As the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, it should reflect on how the American understanding of equality is grounded in the belief that all people are equally children of God, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said May 17 at a prayer rally on the National Mall.

Pope Leo XIV approved the creation of an Interdicasterial Commission on Artificial Intelligence in a rescript released May 16. The rescript was signed by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

In a long, fruitful career as leader of the American hierarchy, Cardinal Gibbons combined diplomacy, patriotism and a canny understanding of human nature in a manner that made him the most effective advocate before or since of the Americanization of American Catholicism. To him more than anyone, the Catholic Church owes both the advantages and the unintended consequences of assimilation into American secular culture.

A group of women religious serving the imprisoned and impoverished are calling for prayer and assistance, as one of their members faces eviction from a San Diego residence the community has rented for years.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore submitted a proposed plan for reorganization May 15 in an effort to complete its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, with the goal of equitably compensating victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and others affiliated with the Catholic Church in Maryland.