Pope Leo XIV met with a coalition of survivors of abuse and victims’ advocates for the first time at the Vatican Oct. 20.

Sacramental marriage and traditional family life increase joy in the good times, give strength during hard times and are a path to true holiness, Pope Leo XIV said.

When the pursuit of profit rules, people become objects to be exploited, and humanity loses its soul, Pope Leo XIV said.

Canonizing seven new saints on World Mission Sunday, Pope Leo XIV said God is present wherever the innocent suffer, and his form of justice is forgiveness.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said Oct. 17 the U.S. Army has cancelled all religious support contracts for Army chapels, “including those for religious educators, administrators, and musicians.” He said this has placed on Catholics “an insurmountable restriction on the free exercise of religion.”

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, 77, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Albany, New York, and has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Mark W. O’Connell of Boston as his successor.

Jaime Cortez, who was born in New York and raised in El Salvador, has engaged in multicultural music ministry throughout his career, collaborating with peers on a number of projects — including “Gracia y Amor/Grace and Love,” a collection with Hurd and Eleazar Cortés, and “Our Common Home.”

The new reentry program “is rooted in the principles of Catholic social teaching, especially the dignity of the human person and solidarity,” said Archbishop Charles C. Thompson.

More than a thousand Catholic groups including schools and various parish ministries across the country are expected to start their yearly push to collect toys and school supplies for impoverished children around the world.

Twenty years ago when Josh Simmons founded eCatholic, which builds websites and technology tools to serve the church’s evangelizing mission, he was a 26-year-old former youth ministry leader struggling to support his family, and he worked alone.