The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended on May 1 that President Obama consider Venezuela and Cuba among the countries that should be monitored closely for violations of religious freedom. • Preparing to visit the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI on May 3 asked for prayers for his trip, for peace in the region and for the suffering Palestinian people. • The University of Notre Dame announced on April 30 that it will not award the Laetare Medal during its May 17 commencement ceremony. Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, was to receive the medal but declined the honor in the wake of controversy over the university’s decision to grant an honorary degree to President Barack Obama. The 1984 recipient of the medal, Judge John T. Noonan Jr., will speak at the commencement. • President Barack Obama said on April 29 that the Freedom of Choice Act is not an important legislative priority and that he is instead focusing on reducing unwanted pregnancies.
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Although the IRS recently allowed religious organizations to address their faithful about electoral politics, the Church will not speak on specific candidates.
“We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home,” Pope Leo XIV said while celebrating a new formulary of the Mass “for the care of creation.”
A Reflection for the Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Ashley McKinless
No one ever expected a U.S.-born pope. In this first-ever I “Inside the Vatican” Deep Dive series, those who know him best reveal who Pope Leo XIV—“the American pope”—really is. In Episode 1, we hear from the genealogist who uncovered his Louisiana roots, a teacher, and fellow Augustinian friars