As the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine reached a tragic threshold of three years Feb. 24, religious sisters are bringing rays of sunshine to those who don’t know how to smile anymore, including children whose carefree childhood disappeared, and farmers, whose fields are mined and useless.

While Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, one of the cardinals closest to him traveled to Lebanon to demonstrate the pope’s ongoing concern for refugees and for peace in the Middle East.

The Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization, celebrated the 125th anniversary of its patriotic fourth degree with an exemplification ceremony, Mass, and unveiling of a statue of its founder Blessed Michael J. McGivney at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

While Italy’s main news agency reported that Pope Francis’ respiratory “crisis” had subsided, a Vatican source said he was still receiving supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula early Feb. 23.

Catholic bishops throughout the U.S. are calling on faithful to pray for Pope Francis, now in critical condition in Rome’s Gemelli hospital amid a week-long battle with respiratory illness.

The Feb. 23 ordination Mass at the Vatican was the culmination of a three-day Holy Year celebration that drew thousands of deacons, plus their wives and others, from more than 100 countries to Rome for communal prayer, discussion and celebration of the diaconate.

The Witness to Love approach challenges couples to engage with church teaching and what being married means. It also involves close accompaniment by a practicing Catholic mentor couple — of their own choosing — who shares the couple’s journey to the altar and provides them a “lifeline” of support beyond the wedding day.

Evangelizing through culture is a challenge for the church, especially in societies where faith is seen as “something alien,” participants said at a Vatican-sponsored discussion on faith and culture.

When the recent Los Angeles fires forced the local Capuchin Franciscan friars to evacuate, they sought shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center along with hundreds of others.

Pope Francis experienced “an asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the use of oxygen at high flows” Feb. 22, said the daily medical bulletin released by the Vatican.