Ukraine’s religious leaders are pleading with Pope Leo XIV and global faith leaders, as well as the international community, to “use every available means” to save Ukrainian civilians facing starvation amid a Russian blockade.

Archbishop Sheen was born on May 8, 1895 in El Paso, Ill. He grew up in Peoria, Ill., where he attended Spalding Institute high school and later attended St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Ill. He was ordained as a priest in 1919 for the Diocese of Peoria, and eventually served as auxiliary bishop of New York 1951-66 and as bishop of Rochester 1966-69. Upon his retirement in 1969, he was given the honorary title of archbishop.

After a man was shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 20, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia denounced the shooting and called for “a viable immigration policy that respects the rule of law while recognizing the dignity of every person.”

The grace of the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen comes with corresponding responsibility for Catholics in his home diocese of Peoria, Illinois, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told Catholics there during Mass Sept. 22.

Pope Leo XIV reminded Latin American bishops that true shepherds go out and care for their flock rather than lead from behind a desk.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen “knew Jesus Christ, our Lord” and understood that “the Gospel always sends us outward” to share God’s love with the world, said the homilist at Mass marking the anniversary of Archbishop Sheen’s priestly ordination before his beatification Sept. 24.

Addressing a delegation from the Special Olympics, Pope Leo XIV recalled his own great fondness of sports and invited them to live holy lives following the example of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, “who, in love with Jesus, knew how to translate values of sport into a holy life.”

A Mexican priest was murdered on the eve of Independence Day celebrations, reinforcing the country’s reputation as the most lethal in the world for Catholic clergy.

Pope Leo XIV will travel more than 19,000 miles on 14 flights during a November trip to Peru, Argentina and Uruguay, according to the full schedule the Vatican released Sept. 21.

Catholic schoolchildren in eastern Congo gathered with candles Sept. 17 at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Bukavu to mourn 27 classmates killed in a fire that devastated homes and schools across the city.