The U.S. bishops’ Feb. 18 lawsuit against the federal government for abrupt and sweeping changes to refugee resettlement funding, and the bishops’ Feb. 20 admonition of President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to expand access to in vitro fertilization underscore the ongoing friction between the nation’s Catholic leaders and its 47th president in his first month since reassuming office.

The U.S. Supreme Court Feb. 24 considered the case of a Texas death-row inmate who is seeking to obtain post-conviction DNA testing on evidence that he claims would show he did not directly participate in a 1998 murder and lead to the repeal of his death sentence.

The morning after Pope Francis’ doctors said that he remained in “critical” condition and showed initial signs of renal insufficiency, the Vatican press office said the pope was in “good spirits” and continuing his treatment.

The U.S. bishops urged the faithful to join in on a call from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to pray the rosary for Pope Francis Feb. 24 as he remains hospitalized.

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.