Serving life by caring for others is “the supreme law” that comes before all of society’s rules, Pope Leo XIV said.

Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, France, made international headlines as he succeeded one of the most acclaimed figures of church safeguarding in the world, Cardinal Sean O’Malley — retired archbishop of Boston — in his role as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 

The pope celebrated the Mass in the small Church of St. Thomas of Villanova, just across the main square from the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo. The pope arrived in the hilltop town south of Rome July 6 for a brief vacation until July 20.

Basing his reflection on the insight of Vatican II that whatever is genuinely human resonates in the hearts of Christians, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Cardinal Michael Czerny, assures “all those who work at sea … that they are in the heart of the Church; they are not alone in their demands for justice, dignity, and joy.”

A Catholic school building in Kansas has been extensively vandalized, with the perpetrators defacing the property with swastikas.

A federal judge on July 10 placed a new, temporary nationwide block on President Donald Trump’s executive order to end the practice of birthright citizenship as part of a class action lawsuit, a different legal procedure after the Supreme Court previously limited the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions.

Ukraine’s religious leaders have issued a “desperate cry” to the global faith community, pleading for international action in ending “the humanitarian and spiritual catastrophe” resulting from Russia’s war on their nation.

Vestments worn by Pope Leo XIV and his concelebrants July 9 at the first Mass “for the care of creation” were made by a firm in his hometown of Chicago.

Hours after a July 6 prayer vigil that Bishop Dennis G. Walsh of Davenport, Iowa, led for immigrant construction worker Pascual Pedro Pedro, Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities deported the 20-year-old West Liberty, Iowa, parishioner to Guatemala, his homeland.

And to her amazement, Sister Annella, Souilliart claims, appeared at her open bedroom door. Dressed in a traditional Benedictine habit, with her black veil and well-waxed shoes, the religious sister approached Souilliart.