Catholic

US president directs fresh criticism at pontiff days before secretary of state Marco Rubio’s visit to VaticanMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.The remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Continue reading...

Schools say Colorado violated their rights by excluding them from state-funded program over admission policiesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe supreme court will hear from Catholic preschools that say Colorado violated their religious rights by excluding them from a state-funded program over their admission policies.The court agreed on Monday to take up the appeal from St Mary Catholic Parish, which is supported by the Republican Trump administration. Continue reading...

Catholics around Atlanta share mixed feelings on faith and politics as Trump engages in rhetorical war with popeAlex Sullivan tended to his five children on the lawn after a traditional Latin mass at the Catholic Church of Saint Monica in Duluth, Georgia, and contemplated his faith in the light of God and the shadow of Donald Trump.Sullivan, a self-described conservative who once staffed a libertarian state representative at the Georgia capitol, described his faith as almost medieval. Continue reading...

Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV polarizing the diverse community as faith and politics come to a headMaryellen Lewicki meets once a week for Bible study with a group of Catholic women in Decatur, Georgia, in a space they try to keep clear of politics. But Donald Trump’s name arises nonetheless.“We have one person that we pray for during the course of the week,” she said. “What my friend said is that she prays for the president every day, that God will remove that hard heart of his and replace it with a softer one that has love.” Continue reading...

Pontiff makes first papal visit to country as he starts 11-day tour that will also include stops in Cameroon and AngolaPope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on Monday for the first papal visit to the country, calling for peace on the opening stop of a tour of Africa that signals the continent’s growing importance to the Catholic church.The 11-day trip, which will include stops in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, is the longest by Pope Leo since being elected to the papacy in May last year. Continue reading...

Scott Peyton left the Lafayette, Louisiana, diocese after priest admitted to abusing his son and was excommunicated months laterA Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic deacon after a priest molested his son and then was excommunicated from the church entirely by his local bishop is asking global church leaders to inform him of the fate of his appeal against the prelate’s decision, something that was supposed to be resolved more than a year earlier.In a letter to the Vatican entity in charge of clerical discipline, a canon – or church – law attorney representing Scott Peyton asserts that his case is “nuanced and requires careful consideration”. “To the extent that the delay reflects such diligence, he is grateful,” said the letter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), prepared by Dawn Eden Goldstein on 3 February and obtained recently by the Guardian. Continue reading...