Illinois state capitol in Springfield. / Credit: Paul Brady Photography/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 12:34 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Illinois are backing a coalition of pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors suing the state government over a law that requires them to refer women to abortion providers even if they object to the procedure on religious grounds. 

The lawsuit, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto, challenges a 2016 Illinois rule that requires health care providers who refuse to perform abortions to nevertheless tout the “benefits” of the procedure and refer women to abortion clinics. 

In April the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois partly blocked the law, ruling that it violates freedom of speech in forcing providers to relay the alleged benefits of abortion. The court, however, held that the abortion referral requirement is legal. 

The case is currently at appeal from both sides in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Dec. 16, the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Illinois Catholic Health Association joined several Orthodox advocates in an amicus brief urging the court to offer the “highest level of protection” to the religious speech of the pro-life plaintiffs. 

“Providing the highest level of First Amendment protection to religious institutions gives them the predictability they need to pursue their religious missions,” the filing said, arguing that forcing health care providers to refer abortions “could lead people to believe that such conduct is morally acceptable.”

First Amendment jurisprudence, the filing argues, leaves “no doubt that the abortion-referral requirement burdens core religious speech without proper justification.”

Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a press statement that “every life deserves protection and care, no matter how fragile or dependent.” 

“The Church in Illinois is standing up for that eternal truth against Illinois’ effort to deny it,” the prelate said. 

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki similarly argued that Catholics “must be free to live according to the 2,000-year-old teachings of our faith without government intrusion.” 

“Illinois’ mandate threatens that freedom by forcing Catholic ministries and health care professionals to promote a practice we believe is gravely wrong,” he said. “We pray the court will put a swift stop to it.”

The amicus brief was filed by the religious liberty law group Becket. 

Lawyers for the pro-life plaintiffs have argued that the abortion referral requirement violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, which was brought by the same organization at the head of the Illinois dispute. 

The Supreme Court held in that decision that a similar California rule appeared to violate the First Amendment by “requiring [pro-life providers] to inform women how they can obtain state-subsidized abortions.”

San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano celebrates Mass at St. Augustine’s School on Dec. 5, 2021, to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. / Credit: John Gastaldo/Catholic Diocese of San Diego

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 10:18 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ramón Bejarano, currently auxiliary bishop of San Diego, as the next bishop of Monterey in California. The appointment was publicized on Dec. 17 by the Holy See Press Office at the Vatican and by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bejarano succeeds Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, who led Monterey before being appointed bishop of Austin, Texas, on July 2 and installed there on Sept. 18.

Bejarano was born July 17, 1969, in Laredo, Texas, and completed ecclesiastical studies at the diocesan seminary in Tijuana, Mexico, and at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, the Vatican said. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Stockton on Aug. 15, 1998.

Named titular bishop of Carpi and auxiliary bishop of San Diego on Feb. 27, 2020, he received episcopal consecration on July 14, 2020.

The Diocese of Monterey is comprised of 21,916 square miles in California and has a total population of 1,042,464, of which 368,150 are Catholic, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Carolers outside Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois, on Dec. 13, 2025. / Credit: John Jansen/Courtesy of the Pro-Life Action League

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

When a pregnant woman at an abortion facility heard distant carolers singing “Silent Night,” she got up and left.

The mother, back in 2003, decided to keep her baby after a pro-life group’s first Christmas caroling event outside a Chicago abortion clinic struck her heart.

“The memories of Christmases past stirred in her and she decided she couldn’t go through with the abortion and kept her child,” said Matthew Yonke, a spokesman for the Pro-Life Action League, the group that coordinates these events. 

She would be the first of many women who chose life after hearing carols. Now, the tradition extends across the nation — and babies continue to be saved. 

As Christmas Day approaches, nearly 100 caroling groups across the U.S. are gathering at various abortion facilities to sing. 

Through the nationwide “Peace in the Womb” caroling effort, the group hopes “to bring the Christmas message of peace and joy to the darkness of abortion clinics,” according to a press release shared with CNA. 

It’s a “simple call for an end to the violence of abortion,” according to Yonke.

“At the time of Christmas, the whole world tries to put aside differences and pursue peace, so we’re asking folks to make a connection to the womb, which should be a place of peace, but which is turned into a place of violent unrest in every abortion,” Yonke continued.

Saving lives 

The carolers had already packed up after singing their final song outside an abortion site when a couple approached the remaining pro-lifers in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Dec. 13. 

The couple, Yonke said, “told the sidewalk counselors still there that they had decided to keep their baby after hearing our carols.” 

“Stories like this go all the way back to the first year,” Yonke said. “We’re thrilled when God can use these beloved songs that touch the hearts of even non-Christians to do his work in the world.”

This was one of two rescue stories so far this December that the league heard about, according to Yonke. 

“Please don’t kill your baby at Christmas,” one caroler called out to a young woman in the back seat of a car that was driving into an abortion clinic.

It was a Saturday in Milwaukee, and a group of carolers had gathered to sing outside the abortion clinic on St. Paul Avenue. 

The car drove into the abortion center parking lot. But minutes later, the car turned around with the young woman still in the back seat — she never even entered the abortion clinic.  

Salvation came through an unplanned pregnancy

Pro-Life Action League invites local pro-lifers to work with them to organize their own caroling groups. 

On Sunday, Dec. 14, one such caroling group sang outside an abortion facility in Renton, Washington. 

“This was a fantastic event and I think every Catholic church should do this in their community,” said local pro-life activist Richard Bray, who organized the caroling with the Respect Life Ministry at a local Catholic parish, St. Stephen the Martyr.

While every event organized with the league has a “Peace in the Womb” banner, Renton’s organizer would have something special — a handmade manger.  

An 88-year-old parishioner at St. Stephen’s built an empty manger that the carolers brought to the event, according to Bray. 

The empty manger not only symbolizes that Christ is coming at Christmas — but it also represents how a crib is empty after an abortion, according to Bray.

“It’s particularly sad to think of someone getting an abortion during the Christmas season,” Bray told CNA. “So we gather to sing carols and remind abortion-bound mothers and our community that the salvation of the world came through an unplanned pregnancy.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court building in Madison, Wisconsin. / Credit: Richard Hurd/Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The Wisconsin state government lost decisively a second time in what has become a convoluted effort to block a Catholic charity from receiving a long-running state tax exemption.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Dec. 15 blocked state Attorney General Josh Kaul’s attempt to fully eliminate an unemployment tax exemption after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Diocese of Superior’s Catholic Charities Bureau was entitled to the tax break.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June had ruled that Wisconsin violated the First Amendment when it denied the tax exemption to the Catholic group on the grounds that the group’s charitable undertakings were not “primarily” religious.

The state responded in October by moving to eliminate the exemption entirely, arguing that the tax break is “discriminatory” and that ending the policy would “avoid collateral damage to Wisconsin workers.”

In a brief order on Dec. 15, the state’s high court affirmed that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows the Catholic charity to access the tax break. The court directed the state Labor and Industry Review Commission to declare the charity eligible for the exemption. 

The religious liberty law group Becket, which has represented the Catholic charity in the legal fight, said in a press release that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had ended the state government’s “crusade” against the Catholic charity. 

“You’d think Wisconsin would take a 9-0 Supreme Court loss as a hint to stop digging,” Becket Vice President Eric Rassbach said. “But apparently Attorney General Kaul and his staff are gluttons for punishment.” 

“Thankfully, the Wisconsin Supreme Court put an end to the state’s tomfoolery and confirmed that Catholic Charities is entitled to the exemption it already won,” Rassbach said. 

The ruling “protects not just Catholic Charities, but every faith-based organization that relies on this exemption to serve the public,” he added. 

In its June ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said the First Amendment “mandates government neutrality between religions” and that Wisconsin had failed to adhere to this principle in refusing to issue the tax exemption to Catholic Charities. 

“It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the decision. “There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, said that governments “may not use [entities such as a Catholic charity] as a means of regulating the internal governance of religious institutions.”

Following the ruling this week, David Earleywine — the associate director for education and religious liberty at the Wisconsin Catholic Conference — said the Catholic charity has been fighting for the exemption for “decades.”

“[T]rue Catholic charity is inherently religious and cannot be reduced to another secular social service,” he said.

The Michigan government released another report on diocesan abuse in December 2025, detailing dozens of allegations against more than 50 priests in the Diocese of Grand Rapids. / Credit: Snehit Photo/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Michigan government this week released its fifth report on diocesan abuse in the state, detailing dozens of allegations against more than 50 priests in the Diocese of Grand Rapids. 

The report from the attorney general’s office, released on Dec. 15, comes after four other reports detailing abuse allegations in the dioceses of Lansing, Kalamazoo, Gaylord, and Marquette.  

As with the other reports, the allegations detailed in the Grand Rapids investigation go back decades. The Dec. 15 report encompasses abuse allegations against “priests or deacons who are current or former clergy for the Diocese of Grand Rapids, that occurred in the diocese from Jan. 1, 1950, to the present,” the review says. 

The alleged abuse reports were pulled from a variety of sources, including a government tip line, police investigations, and abuse reports disclosed by the diocese itself. 

The majority of the priests identified in the report — 37 out of 51 — are “known or presumed to be dead,” the report says, while none of the remaining 14 are in active ministry in the Grand Rapids Diocese. 

Nearly all of the potential criminal violations in the report occurred “before 2002,” it says. 

Most of the alleged abuse was reported to have occurred against “either boys or girls under the age of 16,” though the state said some alleged abuse occurred against adults. 

In a video message after the release of the report, Grand Rapids Bishop David Walkowiak offered his “deepest and most sincere apologies” to the victims of clergy abuse there. 

The prelate commended “the courage that victim-survivors have to tell their stories,” calling it a “testament to their strength and resilience.” 

“Priests are ordained to serve in the person of Christ himself, which makes the sexual abuse of minors incomprehensible and particularly harmful,” he acknowledged.

The bishop said the report partly inflates the number of victims by detailing “consensual relationships between priests and adults,” which he pointed out are “immoral [but] not in violation of Michigan law.”

Walkowiak said the diocese has “cooperated fully” with the attorney general’s office during the investigation. He noted that the diocese has implemented “numerous safeguards” to protect children — including zero-tolerance protocols — and has “diligently upheld these practices for more than 20 years.” 

State Attorney General Dana Nessel, meanwhile, said in a press statement on Dec. 15 that abuse survivors “deserve to be heard.”

“[B]y releasing these reports, we hope to honor the courage of victims and ensure their experiences are no longer hidden,” she said. 

Reports on the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Diocese of Saginaw are still forthcoming from the state and are expected to be released at a later date. 

Bill McGurn, Wall Street Journal columnist and godfather of Jimmy Lai, speaks with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Dec. 15, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Catholic human rights and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was found guilty following his lengthy national security trial. Lai, 78, will be sentenced at a later date but faces up to life in prison.

The Dec. 15 verdict “is important, and it’s not important,” Bill McGurn, Wall Street Journal columnist and godfather of Lai, told “EWTN News Nightly.”

“It’s important because it’s part of the Hong Kong process, and everyone knew he would always be convicted. So it’s important because we have to get it out of the way,” McGurn said. “Jimmy cannot be released until he was convicted, and that’s why we had to wait all these years for the trial and then his conviction.”

“On the other hand, it was always this charade … the world sees it for what it is. And so in Jimmy Lai’s world, it’s not really a big milestone because it’s phony. Everything about it is phony,” McGurn said.

‘The real work begins now’

While the verdict was guilty, it is still “a step forward because we finally can get to the deal-making now,” McGurn said. “Jimmy’s future will be determined by three men: Xi Jinping of China, President Trump of the United States, and Keir Starmer of Britain.” 

Trump “is essential to the deal,” McGurn said. “The problem is, Jimmy is a British citizen, and the British aren’t really pushing his release. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, he needs a little prod to get it done.”

Trump “has pushed for Jimmy’s release. He’s brought it up. His people are working on it now, but he needs help,” McGurn said. 

In August, Trump vowed to do “everything” he can to “save” Lai, promising to “see what we can do” to help him. A White House official told EWTN News in October that Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about his imprisonment. 

Following the announcement of the verdict, Trump told reporters he feels “so badly” about it. He added: “I spoke to President Xi about it and I asked to consider his release. He’s not well. He’s an older man and he’s not well, so I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.”

Ultimately the verdict is “a milestone, but it’s a phony one,” McGurn said. “The real work begins now where the U.S. gets ready to pressure the Chinese. President Trump is visiting there next year in April, and Prime Minister Starmer is visiting in January. You would think he’d want to let it be known it’s not open season on British citizens … but so far, they seem pretty reluctant to do that.”

Lai’s ‘faith-filled family’ 

McGurn said he has been cut off from Lai for the past three years.

“They don’t let my letters go through anymore. But I used to hear from him pretty regularly and am still in touch with some of the family,” McGurn said.

Lai’s family has also called on the U.S. to help aid his release. “We stand by his innocence and condemn this miscarriage of justice,” Lai’s daughter Claire said. She asked the U.S. “continue to exert pressure for my father to be returned to our family so that he can recover in peace.”

“They are an extraordinary family,” McGurn said in the interview. Lai’s wife, Teresa Lai, “is a rock. If Jimmy didn’t have Teresa to lean on, he knows it, he wouldn’t be strong. I mean, he has his faith, but she strengthens it. That’s what they have in common,” McGurn said.

“The children have all been very eloquent in making appeals for their father’s freedom and so forth. So this is an extraordinary faith-filled family.”

Owen Jensen contributed to this story.

Religious sisters show their support for the Little Sisters of the Poor outside the Supreme Court, where oral arguments were heard on March 23, 2016, in the Zubik v. Burwell case against the HHS mandate. / Credit: CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).

The 14-year legal battle against federal contraceptive mandates will continue, with Little Sisters of the Poor and the federal government seeking to reinstate moral and religious exemptions that were established in 2017.

Little Sisters of the Poor have already won religious freedom cases on this subject twice at the Supreme Court level. The high court ruled in 2016 that the federal government must protect religious freedoms for those who oppose the contraceptives and in 2020 ruled that the federal government had the legal authority to adopt the broad exemptions established in 2017.

Those exemptions fully covered employers that had religious or moral objections to providing the contraceptives, some of which can be abortifacient. Under the rules, those employers were not required to include any contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans for employees.

In spite of the prior Supreme Court wins, a federal court in August 2025 struck down the 2017 exemptions on grounds that the Supreme Court had not yet ruled on.

Because the Supreme Court left some questions open, the attorneys general in two states that disapprove of the exemptions — Pennsylvania and New Jersey — continued their legal battle on different grounds. Those legal arguments allege that the adoption of the rules did not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which the Supreme Court had not ruled on. 

In the August ruling, Judge Wendy Beetlestone found that the rules did not comply with the APA, ruling instead that the rules are arbitrary and capricious. 

“The agencies’ actions in promulgating the rule were arbitrary and capricious — in that they failed to ‘articulate a satisfactory explanation for [their] action[s] including a ‘rational connection between the facts found and the choices made,’” Beetlestone wrote in her opinion.

Little Sisters of the Poor are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, whose lawyers say the appellate court should overturn that decision and bring the legal dispute to an end.

“The 14-year legal crusade against the Little Sisters has been needless, grotesque, and un-American,” Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the sisters, said in a statement. 

“The states have no business trying to take away the Little Sisters’ federal civil rights. The 3rd Circuit should toss the states’ lawsuit into the dustbin of history and uphold the protection the Little Sisters already won at the Supreme Court … twice,” he said.

In the appeal, the lawyers cite the legal precedent from the 2016 and 2020 cases that required religious exemptions and upheld the rules. They warn that the August 2025 ruling could create a “constitutional conflict” because the original mandate cannot legally be reimposed. 

“The appellee states maintain that state governments somehow have an interest in forcing the federal government to force religious objectors to comply with the federal contraceptive mandate — even though the federal government need not have any contraceptive mandate at all, and even though the states themselves have chosen not to have such mandates of their own,” the lawsuit notes. 

null / Credit: Shai Barzilay via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 17:36 pm (CNA).

United Airlines reached a settlement with a flight attendant who alleged that the airline fired him for endorsing Catholic teachings on marriage and gender identity.

The former employee, Ruben Sanchez, of Anchorage, Alaska, alleged that United Airlines investigated his social media history after someone reported a private in-flight conversation he had with another Catholic flight attendant.

“Sanchez and his colleague discussed their working conditions and everyday life. As they were both Catholic, their discussion turned to Catholic theology and then, with United’s ‘Pride Month’ activities set to start on June 1, Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality,” Sanchez’s complaint states.

The Catholic Church makes a distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual activity. Same-sex attraction itself is not considered morally wrong, and homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2358), with unjust discrimination avoided. The Church teaches that God’s design for sexuality is entwined with marriage and family life and is characterized by the exclusive, indissoluble covenant of marriage.

The complaint said a passenger report led United Airlines to look into posts on Sanchez’s X account, some of which were more than a decade old. He said the airline took issue with 35 of the more than 140,000 posts on the social media platform before firing him.

Sanchez filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against United Airlines and the union he belonged to — the Association of Flight Attendants — for refusing to represent him.

He received legal assistance from X, which helped broker the settlement.

“We are pleased that X was able to help Ruben Sanchez amicably resolve his dispute with United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants,” X’s Global Government Affairs Team posted on X.

“X stands firm in its commitment to defend free speech on its platform,” the post added.

Most of the details about the settlement have not been publicly released, except that both parties will pay their own costs and attorneys’ fees and the complaint cannot be refiled.

CNA reached out to both X and United Airlines for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The Association of Flight Attendants is facing another lawsuit that alleges discrimination against Christians related to two employees fired at Alaska Airlines. That airline is also named in the lawsuit.

The company is battling a separate lawsuit from two other former employees — Lacey Smith and Marli Brown — who accuse the airline of firing them for criticizing the company’s support for the Equality Act, based on religious concerns.

The Equality Act, which has not been passed into law, would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under federal civil rights laws. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is against the proposed law, which they warn would jeopardize religious liberty and force Catholic hospitals to “perform and promote life-altering gender ‘transitions.’”

Smith and Brown are represented by First Liberty Institute. A federal district court sided with the airline, and the case is being considered in an appellate court, which heard oral arguments in August.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated United Airlines is facing another lawsuit; it is in fact the Association of Flight Attendants facing the lawsuit. The 12th paragraph has been corrected to reflect this information. (Published Dec. 17, 2025) 

Bishop Evelio Menjivar speaks with “EWTN News in Depth” on Friday, March 14, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News in Depth”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 16:36 pm (CNA).

The Virgin Mary’s role as comforter to all was specially highlighted during a pilgrimage through the streets of Washington, D.C., Saturday morning. 

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother of all. She envelops each one of us with the same tenderness and the same love, no matter our country of origin or language,” Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjívar said during his homily at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

The words from the bishop, who was born in El Salvador, came after the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual “Walk with Mary” procession that began at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Hispanic Catholic parish. Participants also prayed a rosary upon arriving at the basilica, which holds 2,500 people and was filled to capacity, according to the archdiocese. 

The archdiocese billed this year’s celebration of the pilgrimage honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day as “highlight[ing] a call to accompany and pray for migrants and refugees, reflecting the Church’s mission of compassion, solidarity, hope, and peace.” 

“For more than a decade, thousands of pilgrims from diverse cultures and backgrounds have walked side by side, lifting their voices in prayer and songs of praise,” the archdiocese said. “Along the way, participants celebrate the archdiocese’s rich cultural diversity and unity in Jesus Christ, while reflecting on the appearance of the young mestiza Virgin of Guadalupe to the peasant St. Juan Diego on a hilltop near Mexico City in 1531.”

The Mass, which included a reenactment of the story of Mary’s apparition to St. Juan Diego, was celebrated by Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States; and Auxiliary Bishops Menjívar, Juan Esposito, and Roy Campbell.

Menjívar interspersed his homily, which was mostly in Spanish, with reflections in English on the Virgin Mary and the Church’s role in accompanying poor and marginalized communities, particularly migrants.

“Let me say this in English because I believe it is very important for us to understand Mary reflects what the Church is called to be,” Menjívar said. “In the apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te [“I Have Loved You”] Pope Leo affirms the Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children. Where walls are built, she builds bridges.”

The Virgin Mary, he said, regards “every rejected migrant” as “Christ himself, who knocks at the door of the community.” 

Reflecting on the significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Menjívar noted that Mary “did not manifest herself to a powerful or well-educated person.” 

“She appeared to Juan Diego, a simple, poor, Indigenous man, marginalized by the systems of his time,” the bishop said. “With this, God proclaims another truth. He takes the side of the little ones, the despised, the ones who do not count.” 

“So the good news,” he concluded, “is this: For God, we do count, and a lot, because we are his sons and daughters.”

The Eucharist is displayed in a monstrance in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City before a Eucharistic procession on Oct. 15, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 16:06 pm (CNA).

About half of American adults who were raised Catholic and stayed in the Church said the faith continues to “fulfill their spiritual needs,” according to a Pew Research Center report.

The Dec. 15 report, “Why Do Some Americans Leave Their Religion While Others Stay?”, examines the religious switching of U.S. adults. It looks into the reasons why people stay or leave their childhood faith, addressing the social and demographic factors associated with the changes.

The report includes findings from a survey of 8,937 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP). The survey was conducted May 5–11 and its overall margin of error is 1.4 percentage points. It also uses information from the center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS), a survey of 36,908 U.S. adults conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, with an overall margin of error of 0.8 percentage points. 

While the report revealed many U.S. adults (35%) have left the religion they grew up in, the majority of Americans (56%) still identify with their childhood religion. Another 9% weren’t raised in a religion and still don’t have one today. 

Of the U.S. adults who still identify with their childhood religion, 64% credited their belief in the religion’s teachings as an “extremely important” or “very important” reason as to why they stayed. Another 61% said their religion fulfills their spiritual needs, and 56% said their religion gives life meaning.

Other attributions included a sense of community (44%), familiarity (39%), traditions (39%), and the religion’s teachings on social and political issues (32%).

The research found 46% of Americans who have left their childhood religion said the extremely or very important reason behind their decision was that they stopped believing in the religion’s teachings; 38% said it wasn’t important in their life; and 38% said they gradually drifted away. 

Why Americans choose to remain Catholic or leave the faith 

Among the Catholics who have kept their religious identities, 54% said a key reason they are Catholic today is because it fulfills their spiritual needs. About 53% credited belief in the religion’s teachings, and 47% said it’s because Catholicism gives their life meaning.

The survey found that adults who were raised in “highly religious” households are more likely to have remained in their childhood religion (82%) than those who grew up in households with “medium-high” (77%), “medium-low” (62%), or “low levels” of religiousness (47%).

The majority of lifelong Catholics reported they had a “mostly positive experience” with religion when growing up (73%).

According to Pew’s RLS, an estimated 19% of U.S. adults are Catholic including 17% who were raised Catholic and are Catholic today, and 2% who are Catholic today after they were raised another way.

Of the adults surveyed in the RLS who left the Catholic faith, 14% are now Protestant, compared with 1% of Americans raised Protestant who are now Catholic.

The RLS found that 13% of U.S. adults are former Catholics, including 6% who were raised Catholic but now identify in another way and 7% who are religiously unaffiliated. Of the religious “nones,” 81% said an extremely or very important reason they left is because they believe they can be moral without religion.

Americans cited other reasons including they question a lot of religion’s teachings (67%), they don’t need a religion to be spiritual (57%), they don’t like religious organizations (53%), and they distrust religious leaders (52%).

Social and demographic reasons for switching 

The RLS found that 73% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican still identify with the religion in which they were raised, compared with the 56% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.

Democrats who were raised in a religion are also more likely to be religious “nones” today than Republicans who were raised in a religion.

The RLS also found that age affected patterns. Among adults ages 65 and older who were raised in a religion, 74% still identify with that religion. Of the adults under 30, 55% still identify with their childhood religion.

Americans who switch religions tend to do so while they are still young. It found that 85% who have switched did so by the age of 30, including 46% who switched as children or teenagers.