2016 Archives

Looking back at 2016, the Year of Surprises: Church in the U.S.

Church in the US
December 18, 2016

In a three-part series, Crux is looking back at the Catholic highlights of 2016. In this installment on the Church in the U.S., we examine the Catholic angle on the Trump v. Clinton race, the shake-up in leadership at the U.S. bishops’ conference, and the Church’s reaction to a national scourge of gun violence.

Priest slammed for using dead baby as ‘political prop’

Catholic News Agency, Church in the US
November 8, 2016

After a video of him standing behind an altar with an aborted baby in an effort to support Donald Trump, Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life has come under fire, with one Catholic official in New York saying, “It is hard for me to express in calm, measured terms, the revulsion I feel about this.”

No matter who wins today, Pope Francis knows how to cope

Vatican
November 7, 2016

No matter who wins today, Trump or Clinton, observers forecast a potentially rocky relationship with the Vatican. The good news is that would be nothing new for Pope Francis, who’s got a lifetime of experience in dealing with difficult leaders.

Nebraska bishops firmly behind anti-death penalty referendum

Church in the US
October 25, 2016

Nebraska’s bishops have cited the danger of executing an innocent person, racial bias, the suffering of victims’ families, inadequate defense and the costs of capital punishment as reasons for calling for support of a referendum to repeal the state’s death penalty statute.

If we’re not weeping right now, where’s our faith or our humanity?

Commentary
October 24, 2016

If we’re not weeping right now for the persecuted people, including Christians, of Iraq — or, for that matter, if we’re not weeping for our own nation as we approach election day — then we’ve lost not only real faith, but also our humanity.

Kurtz: Political discourse that demeans women, religion ‘must change’

Catholic News Service, Church in the US
October 14, 2016

Kurtz’s statement came at the end of a week of fallout over controversies involving the presidential campaigns of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.