February 14, 2025 // National

News Briefs: February 16, 2025

OSV NEWS

USCCB Lays Off a Third of Migration Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Officials with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued layoff notices to about a third of the staff in its Migration and Refugee Services Office on Friday, February 7, after it stopped receiving reimbursements from the federal government for its work with refugees who qualify for federal assistance, per an internal memo. While “we expected we might have a reduction in force with the new administration, actions this significant and this immediate were not anticipated,” the memo said. The move comes as the Trump administration suspended a federal refugee resettlement program as part of its broader effort to enforce its hardline immigration policies. Asked for comment on the layoffs, Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the USCCB, said in a statement provided to OSV News, “As a result of the continuing uncertainty regarding refugee resettlement and the overall future of those programs, staff of the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services Office were notified of a series of layoffs earlier today.” The USCCB website states that its Migration and Refugee Services “is the largest refugee resettlement agency in the world,” and that in partnership with its affiliates, it resettles approximately 18 percent of the refugees that arrive in the U.S. each year.

African Catholics Join Forces against Human Trafficking

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (OSV News) – More than 30 African countries marked the February 8 feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of human trafficking victims, with marches, Masses, and awareness events. The day kicked off the Jubilee Year campaign “Restoring Hope in Africa: A Jubilee Call to End Human Trafficking.” The campaign seeks to raise awareness about Africa’s human trafficking crisis, with an estimated 25 percent of global trafficking crimes occurring on the continent. The $150 billion trade is fueled by poverty, terrorism, conflict, forced migration, and exploitation. Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo called human trafficking a stain on humanity, urging action from governments, while officials with Catholic organizations such as Talitha Kum and Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network pledged to continue to support survivors through education, rescue, and rehabilitation. Despite challenges, including wide-spread corruption in Africa and victim silence, advocates emphasize the need for collective action to end trafficking and restore dignity for all. In a statement ahead of the February 8 International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, said human trafficking is a “rejection of the God-given dignity” of every person and an “open wound” on humanity. Quoting Pope Francis, Bishop Seitz urged Catholics and people of goodwill to unite in prayer and action to combat human trafficking, often called “modern-day slavery.”

Trump Bars Biological Males from Competing in Women’s Sports

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, February 5, barring biological males from competing in women’s sports. “Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls,” the president said at the signing ceremony, surrounded by female athletes. The administration will now “prioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions” that “deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.” In 2023, the U.S. bishops backed a bill in Congress requiring federally funded female sports programs “to be reserved for biological females.” Bishop Robert E. Barron and Bishop Thomas A. Daly wrote at the time that, “in education and in sports, we must seek to avoid anything that undermines human dignity, including denial of a person’s body which is genetically and biologically female or male, or unequal treatment between women and men.”

Caritas Internationalis Calls U.S. Foreign Aid Freeze ‘Ruthless’

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The “ruthless” and “callous” decision of the Trump administration to freeze U.S. humanitarian and development aid “threatens the lives and dignity of millions” of people around the world, said officials with Caritas Internationalis. Stopping programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and recalling overseas staff “will jeopardize essential services for hundreds of millions of people, undermine decades of progress in humanitarian and development assistance, destabilize regions that rely on this critical support, and condemn millions to dehumanizing poverty or even death,” the Caritas officials said in a statement on Monday, February 10. Caritas Internationalis is the Vatican-based confederation of 162 national Catholic relief, development, and social service agencies that operate in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. The U.S. bishops’ Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA are members of the confederation.

Federal Judges Block Effort to End Birthright Citizenship

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV NEWS) – Three federal judges have blocked President Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship. On Monday, February 10, U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire issued a temporary injunction against the policy, following similar rulings by two other judges in recent days. On Thursday, February 6, Judge John Coughenour in Seattle rebuked the order, calling it an attempt to bypass constitutional amendment procedures. He stated that any change to birthright citizenship must go through Congress, not the executive branch. On Wednesday, February 5, Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland also blocked the order, citing conflicts with the 14th Amendment and the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of Trump’s stance. The future of the policy remains uncertain as these legal challenges unfold.

Pope Accepts Detroit Archbishop’s Resignation

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Detroit and has appointed Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, as his successor. Archbishop Vigneron has headed the Michigan archdiocese since 2009. He is one year past the age at which canon law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope. Archbishop Weisenburger, 64, has headed the Diocese of Tucson since 2017. The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, February 11, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The Archdiocese of Detroit covers 3,90 square miles and has a Catholic population of about 904,110 out of a total population of 4.3 million. In a statement released by the archdiocese, Bishop Weisenburger said: “The Archdiocese of Detroit is a Church steeped in rich history, vibrant ministries, and known for a committed clergy with a great passion for evangelization. I am humbled to be called to serve such a noble Church. Despite the challenge of leaving my happy home in the Diocese of Tucson, I promise the good people of the Archdiocese of Detroit my all.”

U.S. Mass Attendance Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Sunday Mass attendance at Catholic churches in the United States is back to pre-pandemic levels – although just under one quarter of the nation’s Catholics are in the pews on a regular weekly basis. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University noted in a February 5 blog post that Sunday Mass attendance in person has risen to 24 percent since the declared end of the COVID-19 pandemic in May of 2023. From the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns in March of 2020 to May of 2023, attendance had averaged 15 percent. Before the pandemic, the average attendance was 24.4 percent. Mark Gray, CARA’s director of polls and editor of the blog, told OSV News that the pandemic dips did not account for those watching Mass online or on television. When those numbers were factored in, Mass attendance data “almost looks like a straighter distribution once you include the television and internet numbers” during the pandemic lockdowns, said Gray. Overall, he said, since Christmas of 2024, “things are back to normal.”

U.S. Air Force Lt. Kenzie Gaspard, who is stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California, attends the welcome ceremony for the Jubilee of the Armed Services, Police and Security Personnel in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo Feb. 8, 2025. (CNS photo/Chris Warde-Jones)