INDIANAPOLIS (EWTN News) — Indiana’s attorney general has indicated that the state is likely to challenge a federal judge’s injunction that ordered the state to resume funding for Planned Parenthood on June 24.

“The federal government’s position in this case is in tension with its own regulations, which specifically acknowledge state authority over provider qualifications,” Attorney General Greg Zoeller wrote in a June 24 response to the injunction ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Pratt.

Judge Pratt ordered Indiana to restore Planned Parenthood funds, saying the state cannot cut funding for otherwise “competent” Medicaid providers in a way that would limit patients’ health-care...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — World Youth Day organizers announced today that 440,000 young people have already signed up for the international gathering set for this August, a record enrollment figure this far out from the event.

“World Youth Day is an extraordinary experience for a Church, which is a friend to the young, sharing their problems; a Church which is at the service of the younger generations,” said Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, at a June 28 Vatican press conference.

“It is an epiphany of the Christian faith on a truly global scale. And young people — especially in our old Europe, deeply secular and secularizing — have a...READ MORE

And Many Who Are Last, Shall be First! Pondering the Great Reversal - Monsignor Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

Saint Irenaeus, Defender of the Four-Fold Gospel & Apostolic Diversity - Eric Sammons, The Divine Life

Newman’s Road to Rome, Part One - Pat McNamara, Patheos/In Ages Past

Spanish Civil War: Oratorian Martyr - John Whitehead, Once I Was A Clever Boy

Mormon Convert: Thomas Smith - Why I’m Catholic

Autumn in New York - Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing

Redefinition of Marriage. . .- Father John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

The Green Pope’s Dilemma - Doctor Jeff Mirus, CatholicCulture.org/In Depth Analysis

Canadian Bishops on Same-Sex Attraction - Father...READ MORE

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s Catholic bishops have called on the Empire State’s faithful to renew their appreciation for authentic, sacramental marriage in the wake of New York becoming the sixth and largest state in the country to legalize same-sex “marriage.”

“The Church fought this with everything we had,” said Dennis Poust, spokesman for the New York Catholic Conference, the public-policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops.

On the night of June 24, the New York Senate passed the Marriage Equality Act by a vote of 33-29 following days of closed-door negotiations between the Senate’s Republican leadership and the Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who championed the same-sex “marriage” cause...READ MORE

MANASSAS, Va. (CNA) — The Cardinal Newman Society announced June 27 that one of its divisions is partnering with Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., expressing hope that the move will foster a renewal in Catholic identity within universities across the nation.

“This is an exciting moment for Catholic colleges,” said the Newman Society’s president, Patrick Reilly.

The society’s Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education will relocate to the university July 1 under the leadership of renowned scholar Msgr. Stuart Swetland.

Msgr. Swetland currently serves as the university’s vice president for Catholic identity and mission and director of homiletics and...READ MORE

ROME (CNA) — An expert on Pope Pius XII expressed support for an Israeli ambassador who faces controversy after publicly praising the World War II pontiff for helping save Jews during the Holocaust.

Israeli ambassador to the Vatican Mordechai Lewy said on June 27 that his positive comments about the late Pope were historically “premature,” after he was criticized by Jewish groups.

However, author William Doino commended the ambassador for “opening up healthy and productive discussion” and supports his stance in favor of Pope Pius XII, who is often accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust. 

Ambassador Lewy sparked the debate at a ceremony honoring the Italian Pope on June 23, when...READ MORE

NEW YORK (CNA/EWTN News) — Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn said Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York state Legislature have “deconstructed the most important institution in human history.”

The New York Legislature passed the same-sex “marriage” bill on June 24 by a 33-29 vote.

Bishop DiMarzio joined his fellow state bishops in opposing the measure in a joint statement.

In a separate statement the Brooklyn bishop said Cuomo “has opened a new front in the culture wars that are tearing at the fabric of our nation.”

“Republicans and Democrats equally share responsibility for this ruinous legislation, and we as Catholics should hold all accountable for their actions,” he added.

An...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY (EWTN News) — Pope Benedict officially recognized the miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtues of 27 Catholic men and women on June 27, moving them one step closer to sainthood.

The Pope met on Monday with Cardinal Angelo Amato, the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorized decrees for the candidates, many who lived within the last hundred years. 

The list included several martyrs who were killed under anti-Christian persecution during 20th-century wars.

Among them was Father Karl Lampert, an Austrian diocesan priest and vicar of the apostolic administration in the city of Innsbruck Feldkirch.

Father Lampert was arrested and taken to the Dachau...READ MORE