Faith World News
Genetic researchers are increasing the accuracy of gene editing through experiments on unborn babies that could have been done on animals, one bioethicist says.
At Columbia University, researchers have now edited the DNA of human embryos with “unprecedented accuracy,” according to a recent report by the New York Times.
Dieter Egli, a professor of developmental cell biology in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia, led the research, using a technique called base editing to replace individual genetic letters in sequences of DNA, according to the report.
Egli’s work did not cause the damage that the gene editing technique “CRISPR,” or Clustered Regularly…
Parental practice is the strongest predictor of whether children remain Christian as adults, a study found.
The study, “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” released in June by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, examined data from four national studies involving tens of thousands of Americans raised in Christian households.
Researchers sought to identify which behaviors most strongly influence whether children retain their faith into adulthood. The study found that the family home is the single-most critical factor in determining whether faith is successfully passed on from one generation to the next.
The power of parental example
According to the report,…
Father Mitch Pacwa, SJ, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination and is being honored for his decades of service to his community and the faithful.
“This golden anniversary is a blessed occasion to offer gratitude for the abundant graces God has bestowed upon you throughout the past 50 years,” Bishop Elias Zaidan, bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, wrote in a letter to Pacwa.
Pacwa is celebrating decades as a Jesuit priest following his ordination on June 12, 1976, in Chicago and entrance into the Society of Jesus on Aug. 21, 1968.
Pacwa has…
The archbishops of San Antonio and New York announced a “friendly wager” as the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks continue to face off in the NBA Finals this week.
Of the championship, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller said in a video posted on social media on June 3 that “when the Spurs win," New Yorkʼs Archbishop Ronald Hicks will send him a box of bagels, cream cheese, and lox.
San Antonioʼs chief pastor continued: "If by some slight possibility, hard to think, the Spurs arenʼt victorious, I will send him Texas gift boxes with items from HEB,”…
The day after 12 people were wounded by gunfire at a festival in Toledo, Ohio, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas lamented that one of the city’s “most beloved community traditions was suddenly shattered by senseless violence.”
On the evening of Saturday, June 6, at the 53rd annual Old West End Festival, 12 people were wounded in an apparent dispute between two shooters who have yet to be identified, according to local police.
Police said all 12 injured were in "stable condition” as of Sunday afternoon. Organizers canceled the festival, which was to continue through Sunday.
The shooting took place just a few blocks from…
Pew Research Center profiled the U.S. adult Catholic convert population and noted some of the differences between converts and lifelong Catholics.
Converts to Catholicism account for 1.5% of U.S. adults. Converts make up 8% of the nation’s Catholics, and the remaining 92% of Catholics are “cradle Catholics,” who were raised in the faith and still identify with it today.
Pew detailed “key facts about converts to and from Catholicism” in the U.S. drawn from the center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and previous pew reports.
The RLS is a study intended to provide estimates of the U.S. population’s religious composition, beliefs,…
More than 1,000 people processed through the streets of downtown Washington, D.C. on Saturday morning as the third annual National Eucharistic Pilgrimage made its way through the nation’s capital.
“Today we are going to bring Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament to the streets of Washington, D.C.,” Father Charles Trullols, director of the Catholic Information Center, said in a homily during the June 6 morning Mass before the procession began.
The procession offers “public witness to our faith,” Trullols said, displaying “the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, body, blood, soul, and divinity” to each person the procession passes by.
A new movie called “Sacred Heart: His Reign Has No End” will be hitting theaters across the United States this month after experiencing tremendous success in France and other countries.
Directed and produced by Steven and Sabrina Gunnell of KREA Film-Makers, “Sacred Heart” was released in Europe in October 2025 and became a box office success selling nearly 1 million tickets.
The docudrama retells Christ’s apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque — the 17th-century French nun who received the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Through testimonies, accounts of Eucharistic miracles, historical analysis, and reenactments, the film explores the moment when…
Denver, Colo. /(CNA) - This month, the Church celebrates Pentecost, one of the most important feast days of the year that concludes the Easter season and celebrates the beginning of the Church.