Catholics during Holy Week should continue to “pray ardently” for a de-escalation of violence in the Middle East, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement April 1.

Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, offered his support to legislation that would revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone for abortions. However, the bill faces long odds in Congress.

In the days ahead of Holy Week, several Catholic leaders issued messages denouncing antisemitism, stressing Church teaching on the issue as the faithful solemnly commemorate Christ’s passion and death.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 1 on President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, with the president in attendance.

Church leaders in Jerusalem expressed sorrow over the news of the passage by the Israeli Knesset of a death penalty law — by hanging — for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks on Israelis, noting that Easter, which celebrates life, represents the opposite.

Laypeople are not passive members but active participants in the Church’s mission, called to live and spread the Gospel in everyday life, Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo XIV has called on Catholics to pray for priests who find themselves in crisis and to “support those who so often support us.”

Modern cultural influences, including technology and shifting views on identity, risk weakening human relationships and spiritual development, said Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

St. Francis of Assisi was declared a saint nearly 800 years ago, just two years after his death. Not until much more recently — about 50 years ago — was the beloved 13th-century Italian friar called the patron of ecology.

Pope Leo XIV will carry the cross himself through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum on the first Good Friday of his pontificate.