Nations should put people affected by poverty, illness, migration and other marginalized groups at the heart of social and economic considerations during the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis said.

Excommunicated traditionalist Bishop Richard N. Williamson died Jan. 29 in a hospital in Margate, England, at the age of 84 after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije expressed shock and condemnation over violence perpetrated by Serbian law enforcement against demonstrators during anti-government protests that have lasted for nearly three months.

The future of PEPFAR, the U.S. government’s global effort to combat HIV/AIDS, has been called into question amid a broader pause on foreign assistance and allegations from some Republican lawmakers that the Biden administration improperly allowed some of its funding to be spent on abortions.

Clergy and religious continue to speak out against the Trump administration’s orders to carry out mass deportation operations and allow for immigration arrests in houses of worship, schools and other locations formerly designated as “sensitive.”

The Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone in Italy made history Jan. 20 by publishing the country’s first diocesan abuse report, titled “The Courage to Look.”

On the Saturday after thousands marched in defense of life in Washington, scores of pro-life Latinos participated in the annual Hispanic Pro-life Conference near the nation’s capital. This year’s conference theme was “The Family and the Dignity of All Human Life.”

Catholic leaders and migrant advocates have expressed alarm over Trump’s executive orders mandating mass deportations, too, along with the manner in which the deportations were carried out.

When a holy day of obligation falls on a Sunday and so is transferred to another day, the Catholic faithful are encouraged to attend Mass, but they are not obliged to do so, the Vatican said.

Coinciding with the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, the Lunar New Year “can be a time of change and renewal” of faith, two U.S. bishops’ committee chairmen said in a special message to Catholics from Asian cultures who celebrate the Chinese New Year.