Mercy High School freshman Mia Smothers has been chosen to ask a question of Pope Leo XIV during the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, a four-day gathering of 15,000 young Catholics from across the country, running Nov. 20-23.

The annual Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice, which focuses on social justice and issue advocacy for Catholic high school and college students, drew about 1,800 participants to an Arlington, Va., hotel Nov. 15-16.

Catholic Review Radio Managing Editor George Matysek talks with Marion Amberg, author of “Incredible Catholic America: Smallest, Tallest, Oldest, Oddest,” a fascinating collection of more than 300 stories about the people, places, and traditions that make Catholic America unique. She’s also the author of two award-winning Catholic travel books and a journalist whose work appears in more than 100 markets nationwide.

Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien and Monsignor Richard Tillman were ordained in 1965. They, and several other priests marking milestone jubilees, were honored at the annual Priests Fall Day of Prayer, Mass for Deceased Priests, and Celebration of Service, Nov. 17 at Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City. 

For two Catholic parishioners who have used these relatively recent approaches to reduce their weight, the medication or surgery is just one part of life changes they discussed with the Catholic Review. 

“It’s highly offensive and disrespectful,” said Davis, a parishioner of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer in Rosedale, a worship site of St. Michael the Archangel in Overlea. “It’s totally misleading.”

Area Catholic nutrition operations have had to tune out the political chaos in order to focus on how to meet immediate needs.

Daniel Devillier shared his experiences when he spoke to more than 10,000 international doctors and medical professionals at the World Transplant Congress in California. As he stood there, the only teenage speaker, he remembered thinking “How did I get here?” 

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City and Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, were elected Nov. 11 as president and vice president, respectively, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the bishops’ meetings in Baltimore.

In a message to Pope Leo XIV at the start of their fall plenary assembly in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops told the pope Nov. 11 that they “will continue to stand with migrants and defend everyone’s right to worship free from intimidation.”