Those devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus have been looking forward to this June 16 for a long time. That’s because it is the 350th anniversary of the most significant of Jesus’ apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, in which he revealed to her the mysteries of his heart and requested the inauguration of what would become the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Long after the human authors of Sacred Scripture pondered the moment of creation with “their poetic and religious imagination,” Pope Leo XIV said on Monday, modern scientists continue to explore the universe with new tools, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), whose images “fill us with wonder, and indeed a mysterious joy,” as we contemplate the “sublime beauty” of the stars.

Just over a month after Pope Leo XIV became the first U.S.-born pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church, a new poll shows that American Catholics are feeling excited about their new religious leader.

Despite declining religious observance across many corners of American life, Catholicism remains a deeply rooted part of the national fabric. Nearly half of all U.S. adults — 47% — maintain some connection to the Catholic faith, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. The 94-page report, featuring 1,787 self-identified American Catholics, revealed a complex and diverse picture of Catholic identity in the United States.

One possible reaction to Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia, the brand-new study put together by a diverse group of scholars for the National Marriage Project and the National Center for Black Family Life, might be to ask: “Do we really need a study to tell us dads are important?” It would be wonderful if studies showing obvious truths were unneeded...

Two reasons Pope St. John Paul II accelerated the canonization process were to highlight two truths: that sanctity is “always in season” and not just something from times long ago, and that there are martyrs for the faith today, not just in the Colosseum and Roman Empire. The choice to live according to God’s will — or not — is one in every time and season.

WASHINGTON – “South Carolina was right to deny Planned Parenthood taxpayer dollars. A group dedicated to ending children’s lives deserves no public support,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in response to the ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. The case, a challenge to the state’s decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, turned on a specific question about the legal basis for Planned Parenthood’s claim. “Abortion is not health care,” Bishop Thomas continued, “and lives will be saved because South Carolina has chosen to not fund clinics that pretend it is. Publicly funded programs like Medicaid should only support authentic, life-affirming options for mothers and children in need.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Too often, in the name of security, war is waged against the poor, Pope Leo XIV said.

The Holy Year instead indicates that safety is found in the culture of encounter, he said. The Jubilee "asks of us the restitution and redistribution of unjustly accumulated wealth, as the way to personal and civil reconciliation."

The pope made his comments during a meeting marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking June 26. Dozens of guests attended the gathering in the San Damaso Courtyard at the Vatican, including Italian government officials, individuals in recovery for substance abuse and those who assist them. 

"Today, brothers and sisters, we are engaged in a battle that cannot be abandoned as long as, around us, anyone is still imprisoned in the various forms of addiction," Pope Leo said.

"Our fight is against those who make their immense business out of drugs and every other addiction -- think of alcohol or gambling," he said. "There are huge concentrations of interest and extensive criminal organizations that states have a duty to dismantle."

However, he said, "it is easier to fight against their victims." 

"Too often, in the name of security, war is waged against the poor, filling prisons with those who are merely the final link in a chain of death. Those who hold the chain in their hands instead manage to gain influence and impunity," he said. 

"Our cities must not be freed of the marginalized, but of marginalization; they must be cleared not of the desperate, but of desperation," he said.

"The fight against drug trafficking, educational commitment among the poor, the defense of Indigenous communities and migrants, and fidelity to the social doctrine of the church are in many places considered subversive," he said.

"The Jubilee indicates the culture of encounter as the way to safety," he said, and challenges must be tackled together.

"We conquer evil together. Joy is found together. Injustice is fought together. The God who created and knows each one of us -- and is more intimate to me than I am to myself -- made us to be together," he said. 

"Of course, there are also bonds that hurt and human groups where freedom is lacking. But these, too, can only be overcome together, trusting those who do not profit from our suffering, those whom we can meet and who meet us with selfless attention," the pope said.

"Drugs and addiction are an invisible prison that you, in different ways, have known and fought, but we are all called to freedom," Pope Leo told his audience.

"St. Augustine confessed that only in Christ did the restlessness of his heart find peace. We seek peace and joy, we thirst for them. And many deceptions can delude and even imprison us in this quest," he said.

"The church needs you. Humanity needs you. Education and politics need you. Together, we will make the infinite dignity imprinted on each person prevail over every degrading addiction," the pope said.

"Let us go forward together, then, multiplying the places of healing, encounter and education: pastoral paths and social policies that start from the street and never give anyone up for lost," he said.

WASHINGTON – While commending the provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that promote the dignity of human life and support parental choice in education, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), implored Congress to be consistent in protecting human life and dignity and make changes to the bill to protect those most in need. 

Archbishop Broglio’s intervention comes as the U.S. Senate considers the budget reconciliation bill:

“The bishops are grateful that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes provisions that promote the dignity of human life and support parental choice in education. These are commendable provisions that are important priorities for the bishops. Still, Congress must be consistent in protecting human life and dignity and make drastic changes to the bill to protect those most in need. As Pope Leo XIV recently stated, it is the responsibility of politicians to promote and protect the common good, including by working to overcome great wealth inequality. This bill does not answer this call. It takes from the poor to give to the wealthy. It provides tax breaks for some while undermining the social safety net for others through major cuts to nutrition assistance and Medicaid. It fails to protect families and children by promoting an enforcement-only approach to immigration and eroding access to legal protections. It harms God’s creation and future generations through cuts to clean energy incentives and environmental programs.

“I underscore what my brother bishops said in their recent letter to find a better way forward and urge Senators to think and act with courage and creativity to protect human dignity for all, to uphold the common good, and to change provisions that undermine these fundamental values.”

The USCCB’s letter on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” proposed by the Senate may be found here.

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The US Department of Justice has filed a motion on behalf of the State of Washington’s bishops following the enactment of a law that requires priests to report child abuse about which they learn in the confessional.

Describing the law as “anti-Catholic,” the Justice Department said in a statement that the law “violates the free exercise of religion for all Catholics, and requires Catholic priests to violate the confidentiality seal of Confession.”

“Laws that explicitly target religious practices such as the Sacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church have no place in our society,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”