The agency's domestic (United States) service shut down on 30 December 2022, but CNS continues to function and provide reports concerning world events and Catholic news. The news agency's domestic distribution platform and archives were acquired by Our Sunday Visitor and used to launch OSV News.
CNS was established in 1920 as the National Catholic Welfare Council (NCWC) Press Department.[1] In the 1960s it became the National Catholic News Service; it later dropped "National" from its name in 1986 to indicate its intention to provide worldwide coverage.[2][3] It is now owned by the USCCB, the NCWC's successor.
From 2004 to 2016, Tony Spence led CNS as its director and editor-in-chief. He was removed in April 2016 after a number of Catholics criticized his posts on Twitter that favored LGBT rights.[4][5]
In February 2021, Pope Francis in a meeting with CNS journalists to celebrate the 100th anniversary of CNS, praised CNS as "an invaluable contribution to the English-speaking world".[6][7]
On 4 May 2022, Catholic News Service announced that it would cease its operations in the United States on 31 December 2022 due to a decision of the USCCB; CNS added that its Rome bureau would continues to operate and "continue to report on Vatican and related international events".[8] The news agency's domestic distribution platform and archives were acquired by Our Sunday Visitor and used to launch the new OSV News.[9]
The documentary service of CNS, Origins, "publishes texts from the Vatican, [P]ope, bishops, Congress, Senate, Supreme Court and church leaders around the world".[12][13]
^Una M. Cadegan (7 January 2016). In the Logos of Love: Promise and Predicament in Catholic Intellectual Life. Oxford University Press. pp. 173–. ISBN978-0-19-028004-8. Catholic News Service, created in 1920 by the American bishops, was and remains editorially independent, a financially self-sustaining division of the US ... The National Catholic Welfare Council Press department was the original service. ... The department was reorganized in the 1960s and the name changed to National Catholic News Service of NC News. In 1986, the name was again changed to Catholic News.
^Historical Note, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Communications Department/Catholic News Service, American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives, Catholic University of America (accessed 2016-07-19).
^Chester Gillis (29 April 2015). Catholic Faith in America. Infobase Learning. pp. 215–. ISBN978-1-4381-4034-6. Catholic News Service, Washington, D.C. The oldest and largest news wire service specializing in reporting on religion
^Crisis Magazine. Sophia Institute Press. November 1982. pp. 7–. were carried by the Religious News Service, which omitted the crucial paragraph, and by National Catholic News Service, which included it. Two weeks later, however, Origins, the documentary service of National Catholic News Service, ran a ...
Journalism
