credit: The White House

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump passed the 100-day mark of his second presidency on Tuesday, April 29, a period that has been packed with major policy shifts, more than 130 executive orders, and over 200 lawsuits.

Trump won the country’s Catholic vote by double digits last November and since then has received praise from Catholics on several issues but skepticism and even legal challenges on others.

Actions that have received the enthusiastic endorsement of many Catholics include the administration’s initial pro-life efforts, religious liberty protections, and moves to extricate gender ideology from the government. However, the president’s embrace of in vitro fertilization (IVF), his hard-line immigration policies, and his funding cuts to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have caused tensions with the bishops and Catholic groups.

Pro-life victories and shortfalls

“It’s pretty clear that [Trump] has done almost everything that he could to reverse the different pro-abortion policies of the [President Joe] Biden administration,” Joseph Meaney, a past president and senior fellow of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA.

Meaney noted that Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which bans funding for overseas organizations that promote abortion, and backs the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits direct federal funding for abortion. The president also announced plans to freeze millions of taxpayer dollars for Planned Parenthood, which Meaney said is used “to subsidize their abortion business.”

He added that the administration is revising agency and departmental rules and regulations that are related to abortion, and much of the Biden-era policies have been rescinded or “are going to be reversed.” This includes the last administration dropping conscience protections for health care providers on abortion-related issues, instituting rules that employers must grant leave for an employee to obtain an abortion, and the Pentagon paying workers to travel for abortions, among other pro-abortion initiatives.

Trump also directed the United States to rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which is a coalition of countries that support pro-life and pro-woman policies.

Meaney praised Trump’s decision to pardon 23 “peaceful, nonviolent pro-lifers” who were convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, adding that many people in the pro-life movement believed “there had been a policy on the part of the previous administration to go after pro-lifers in an unreasonable way.”

However, Trump’s executive order to create a plan to boost IVF access is “highly objectionable [and] problematic from a pro-life perspective,” he said. Rather than the deregulation backed by Trump, he said “there needs to be a lot more health and safety and other restrictions.”

Trump also signed an executive order directing the nation’s attorney general to pursue the death penalty in federal cases, especially for murders of police officers. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) criticized this order.

Moving forward, Meaney said he hopes the administration will impose regulations on the abortion pill mifepristone, which he said is “probably the No. 1 issue” currently. It was deregulated in the last two Democratic administrations, but Meaney said reimposing the original safeguards is “very, very doable” for the Trump administration.

Religious liberty, gender ideology, and education wins

On religious liberty policies, “the Trump administration has done what you would hope it would do,” Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, told CNA.

“The speed and the vigor of these efforts is 10 times the speed of the first administration,” Breen said. ”They are moving at lightning speed.”

Trump created the White House Faith Office and established a task force on anti-Christian bias to review and revise federal policies throughout federal departments and agencies that threaten religious liberty. This includes a Biden-era rule on “gender identity” discrimination that could have barred Catholic institutions from federal contracts, according to the USCCB.

The bishops were concerned the rule would end contracts with Catholic hospitals if they did not perform transgender surgeries on children and end contracts with foster care providers that did not place children with same-sex couples.

Another Biden-era rule sought to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions in emergency rooms if the abortion is considered a “stabilizing treatment.”

The new office and the task force are specifically “dealing with some of the issues that we have been working on for our clients,” Breen said.

“The fact that he has so vigorously advanced the cause of religious liberty and the full inclusion of people of faith and their ministries in the government and regular life — that is a real achievement,” Breen added. “That is going to have a lasting impact.”

Moving forward, Breen said it’s important to look at “enforcement actions” to ensure officials are following through with the president’s directives to safeguard religious liberty.

In addition to Trump’s policies directly focused on religious liberty, Breen noted that federal promotion of gender ideology “has mostly come to a stop.” The president signed an executive order that defined a “woman” as an “adult human female” and rejected definitions based on a person’s “self-asserted gender identity” for the purpose of federal rules and regulations, which reversed the standard of the previous administration.

Trump further clarified Title IX protections for gender-related education policies with executive actions. Those policies prohibit biological men from participating in women’s sports and ensure that locker rooms, bathrooms, and other private facilities are separated on the basis of biological sex rather than self-asserted gender identity.

Susan Hanssen, a professor of American history at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), told CNA that in her estimation, Trump’s order to scale back and eventually eliminate the U.S. Department of Education is “the greatest triumph of Trump’s first 100 days in office from the point of view of Catholic social teaching.” 

“Any action that will make it easier for parents to exert their authority over how their children are educated, bringing control over education down to the state and local levels, enabling charter schools, school voucher programs, etc., are fundamental to pro-family policy,” Hanssen said.

“The fact that the Department of Education has also been ideologically hijacked by progressive educational theories, the vested interests of teachers unions, LGBT ideology, and critical race theory makes it all the more urgent to liberate families to find and fund the education they want for their children,” she added.

Immigration and Catholic NGO funding tensions

Trump’s immigration policies over his first 100 days in office have created tensions with Catholic bishops, particularly over his plans to conduct mass deportations of immigrants who entered the country illegally and his actions to freeze federal funds for NGOs that resettle migrants.

In February, the USCCB sued the Trump administration after the freeze halted funds to several Catholic NGOs that received funds to provide these services. The USCCB is currently phasing out its migration programs, which were primarily funded with federal money. Catholic Charities agencies across the country cut programs and laid off employees after losing federal funding.

“For more than 100 years, the Catholic Church has consistently supported and advocated for immigrants and refugees arriving in the United States,” Julia Young, a historian and professor at The Catholic University of America, told CNA.

“The loss of funds related to refugee resettlement threatens to derail a very important element of that work,” she added. “Yet Catholic organizations and the Catholic hierarchy, which are driven by Catholic social teaching to minister to the poor and needy, will certainly continue to find ways to respond to the needs of migrants and refugees in the United States."

Trump froze most of the country’s foreign aid funding as well, which impacted several Catholic NGOs. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) were both forced to cut programs and lay off staff as a result.

JRS spokeswoman Bridget Cusick told CNA the freeze “had immediate negative consequences for people who have fled persecution, oppression, abuse, insecurity, discrimination, and lack of opportunity.”

“JRS was compelled to suspend operations in nine countries, including those that provided critical, lifesaving care,” Cusick said.

“Two of our programs were later reinstated, but we estimate that the changes we were forced to make impacted more than 100,000 people, including unaccompanied children,” she continued. “Thanks to the support of the Jesuit network, our board, and others, we have found ways to keep impacted programs running, but in dramatically reduced fashion, leaving thousands at risk.”

Cusick said JRS “will continue its work, but we are deeply concerned that the U.S. and indeed, other countries cutting foreign aid, seem to be trying to deny the existence of a refugee crisis, even as more than 120 million people in the world remain displaced.”

Hanssen alternatively noted that some foreign aid programs were being used to promote gender ideology and population control in other parts of the world and praised the dismantling of such programs.

USAID had become “riddled with skewed grant programs that ‘ideologically colonize’ developing countries — many of them Catholic countries in Africa and Latin America — by tying economic assistance to population control, gender ideology, and leftist political agendas,” Hanssen pointed out. 

The freeze in the international funding for NGOs has also been the subject of several lawsuits.

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).

During oral arguments on Wednesday, the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared sympathetic to supporting the establishment of the first Catholic charter school in the United States.

The St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which is managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, last year petitioned the high court to approve its bid to become the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. The case could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S. 

The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ordered Oklahoma’s charter school board to rescind the contract with the school, citing the First Amendment’s prohibition of laws establishing a state religion. 

Shortly after the state Supreme Court ruling, both St. Isidore and the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board filed separate petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2024.

In the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, James Campbell, chief counsel with the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, argued on behalf of the Oklahoma charter board, while attorney Michael McGinley argued on behalf of St. Isidore’s. 

John Sauer, the solicitor general of the United States, argued in support of the school board and charter school. Gregory Garre, meanwhile, argued on behalf of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has opposed the creation of the school.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority and has made several landmark decisions in support of religious freedom in recent years, Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself for the Oklahoma case. This leaves the possibility of a 4-4 split, in which the case would set no federal legal precedent and the state court ruling would remain in place. 

During the proceedings, the remaining five Republican-appointed justices expressed sympathy for the charter school, citing the importance of nondiscrimination and diverse options in education. 

Free exercise and diverse education options 

“You can’t treat religious people and religious institutions and religious speech as second class in the United States,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the hearing.

He added that to have a program open to all private institutions except those that are religious “seems like rank discrimination.”

Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern about religious discrimination by the state, noting that the rejection of St. Isidore “seems to be motivated by hostility” toward particular religions. Alito pointed out that Drummond had made statements about Islamic schools in his reasoning for not allowing religious charter schools. 

In response to Garre’s arguments that charter schools were public institutions and should not support a particular religion, Kavanaugh maintained that charter schools were “built on the idea that innovative approaches to education would increase the quality of education” and provide various options for local communities. 

Chief Justice John Roberts asked skeptical questions of both sides. At one point, he compared the situation to a previous case in which the court ruled that a state program “couldn’t engage in that discrimination” against a religious adoption service in regards to funding. 

“How is that different from what we have here?” Roberts asked Garre. “You have an education program, and you want to not allow them to participate with a religious entity.”  

Justice Neil Gorsuch emphasized the same case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, asking Garre to define the difference between the two cases. 

Gorsuch also pointed out that state governments could potentially change the nature of their charter schools — making them publicly-run entities — if they wished to avoid funding religious charter schools. 

Conservative justices also pointed to the purpose of charter schools — to provide more accessible options for students. 

“I thought the whole point of charter schools was to offer something different from the so-called public schools,” Alito said.

Establishing no religion 

The three Democratic-appointed justices expressed concern about a religious charter school breaking the establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion. 

During the discourse, the free exercise clause — which affirms the protection of the free exercise of religion without government interference — and the establishment clause appeared pitted against each other, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

Sotomayor expressed concerns that a religious charter school would break the establishment clause by teaching religion, implying that the free exercise clause “trumps” the establishment clause. 

“We’re not going to pay religious leaders to teach their religion,” she said in reference to the establishment clause. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed concerns that a Catholic charter school would be using state funding for “a religious purpose.” 

Sotomayor also expressed concerns that a religious school may teach creationism rather than evolution, citing the school board’s responsibility to ensure quality education. 

Justice Elena Kagan, meanwhile, asked what would happen if a school required a statement of faith to accept students. St. Isidore does not require a statement of faith, Campbell noted.

Jackson maintained that the charter school program required “strictly secular schools” and that religious schools were wanting a special “tailored contract.” 

“What they want to do is come in and get a contract that is tailored to their own terms that includes religious education,” Jackson said of St. Isidore. “The state says that’s not the benefit that we’re offering here.”

A decision will likely be issued by late June or early July.

Cardinal William Goh speaks during an interview with EWTN News on April 19, 2024, in Singapore. / Credit: Sean Boyce/EWTN News

Madrid, Spain, Apr 30, 2025 / 15:49 pm (CNA).

In a pastoral letter published by the Archdiocese of Singapore, Cardinal William Goh called on the faithful to pray for the cardinals involved in electing the successor to St. Peter.

Goh first noted that the members of the College of Cardinals are holding general congregations “to hear the views and assessment” of the current situation and “what the Church needs to do after Pope Francis.”

“Hence, it is urgent and important that you all pray for us so that we can discern what kind of pope the Church needs in this present day, because every pope brings with him his own charisms,” the prelate emphasized.

The cardinal asked for prayers “that we will choose the right candidate to be the successor of St. Peter to lead the Church in this complex world.”

Specifically, the cardinal encouraged the organization of “novenas, rosary, and divine mercy devotions to pray fervently, unceasingly, for the cardinals to be guided by the Holy Spirit to elect a good, holy, compassionate, wise, and strong pope.”

A pontiff who, he added, “will not only be a shepherd after the heart of Christ but also courageous in defending the deposit of faith handed down to the Church through the ages.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: HoneySkies/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 15:07 pm (CNA).

Recent polling data has found that Americans’ religious affiliations have not greatly changed since 2020, appearing to stabilize following decades of substantial shifts.

Data collected by the polling firm Gallup surveyed 12,000 adults in the U.S. and found that from 2000 to 2020, the percentage of people with no religious affiliation spiked, while Protestant and Catholic populations declined.

In 2000, 57% of Americans identified as Protestant or nondenominational Christians. Over the following 20 years this group dropped more than 10 points to 46%. The Catholic population experienced a smaller yet still notable decline over the same time period, decreasing from 25% to 22%.

The largest change over the two decades was the increase in American adults who said they had no religious affiliation. In 2000, only 8% of those surveyed said they did not practice a religion, but in 2020 the number had jumped to 20%. 

Yet recent research from 2020 to 2024 revealed that American adults’ religious affiliations have become more stable, experiencing little to no change in numbers from year to year. 

In 2020, 22% of Americans identified as Catholic and in 2024 the population remained similar at 21%. The Protestant population also only slightly declined from 46% to 45%.

The study looked at people who practice “other religions” including those who consider themselves Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, or another religion and found that this group has only increased by 1 percentage point since 2020.

Following the large 12-point increase in nonreligious adults from 2000 to 2020, the group only increased by 2 points from 2020 to 2024. As of 2024, 22% of Americans, or 1 in 5, said they have no religious preference. 

Millennials are primarily responsible for the increase in adults with no religion, with 31% of them reporting they have no affiliation. This amount has almost doubled from 16% in the 2000 to 2004 survey.

The Silent Generation, baby boomers, and Generation X all had smaller 4- and 5-point increases during the same time period.

The most recent surveys further examined the smaller religious populations that make up the “other religions” group, which has remained consistent from 2000 to 2024 with only very slight fluctuation.

In the U.S., 2.2% of adults identify as Jewish, 1.5% as Latter-Day Saints or Mormon, and less than 1% each as Muslim, Buddhist, Orthodox Christian, or Hindu. 

Combined data from 2020 to 2024 revealed that 69% of American adults are Christian, 4.1% are a non-Christian denomination, and 21.4% said they have no affiliation. The other individuals did not answer or provided a response outside the options the survey listed.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini answers questions at the Vatican press office on June 17, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Lima Newsroom, Apr 30, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).

Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who chaired the international commission investigating the authenticity of Medjugorje, has offered four criteria for the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor.

In an article titled “Prayer for the Church of the Near Future,” published on the blog “Settimo Cielo” by veteran Italian Vatican expert Sandro Magister, Ruini — who at age 94 is too old to vote in the upcoming conclave — proposes four aspects of the life of the Church he would like to see as the Church moves forward in the next pontificate.

“I trust in a good and charitable Church, doctrinally secure, governed according to law, and deeply united internally. These are my prayer intentions, which I would like to see widely shared,” the cardinal explains.

Ruini was a close collaborator of St. John Paul II, heading the Italian Bishops’ Conference (1991–2007) and serving as vicar general of the Diocese of Rome (1991–2008).

In 2005, he participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2010 appointed him president of the Medjugorje Commission consisting of about 20 members, including bishops and cardinals. The commission presented its final report in 2014. In 2024, the Vatican approved the spiritual experience of Medjugorje without confirming its supernatural character.

1. A good and charitable Church

Ruini notes in his first point that “love made effective in our lives is in fact the supreme law of Christian witness and, therefore, of the Church. And this is what people, even today, most yearn for.”

“In our style of government all useless harshness, all pettiness, and dryness of heart must be eliminated,” he emphasizes.

2. A doctrinally secure Church

The Italian cardinal then notes that Pope Benedict XVI observed that “faith today is a flame that threatens to go out.”

Thus Ruini points out that “rekindling this flame is therefore another great priority of the Church. This requires much prayer, the ability to respond in a Christian manner to today’s intellectual challenges, but also the certainty of truth and the security of doctrine.”

“For too many years,” he warns, “we have been experiencing that if these are weakened, all of us, pastors and faithful, pay a heavy price.”

3. A Church governed according to law

For the Italian cardinal, “Benedict XVI’s pontificate was undermined by his poor capacity to govern, and this is a concern that is valid for all times, including the near future. Furthermore, we must not forget that this is about governing that very special reality that is the Church.”

“Here, as I said, the fundamental law is love: The style of government and the recourse to the law must be as compliant as possible with this law, which is very demanding for anyone.”

4. A united Church

Ruini states that “in recent years we have perceived some threats — which I do not wish to exaggerate — to the unity and communion of the Church.”

“To overcome them and bring to light what I like to call the ‘Catholic form’ of the Church, mutual charity is once again decisive, but it is also important to raise awareness that the Church, like every social body, has its rules, which no one can ignore with impunity.”

“At 94 years of age, silence is more appropriate than words. I hope, however, that these lines of mine are a small fruit of the love I have for the Church,” the cardinal says.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.