WASHINGTON–On December 8, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin died in the custody of United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). She and her father had been apprehended the evening of December 6 in a remote stretch of the U.S./Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Most Reverend Joe S. Vásquez, Bishop of Austin, and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, along with Most Reverend Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso and Most Reverend Gerald Kicanas, Administrator of the Diocese of Las Cruces, issued the following statement: “We are extremely distressed at the news of seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin’s...

WASHINGTON—Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently defended current NIH research that uses the body parts of babies destroyed by elective abortions and said that fetal tissue research “will continue to be the mainstay.” Greg Schleppenbach, Associate Director of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, responds with the following statement: “Dr. Collins’ comments are deeply disturbing. Research using fetal tissue from aborted babies is unethical and should not continue under his leadership. The use of fetal remains procured from abortions can be interpreted as legitimizing abortion by saying it is an important source...

WASHINGTON—On January 14, 2019, thousands of Catholics across the country will join in prayer for “9 Days for Life.” The prayer campaign, sponsored by the Committee on Pro Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, leads up to the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. The novena and day of prayer are a time of recollection and reparation in observation of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade—the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States. The overarching intention of the novena is that all human life will be...

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Africa has approved 33 grants totaling $1 million in funding to support pastoral projects for episcopal conferences and dioceses across the African continent. The grants were approved at the Subcommittee’s meeting on November 11 in Baltimore. Projects slated to receive funding through the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa include the following: ● Strengthening the availability and accessibility of Natural Family Planning services in Uganda ● Creation of a continent-wide platform of Catholic student action movements, through the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and...

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America awarded over $3.2 milllion in funding for 173 grants to support the pastoral work of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, and nearly $800,000 toward seven grants for recovery and reconstruction projects in areas devastated by earthquakes in Haiti and Mexico and Hurricanes Matthew, Maria, and Irma. The grants were approved at the Subcommittee’s meeting on November 10, 2018, in Baltimore. The Subcommittee approved funding for several projects in many countries of the region. For example, projects supporting lay formation and leadership...

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe approved $4 million in funding for 143 projects at the Subcommittee’s meeting on November 11, 2018, in Baltimore. Central and Eastern Europe projects receiving funding include: ● Charitable support for single mothers in areas of Armenia experiencing high emigration rates of men. Through Armenian Caritas, mothers and children in need will receive food, hygienic items, school supplies, fuel, medicine, and other necessities. ● The construction of a rehabilitation center in Georgia to provide services to children, people with disabilities, and...