Pope Francis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for the third time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, focusing their discussion on the repatriation of Ukrainian nationals held in Russian captivity.

The metropolitan archbishop of Haiti is speaking out following an Oct. 3 massacre by armed gang members in that nation’s central western region, an attack that killed at least 115 and displaced some 6,000.

Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a human rights activist and mother of 11, died Oct. 10, her family said. She was 96.

The pope, bishops and priests cannot fully awaken the missionary spirit of the Catholic Church alone, so all Catholics must play a more central role in spreading the Gospel, according to participants in the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

The Vatican’s doctrine office has mandated the laicization of an Argentine priest accused of sexually abusing minors, overturning a surprise ruling from the Vatican Secretariat of State that imposed limitations on the priest’s activities.

Members of the Synod of Bishops must ask, listen to and prayerfully reflect on difficult questions, not dismiss or avoid them, the spiritual adviser to the synod on synodality told them.

While the Catholic Church’s Synod of Bishops is not exactly like a synod in other Christian communities, the issues being discussed and the way they are being handled are relevant to other Christian churches and to the search for Christian unity, synod participants said.

As Hurricane Milton took aim at Florida just days after Hurricane Helene, Catholic Charities USA launched a dedicated disaster relief donation campaign.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for “fervent prayer” to end the violence in the Holy Land, as the Israel-Hamas war reached its first year while threatening to expand into a wider regional conflict.

As Lebanon plunged into the worst humanitarian crisis in decades, Catholics and other Christians continue their humanitarian outreach to help struggling Lebanese, Syrian refugees and migrant workers displaced by severe Israeli bombardments across the country, ongoing since late September, some of which have also injured Christians.