Pope Francis canonized Spanish Franciscan friar Junípero Serra on Wednesday while visiting the U.S. Although Pope Francis is visiting three eastern U.S. cities, the canonization of Serra provides the Pope's visit with national relevance given the friar's work establishing missions in Baja California.
Latinos from all walks of life are observing Pope Francis’ U.S. visit, including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a coalition of Latino lawmakers who anticipate his address to Congress scheduled on Thursday.
Pope Francis' six-day trip in the U.S. starts on Tuesday, and he will spend a week talking about issues affecting the Latino community. The Argentinian-born Pope will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday, where he is expected to speak about topics that even the federal legislative body has had trouble solving.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke to Latin Post about the importance of unions, its impact on immigrants and his disgust at the “racist” rhetoric made in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Ahead of Pope Francis' trip to the U.S., Latino congressman Tony Cárdenas has called for the Catholic leader to address the need for juvenile justice reform.
Donald Trump's anti-immigrant and anti-Latino rhetoric was already a topic at the House of Representatives. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., spoke about Trump and the effect Pope Francis will have during the latter's U.S. visit.
More than half of young Catholic families (53 percent) identify themselves as Latino or Hispanic compared with 32 percent of all Catholics, according to a recent survey. Could the presence of Hispanic families in the Catholic Church indicate Latino congregational growth, or at least the slowing of a once-persistent decline?
Junípero Serra, the 18th century Spanish Franciscan friar who founded a mission in Baja California and introduced Christianity to a majority of California, will be canonized by Pope Francis in the U.S. The Spanish Franciscan will be the first Hispanic saint in the U.S.
The renewed diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba included third-party support from as far as the Vatican, with Pope Francis of Argentina facilitating talks and a prisoner swap between the countries.
White House officials detailed the most significant changes to U.S. and Cuba foreign policy in more than 50 years. During a conference call, a senior administration official acknowledged President Barack Obama's commitment to change policies that was originally viewed as a failure at the expense of advancing interests.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has criticized the Obama administration's plans to renew diplomatic relations with Cuba, but his sentiments were not shared among millennials and scholars.
On Monday Pope Francis announced that he would meet with some of the victims that were sexually abused by clergy of the Catholic Church at the Vatican next month.
The process of becoming a saint in the Catholic Church is one that takes decades, even centuries, to finalize. However, two recent popes' journey to sainthood has been accelerated and will reach fruition today in Rome.
