He was put on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. More than 94,000 Americans are waiting for a kidney transplant, according to national data. Many never receive one.

Following his release from Gemelli Hospital in March 2025, Pope Francis was prescribed two months of rest by doctors to recover after five weeks of hospitalization. Outside of a few brief appearances, it was widely expected that the pope would be seen little during Holy Week.

The fatal crash of an Air Canada jet at New York’s La Guardia airport is a reminder of “the fragility of life,” and the call to “care for one another with compassion,” said Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks.

A Vatican diplomat in Geneva issued a call for greater commitment to the defense of the dignity and rights of people with Down syndrome, decrying the current “discriminatory and eugenic practices” related to prenatal screening.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said wartime restrictions have forced the cancellation or postponement of key Holy Week observances, urging the faithful to remain united in prayer despite the inability to gather for traditional celebrations.

Universal health coverage is not “merely a technical goal to be achieved” but is a “moral imperative,” Pope Leo XIV told participants at a conference on health equity.

The bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches in the U.S. have issued “a cry for peace and justice,” as they are “anguished” by atrocities and suffering in the nations where their respective communities originated.

A Belgian Catholic bishop said he “will make every effort to ordain married men as priests” and expressed his commitment to doing so by 2028.

Pro-life advocates on March 19 called on nearly 3,000 marchers at the Illinois State Capitol to oppose a potential amendment that they said would enshrine abortion and gender transitions, including for minors, in the Illinois constitution.

Nebraska’s Catholic archbishop expressed his joy at the Vatican’s March 23 announcement that Boys Town founder and youth advocate Father Edward Flanagan has been declared “Venerable.”