The election of a Chicago-born pope with Louisiana Creole ancestry is drawing attention from Black Catholics, especially after genealogist Jari Honora traced Pope Leo XIV’s maternal grandparents to New Orleans’ Black Catholic community. 

An event at Georgetown University put the spotlight on Latino communities and delved into the role of Latino Catholics in U.S. public life, highlighting their distinctive contributions, opportunities, and challenges in the polarized political landscape facing the nation.

In a letter to mark the 10th anniversary of the late Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’,” U.S. bishops have urged young people to “lead the way” on the climate crisis.

Now in his 20th year of “Bulldog Catholic” campus ministry, Father Schmitz has seen steady and encouraging growth — defying the prevailing narrative that 85 percent of Catholic college students will likely lose their faith before they graduate.

Pope Francis, who took his name from the patron saint of ecology — St. Francis of Assisi — died the day before Earth Day and about five weeks before the 10th anniversary of his landmark encyclical on care for creation.