Care for life in all its stages “should be seen as an unfolding and a building upon the defense of life in the womb,” said the homilist at the Washington Archdiocese’s 2025 Youth Mass for Life Jan. 24 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

On Jan. 27, as the world commemorated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau — where 216,000 Jewish children, among 231,000 children from various nations, perished, Mother Matylda was being remembered as a beacon of hope in the midst of Nazi horrors and as one that saved hundreds of Jewish children.

Pope Francis has formally recognized that five Franciscan missionaries ministering in what is now the U.S. state of Georgia were killed for their faith.

Church leaders across Europe marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with calls to remember German Nazi-inflicted sufferings and to counter a new rise in antisemitism and extremism.

Church communications cannot exist in an “enclosure” in which Catholics merely talk among themselves and do not engage with the outside world, Pope Francis said.

After reciting the Angelus prayer Jan. 26 with visitors in St. Peter’s Square, the pope drew their attention to the following day’s commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the first cardinal of Opus Dei, said Jan. 25 that abuse accusations made against him in a Spanish daily El País are “completely false,” while acknowledging he was sanctioned by the Vatican in the past and saying that the sanctions were lifted by Pope Francis.

Vice President JD Vance questioned the motives of the U.S. bishops’ criticism of President Donald Trump’s new immigration policies in a Jan. 26 interview — including raids on churches and schools — asking if they are actually concerned about receiving federal resettlement funding and “their bottom line.”

President Donald Trump on Jan. 24 used executive authority to block taxpayer funds from paying for elective abortion procedures both in the U.S. and abroad.

Perhaps the largest U.S. assembly of those dedicated to carrying out the social ministry and teaching of the church, the biennial Catholic Social Ministry Gathering takes place Jan. 25-28 in Washington, a day after the national March for Life.