Nation/World

A Jesuit whom former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan sought to oust in 2018 will remain in his post as chaplain of the legislative body as the 116th session of Congress begins.

Even though there’s still 300-plus days until Christmas comes around again, those groups have recalibrated their priorities in light of a new, divided Congress, with Democrats taking control of the House and Republicans slightly increasing their heretofore razor-thin edge in the Senate.

The primate of All-Ireland insisted that the country’s new abortion law that took effect Jan. 1 has “no moral force” and it “must be resisted” by Catholics.

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising called for change in long-standing church tradition as the German bishops’ conference prepares for a workshop debate to “review” the issue of celibacy for priests.

More than 70 people attended Mass and adoration at the parish as part of a larger effort of the 21 lay movements active within the Archdiocese of Chicago to support the bishops during their Jan. 2-8 retreat.

The U.S. Catholic bishops are taking part in a closed-door retreat Jan. 2-8 at Mundelein Seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake near Chicago to prayerfully consider ways to rebuild trust over the clergy sex abuse crisis.

Without a clear and decisive focus on spiritual conversion and Gospel-inspired ways of responding to victims and exercising ministry, “everything we do risks being tainted by self-referentiality, self-preservation and defensiveness, and thus doomed from the start,” Pope Francis wrote to U.S. bishops.

After the canonization of St. Oscar Romero finally came to fruition, Salvadorans and the saint’s admirers must give him new life by learning about him, pondering how his teachings apply to the present and helping others around the world based on his work toward ending injustice and exclusion, said the head of Pontifical Missions for El Salvador, the homeland of the newly minted saint.