Women religious from Africa and a representative of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., grappled with the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid during a March 13 panel hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

Four weeks after Pope Francis was hospitalized and one day after the 12th anniversary of the pope’s election, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, celebrated a Mass for the pope with ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed since March 6 as Syria’s security forces battled armed supporters of former Syria president Bashar Assad.

A Republican lawmaker urged the Trump administration on March 12 to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in response to violence in that country perpetuated against predominantly Christian communities.

A Satanic group’s plans for a so-called “black mass” in the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka on March 28 have energized widespread Catholic condemnation.

While the season of Lent is marked by fasting and abstinence, cooking for a hungry family in this season of prayer and penance “doesn’t mean boring or ‘fish all the time,'” a Catholic chef told OSV News.

Pope Francis spent the 12th anniversary of his election to the papacy undergoing physiotherapy at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, but he was well enough to celebrate it in little ways.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, is spearheading a march and vigil to protest the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants who lack legal authorization to live and work in the U.S. as part of its immigration enforcement strategy.

As Pope Francis celebrates 12th anniversary of his election in the hospital, the papal biographer told OSV News that the pontiff has “given a very significant witness these last few years … which in many ways is comparable to the witness that John Paul II gave … demonstrating or communicating that the papacy is for life, that it’s a mission, not a job.”

Going to Mass and receiving Communion are signs of putting one’s trust in God and understanding he is the one who gives the courage and strength to live life to the fullest no matter how little one has, the preacher of the papal household told members of the Roman Curia.