U.S.
Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds again as defunding provision expires
WASHINGTON — A provision of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid payments for a year expired July 4, allowing the nation’s largest abortion provider to regain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, enacted key items from his legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration. It also included a provision eliminating Medicaid funds to health providers who also perform abortions, but only for one year. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sued in response, arguing the parameters for ending these funds effectively singled it out. However, courts eventually allowed the provision to go into effect. Pro-life groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have pushed lawmakers to include a similar provision in an upcoming reconciliation bill. However, the prospects for that package are unclear. (OSV News)
Pope Leo invites Americans to cultivate ‘moral greatness’ as he accepts Liberty Medal
PHILADELPHIA — Religious liberty “holds sacred the inner sphere of the person where convictions are formed and where conscience can guide the decisions made in the intimacy of the human heart,” Pope Leo XIV said, as he accepted a major civic award for upholding freedom of belief on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The pope shared his thoughts — which centered religious liberty within a vision of God-given human dignity, and which called the nation back to shared founding ideals — during a July 3 acceptance address for the Liberty Medal, bestowed by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, that was livestreamed from the Vatican. Describing himself as “a son of this great country,” Pope Leo asked for “God’s blessings upon America’s future” and prayed that the nation’s 250th anniversary would be “the occasion of a solemn recommitment to these ideals that have made America a country that values peace and prosperity, a country characterized by generosity and nobility of heart.” He noted “the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to support, protect and cherish the lives of all, especially the most vulnerable and those whose worth is questioned.” (OSV News)
Michigan AG issues report on abuse investigation in Saginaw Diocese
SAGINAW, Mich. — Most of the allegations contained in a report on the Diocese of Saginaw released by the Michigan Attorney General’s office concern claims of misconduct occurring in the 1970s and 1980s. Over a 75-year period, the report said, allegations were made against 37 Saginaw priests and one deacon, with the vast majority before 2002. No criminal charges were filed. The report, released June 25, detailed the findings of the attorney general’s investigation related to clerical sexual abuse in the Diocese of Saginaw, the sixth of seven such investigations into the handling of abuse in Michigan’s Catholic dioceses. (OSV News)
WORLD
Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism
ROME — The Vatican has declared the Society of St. Pius X to be “in schism” after the traditionalist group consecrated four bishops without papal approval, marking the most serious rupture since Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s unauthorized episcopal consecrations in 1988. In a July 2 decree, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said Bishops Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, along with the four newly consecrated bishops, incurred automatic excommunication. The Vatican also warned that clergy and lay faithful who “formally adhere” to the SSPX are considered schismatic and face the same canonical penalty. The decree further states that confessions and marriages celebrated by SSPX priests are invalid because the society lacks the required faculties, while Masses remain valid but illicit. The decision reverses decades of Vatican efforts to reconcile the group, including concessions by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis, while reaffirming that those who return to full communion will be welcomed. The faithful “are exhorted to remain steadfast in communion” with the pope and with the bishops “in communion with him and with the whole Church,” the DDF’s decree said, urging the faithful to “abstain from participating in the celebrations and activities promoted by SSPX.” (OSV News)
Pope Leo urges Christians to provide safe harbor to migrants
LAMPEDUSA, ITALY — Pope Leo XIV visited the Italian island of Lampedusa on July 4, honoring migrants who died crossing the Mediterranean by laying a wreath at their graves before celebrating an outdoor Mass attended by about 4,000 people. Calling Catholics to imitate the Good Samaritan, the pope said, “I have not come to give speeches, but to celebrate the Eucharist, the supreme sign of Christ’s presence among us.” He described the waters around Lampedusa as a place where thousands of human beings have suffered and died while seeking safety. During his homily, he urged believers to choose compassion, saying, “There is no love of God without love of neighbor.”(OSV News)
Catholic priest killed in Central African Republic remembered as a messenger of peace
BANGUI, Central African Republic — Father Crepin Martial Monga, a Catholic priest known for promoting peace and reconciliation in the Central African Republic, was killed by armed men on June 29 near his residence in the town of Zémio. The vicar of St. John the Baptist Parish was reportedly shot in the head, and Church leaders believe the attack may have been linked to his efforts to mediate among armed groups and local authorities. Bishop Aurelio Gazzera of Bangassou, the diocese where Zémio is located, praised Father Monga’s ministry, noting that he helped shelter thousands of refugees and led a local peace committee amid escalating violence. St. John the Baptist Parish is currently housing about 2,000 people displaced by recent clashes. The priest’s death underscores the ongoing insecurity in the Central African Republic, where the Catholic Church remains a key force for reconciliation amid years of conflict and displacement. (OSV News)
Detention of Nicaraguan bishop condemned by U.S.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Another Nicaraguan bishop has reportedly disappeared after being detained by police, intensifying concerns over the government’s treatment of the Catholic Church. Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata was apprehended June 29, one day after celebrating Mass in Estelí and asking the faithful to pray for the persecuted Church. Nicaragua’s interior ministry claimed in a July 4 statement the 80-year-old bishop “has returned to his home, where he remains in perfect condition.” But Church observers and exiled lawyer Martha Patricia Molina said no one close to him has seen him. “Until the dictatorship does not present the emeritus bishop Juan Abelardo Mata safe and sound at his home, any statement they issue is a lie,” Molina said in an X post. She and others also reported that Father Francisco Morales was detained and his whereabouts remain unknown. The U.S. State Department condemned what it called Bishop Mata’s arbitrary detention and renewed criticism of the Ortega-Murillo government for religious persecution. (OSV News)
