The Supreme Court Jan. 14 cleared the path for the federal government to execute Corey Johnson after denying his two last-minute appeals.

A Department of Health and Human Services modified rule that helps ensure that faith-based social service providers will not be excluded from certain federally funded programs was met with approval by the chairmen of three U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committees.

"Through Dr. King's witness and the power of his echoing words, he championed the inherent God-given dignity of all persons, particularly those subjected to bigotry and prejudice."

Many of the bus caravans from the Midwest, long a staple of the event, were canceled last fall as a result of the pandemic, and the assault on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 and threats of subsequent violence by domestic terrorist groups, as reported by the FBI, made security impossible.

Washington's archbishop then pointed out how that day's Gospel reading, Mark 1: 29-39, which described Jesus curing Peter's mother-in-law of a fever and later casting out evil spirits, could be connected to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the Jan. 6 insurrection when a mob of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Facebook removed a video commentary from Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara, saying it spread false information about COVID-19.

Cardinal Louis Sako, the Baghdad-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, composed a prayer for all his faithful to recite together at Masses beginning Jan. 17.

A Holy See-supported treaty banning the possession of nuclear weapons that is coming into force is buoying efforts by nations and nonprofit and church organizations working to abolish such armaments.

If great minds had brainstormed how to create a podcast that would jump to No. 1 in Apple's podcast rankings, they never would have landed on "The Bible in a Year," joked Jeff Cavins, a Bible scholar and creator of the Great Adventure Bible Timeline.

Monsignor Janusz Urbańczyk, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), highlights the importance of dialogue and respect for international law as key elements in conflict resolution

"El subsidio de la Iglesia en América Latina para financiar el seminario san Óscar Arnulfo Romero en El Salvador es excepcional porque el rector, el padre Ricardo, había enviado los papeles justo antes de ser asesinado", dijo el padre Pérez. "Llegó después de su muerte, como si nos estuviera hablando desde su lugar en el cielo".

El presidente del comité de política internacional de los Obispos Católicos de Estados Unidos (USCCB) expresó un "profundo desacuerdo" el 12 de enero con la decisión del secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Mike Pompeo, de agregar a Cuba a la lista de patrocinadores estatales del terrorismo.

The Congregation for Divine Worship releases a note laying out the procedures priests around the world are to follow for the distribution of ashes at the start of Lent.

He also said that in today's age of "secularized thinking and mass media, political and ideological viewpoints end up contaminating theological judgment" to the point that, for some people, "the tenets of Catholic theology are suspected of 'conservative' or 'liberal' ideology, depending on their point of view."

Both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI said they planned to receive the vaccine, but the Vatican provided no information about the timing of their shots.

Supreme Court orders Montgomery's execution despite lower court's stay.

"Una práctica consolidada en la iglesia latina ha confirmado, de hecho, que tales ministerios laicos, al estar basados en el sacramento del bautismo, pueden ser confiados a todos los fieles que sean aptos, ya sean hombres o mujeres", escribió el papa en su orden de cambio del derecho canónico.

A federal appeals court reaffirmed a hold on an Arkansas law that bans abortions 18 weeks into pregnancy and another banning an abortion from being performed when a fetus is detected to have Down syndrome.

Just days after the siege on the U.S. Capitol, several bishops, priests and deacons across the country used their pulpits during Jan. 9-10 weekend Masses in cathedrals, parishes and converted outdoor worship spaces, due to the pandemic, to address what happened in Washington and how people of faith should respond.

The novel coronavirus threw Maria Arreola for a loop in June, sending her to the hospital for four weeks in a battle with COVID-19. For a while, she was sick enough to be placed on a ventilator.