As Joe Biden prepared to be inaugurated as the 46th U.S. president, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed hope the incoming administration "will work with the Church and others of goodwill" to "address the complicated cultural and economic factors that are driving abortion and discouraging families."
Hours before his inauguration as president, Joe Biden and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris were joined by the spouses and congressional leaders from both political parties for what was termed a Mass of thanksgiving early Jan. 20 at St. Matthew Cathedral in Washington.
Saying the nation "reverently pauses in supplication to remember and to pray for the many thousands of people who have died from the coronavirus during this past year," Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory offered the invocation at a pre-inauguration memorial service Jan. 19 to honor and remember the more than 400,000 Americans who have succumbed to COVID-19.
The head of the Archdiocese of San Salvador refused to allow a judge access to church records on one of the largest modern-day massacres in Latin America, saying in a Jan. 17 news conference that he's simply protecting victims.
Catholics in public life, saints and sainthood candidates, figures from U.S. history, military heroes, leaders in science, politicians and athletes were included in a list of dozens of figures President Donald Trump said will be in a new National Garden of American Heroes he created by executive order Jan. 18.
Although the Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution of Dustin Higgs Jan. 15, two justices made their objections known loud and clear in dissents that called into question the speed of these decisions and even the constitutionality of capital punishment.