The Archdiocese of Paris is launching a major churchwide council in response to a surge in adult and youth conversions across France.

Amid the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25, OSV News spoke with Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton, Pa., who serves as chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Catholic co-chair of the Holy See’s International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue committee, part of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Amid launching a dramatic appeal to help Ukrainians “freezing in genocidal attacks by Russia,” and after coordinating years of humanitarian efforts for the country, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner said he is “unable to accept the medal announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity told OSV News Jan. 23.

Vice President JD Vance said he visited with business leaders, federal immigration enforcement officers and local law enforcement in Minneapolis Jan. 22 to better understand how an increase in immigration enforcement was unfolding and to “tone down the temperature a little bit, reduce the chaos, but still allow us as a federal government to enforce the American people’s immigration laws.”

The morning rally and Mass, which took place hours before the 53rd annual March for Life, drew thousands of pro-life Catholics that made up a largely youthful crowd.

Three U.S. bishops who chair committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are applauding two pieces of legislation designed to support pregnant women through an array of resources, including continued access to higher education.

As the world prepares for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Catholic Church in the host city has launched an initiative to ensure that amid the competitions and stress, athletes can find a place to pray and reflect.

Vice President JD Vance told participants at the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 23 that President Donald Trump is their “ally” in the White House, amid concerns from some in the pro-life movement about remaining policy priorities just over a year into Trump’s second term in the White House.

While continuing to work to change laws to protect the unborn and support pregnant women in need, “we need to redouble our efforts to continue building, in the words of St. John Paul II, ‘a culture of life and a civilization of love,'” Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., said Jan. 22.

In a press call just before the 53rd annual March for Life, a key national pro-life organization pushed the Trump administration to safeguard the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion, and to reinstate stronger restrictions on mifepristone, a pill commonly used for early abortion.