President Barack Obama Archives

Trump and Francis may face new tensions over Cuba
- Analysis, Global Church
- June 12, 2017
President Donald Trump and Pope Francis had a cordial meeting on May 24, stressing areas of agreement such as religious freedom and persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Since then, however, a Vatican aide described Trump’s pullout from the Paris climate change accord as a “slap in the face,” and now Trump seems poised to rollback the opening to Cuba that Francis helped engineer.
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Those 29 times presidents and popes have intersected
- Church in the US, Pope/Trump
- May 19, 2017
Ahead of Pope Francis’s May 24 meeting with United States President Donald Trump, it’s worth looking back at previous times popes and presidents have met in person, and what was said about those encounters at the time.
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Trump signs bill to let states redirect funds away from abortion clinics
- Catholic News Service, Church in the US
- April 14, 2017
It is now possible for states to redirect Title X family planning funding away from clinics that perform abortions, such as planned parenthood. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, overruling what some consider the previous administration’s “parting gift to the abortion industry.”
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Philly’s Chaput on a post-Christian culture, ‘Amoris’, and more

In a conversation with Crux’s John Allen, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia explains why he thinks Americans are living in a ‘post-Christian’ culture, and also why he thinks it would be a good idea for Pope Francis to answer the dubia about ‘Amoris Laetitia.’

VP Mike Pence to give commencement speech at Notre Dame

Notre Dame announced Thursday that Vice President Michael Pence will be the commencement speaker on May 21 and will receive an honorary degree. In the past the university’s choice of commencement speakers has sometimes stirred controversy, and this might be no exception.

USCCB committee chairmen applaud decision on transgender directive

The recent decision by the Donald Trump administration to withdraw protections that allowed transgender students to use bathrooms that corresponded with their gender identity was celebrated by Catholic bishops, but had mixed reactions from other religious leaders in the United States.