As fighting in the Middle East intensified and spread, Pope Francis turned to Mary, begging her to “intercede for our world in danger.”

Love is demanding, but it is also beautiful when a woman and a man love each other fully, “without half measures,” Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis announced he would create 21 new cardinals Dec. 8, including a 99-year-old former nuncio and the 44-year-old Ukrainian bishop who heads his church’s eparchy in Melbourne, Australia.

Even though death surrounds them every day, Gaza Strip’s Christian community tries to “relieve the suffering” by assisting each other with spiritual and material needs.

As the Israel-Hamas war expands into Lebanon, an agency of the Holy See has launched an emergency campaign to assist thousands of displaced families in that nation’s south.

Almost 100 families still await news of their loved ones who continue to be held hostage in the Gaza Strip after being abducted last year. Among those taken on Oct. 7, 2023, is Sagui, the 35-year-old American-Israeli who is the son of Jonathan Dekel-Chen.

At the end of a multiyear process of listening, praying, discussing and discerning, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said he hopes the Synod of Bishops can give Catholics four practical suggestions for being a more “synodal” church.

Controversy over women’s ordination, even at the synod, detracts attention from the plight of women in the Catholic Church and society, said an Australian bishop, who is a member of the Synod of Bishops.

Hurricane Helene’s broad impact across an entire swath of the U.S. South means resources will be stretched thin following the massive storm, according to Peter Routsis-Arroyo, the CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.

The Diocese of Rome, like the Rome city government, has put so much effort into ensuring services in the historic center of the city that it often neglects the growing suburbs where most people live, Pope Francis said.