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A confessional is seen in a file photo at the Memorial Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the grounds of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington. The Department of Justice announced May 5, 2025, it was opening a civil rights investigation into a Washington state mandatory reporter bill that it called an "anti-Catholic law" for having no exception for the seal of the confessional. (OSV News photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)
FaithNews Analysis
Connor Hartigan
Washington State's new law mandating priests to divulge abuse revealed in confessions is the latest salvo in a larger dispute between the Catholic Church and multiple U.S. states.
Syrian government forces are deployed amid heightened security in Damascus, Syria, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Politics & SocietyThe Weekly Dispatch
Kevin Clarke
The question asked by many Syrians from Alawite, Shiite, Druse, Christian and other minority communities has become: “Can [I] live in an Islamist country and not be [Sunni] Muslim?”
A statue of Baltimore Archbishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States and founder of Georgetown University, is seen on the Jesuit-run school's Washington campus on March 3, 2022. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Chaz Muth)
Politics & SocietyDispatches
Connor Hartigan
Edward Martin, interim United States attorney for the District of Columbia, said he would refuse to hire Georgetown Law graduates unless the school eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
A uniformed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field officer, seen from behind, in Silver Spring, Md., on Jan. 27, 2025 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Politics & SocietyShort Take
Kathleen Bonnette
More than two dozen Christian and Jewish denominations have sued the Trump administration’s to stop ICE agents from making arrests in churches. Solidarity requires us to do more to help the vulnerable.
Syrians hold a copy of the Quran next to a Christian cross during a demonstration in support of unity among minorities and the ousting of the Bashar Assad government in Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Politics & SocietyDispatches
Clotilde Bigot
The rapid victory of the Sunni opposition fighters over regular army units loyal to Mr. al-Assad has left many wondering how Syria’s minority faith groups—Alawites, Christians, Shiites and others—will fare as H.T.S. consolidates its control.
Politics & SocietyDispatches
Connor Hartigan
Attacks by members of Congress on Catholic ministries that are providing humanitarian assistance to migrants were among the challenges to religious freedom detailed by the U.S. bishops in their annual report.