WASHINGTON — A new Gallup poll released on May 10 shows that the majority of Americans oppose legal abortion in all or most circumstances, in keeping with trends over recent years.

Of those polled, 58% said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Only 26% supported legalized abortion under “any circumstances,” while 13% said it should be legal in “most circumstances.”

According to Gallup, these results “are similar to what Gallup has found for most of the past decade” and are in line with “nearly every Gallup measure of this question since 1975.”

Conducted May 2-7, the survey also indicated that the trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell “has not swayed public...READ MORE

ST. PAUL, Minn.— The state of Minnesota has redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, despite concerns over social well-being and religious liberty raised by Catholics and other faith leaders. 

A statement from the Minnesota Catholic Conference said that the bill’s passage, “though expected, is no less disappointing.”

“The full social and legal effects of marriage redefinition will begin to manifest themselves in the years ahead,” the conference cautioned.

“The Church, for its part, will continue to work to rebuild a healthy culture of marriage and family life, as well as defend the rights of Minnesotans to live out their faith in everyday life and speak the truth in love.”

LISBON, Portugal — At the Holy Father’s personal request, Cardinal José Polycarpo, the patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal, consecrated the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima on her feast day, May 13.

Addressing Our Lady of Fatima during the ceremony, Cardinal Polycarpo said, “Grant [Pope Francis] the gift of discernment to know how to identify the paths of renewal for the Church; grant him the courage to not falter in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit; protect him in the difficult hours of suffering, so that he may overcome, in charity, the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring him.”

In statements to Catholic News Agency, Vatican spokesman Father...READ MORE

LOURDES, France — Charlotte Kiesel just completed her 27th pilgrimage to Lourdes — the Marian shrine in France where the Virgin Mary first appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 and where the sick still flock to obtain a reprieve from chronic disease, a handicap or terminal cancer.

Desperation brought Kiesel to Lourdes for her first visit in 1987, after failing to locate a bone-marrow match for her daughter, Katie, a cancer patient.

Decades later, Katie is still healthy, and Kiesel, now a member of the Order of Malta, returns every year to serve in the baths at the grotto, where many miracles have been recorded since the Virgin first appeared to St. Bernadette.

For 10 days, Kiesel...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY — As he looked ahead to Pentecost, Pope Francis spoke about the Holy Spirit’s role in guiding Christians to know Jesus, who is the Truth, in an age of relativism.

“We live in an age rather skeptical of truth,” the Pope said on May 15, as he encouraged Christians to let themselves “be imbued with the light of the Holy Spirit, so that he introduces us to the truth of God.”

But “you cannot grab the truth as if it were an object; you encounter it. It is not a possession; [it] is an encounter with a person,” Pope Francis noted as he recalled Pontius Pilate posing the question “What is truth?” to Jesus.

The Holy Father made his remarks in the context of an ongoing series of...READ MORE

OTTAWA — Canadian Member of Parliament Mark Warawa finally got a chance to condemn sex-selective abortion in the House of Commons last week, appropriately enough, just as 12,000 pro-life activists gathered outside to mark the nation’s March for Life.

Warawa is one of a number of MPs, mostly members of the governing Conservative Party, who are openly resisting Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s efforts to keep abortion off the public — and Parliament — agenda.

The British Columbia pro-life MP gained national headlines two months ago by complaining to the Parliament speaker when his party’s whip and a parliamentary appeal committee refused to put his name on a daily list given to the...READ MORE

God is Preparing Me for Something I Can’t Handle by Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington - Big Pulpit

Live Action, Lying, and the Catechism: Why a Good Catholic Can Support an Undercover Apostolate – Deacon Jim Russell, Creative Minority Report

Unpacking The Rhineland Mystics - Patrick Pierce, Catholic Stand

Virginity is Sexual – Marc Barnes, Patheos/Bad Catholic

Gosnell Guilty! - Donald R. McClarey JD, The American Catholic

Vestment Commissions – Shawn Tribe, New Liturgical Movement

The Latest Articles on Kermit Gosnell from the Catholic Blogosphere - Big Pulpit

Book Review: Baronius Douay-Rheims Bible – Michael, Whiskey Catholic

Introducing...READ MORE

PHILADELPHIA — Following his conviction for the murder of three babies born alive, abortionist Kermit Gosnell was sentenced Tuesday to two life sentences without parole for two of those murder charges.

By agreeing not to appeal his conviction, Gosnell was able to avoid the death penalty for three convictions of first-degree murder.

Gosnell “agreed to waive all of his appellate rights in exchange for life in prison ... instead of the death penalty,” the office of R. Seth Williams, Philadelphia’s district attorney, said May 14.

He was “immediately sentenced.”

Tomorrow, May 15, Gosnell will be sentenced for the death of the third child and for involuntary manslaughter of a patient at...READ MORE