November 15, 2025 // National

News Briefs: November 16, 2025

OSV NEWS

Religious sisters take a selfie outside Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran where Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass Nov. 9, 2025, the feast of the basilica’s dedication. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Pope’s Prayer Intention Is for Those Struggling with Suicidal Thoughts

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics to join him in praying for those who struggle with suicidal thoughts and for all people “who live in darkness and despair.” “May they always find a community that welcomes them, listens to them, and accompanies them,” including by offering comfort, support, and “necessary professional help,” he prayed. The pope’s video sharing his prayer intention for November was distributed on Tuesday, November 4, by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. “Let us pray that those who are struggling with suicidal thoughts might find the support, care, and love they need in their community and be open to the beauty of life,” he said in the video. “May we know how to be close with respect and tenderness, helping to heal wounds, build bonds, and open horizons,” Pope Leo said. “Together, may we rediscover that life is a gift, that there is still beauty and meaning, even in the midst of pain and suffering.” The pope prayed that the Lord would “always make us feel your love so that, through your closeness to us, we can recognize and proclaim to all the infinite love of the Father who leads us by the hand to renew our trust in the life you give us.”

Supreme Court Declines Case Seeking to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, November 10, declined a case that asked it to revisit its landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The 2015 ruling overturned state laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, a decision the head of the U.S. Catholic bishops at the time called a “tragic error.” The court rejected an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who sparked a national controversy in the wake of the 2015 Obergefell decision, when she declined to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple on religious grounds, as she sought to appeal a federal jury’s decision that she should pay $100,000 in damages – and $260,000 for attorneys fees – to the couple. Her appeal marked the first major request to the justices to overturn the ruling. Many legal scholars questioned the merits of the case itself, so the court’s move was expected. At the time Obergefell was decided, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the court’s 5-4 decision was as wrong as the high court’s decision in 1973 to legalize abortion nationwide with Roe v. Wade. He called it “profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage,” emphasizing that “Jesus Christ, with great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman.”

Pope Asks for Extra Care When Using AI in Medicine

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The more fragile a human life is, the greater the responsibility of those charged with caring for it, whether in person or through the use of technology, Pope Leo XIV said. When artificial intelligence is used in health care, the pope said, “we must ensure that it truly enhances both interpersonal relationships and the care provided.” Pope Leo made his comments in a message to an international congress, “AI and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity,” which was sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations. Meeting in Rome on November 10-12, participants were looking at how AI is being used in the medical field to diagnose patients, personalize therapy, read X-rays and other diagnostic images, summarize research, and more. Two key concerns at the meeting, however, were on the ethical use of AI in medicine and on preserving the personal connection between patients and their health care professionals.

Archbishop Sample on ICE Activity: Human Dignity Comes from God, not Government

PORTLAND, Oregon (OSV News) – Human dignity comes “not from government, but from our loving God,” said Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, in a November 8 statement regarding recent immigration enforcement activity in that state. “It does not matter whether some of our brothers and sisters have proper documentation or not,” said Archbishop Sample. “They are our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.” The archbishop’s statement – posted in both English and Spanish on the archdiocesan website and the archbishop’s social media platforms, along with a video version of the message – follows months of immigration raids and arrests under President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants lacking permanent legal status in the United States. “My heart is heavy because of the continued fear and anxiety that runs through the community of our Hispanic brothers and sisters in this archdiocese,” Archbishop Sample said. “This is due to the increased ICE activity within our communities, even now in the vicinity of some of our parishes.” Yet, said the archbishop, “We are in this together to uphold the dignity of every human person, every child of God.” He urged all to “lean on the love that Jesus has for each one of us,” and concluded his message with “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Jesus Christ!”) – the battle cry of the Cristeros, who defied the anti-Catholic, secular government of Mexico during the Cristero War of 1926-29, and repeated by Mexican martyrs from that period.

Pope Offers Prayers for the Philippines, for Peacemakers

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As people in the Philippines mourned the loss of more than 200 people and massive damage from a typhoon in early November and were bracing for an even more powerful storm, Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers. “I express my closeness to the people of the Philippines who have been hit by a violent typhoon: I pray for the deceased and their families, as well as for the injured and displaced,” the pope said on Sunday, November 9, after leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square. Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall on the Philippine’s Leyte Island on Tuesday, November 4, and struck Cebu and Negros islands that same day. The storm claimed at least 224 lives, with another 109 people still missing, the Philippines News Agency reported. The country was bracing for another storm, Super Typhoon Fung-wong, which made landfall on Sunday, November 9. More than 1 million people fled from their homes in preparation for that storm, which weakened as it made landfall and killed two people as of Monday, November 9.

Ohio Bishop Ends Funeral Visitations in Churches, Citing Liturgical Directives

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (OSV News) – Bishop David J. Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio, has moved to end holding funeral visitations in Catholic churches in that diocese, citing the proper understanding of the Catholic funeral liturgy rubrics – as well as the disruption such viewings can cause in sacred spaces. The move comes amid a broader effort by the bishop to establish a uniform policy for such visitations throughout the diocese, one that “would best reflect Church teaching and give both due respect to our church buildings and the deceased as well,” said the bishop. The decision was announced on Tuesday, October 28, in a letter from Bishop Bonnar to the faithful and in a diocesan press release, with the bishop’s October 27 decree taking effect on December 1. While church visitations for deceased priests and religious will continue by diocesan tradition, said Bishop Bonnar, the decree seeks to reaffirm both the sanctity of church space and the fullness of the three-part Order of Christian Funerals, which has the vigil for the deceased taking place in private or funeral homes as a time of prayer and recollection. “Please know that as bishop I have a responsibility to ensure the sacredness of our church buildings with proper reverence for the Holy Eucharist,” Bishop Bonnar said.