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.

A bishop who runs his diocese like a “monarch” is not only not acting synodally, but he probably is lonely and stressed, said theologians advising the Synod of Bishops.

More than two dozen popes have celebrated Mass under the giant canopy that rises over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, but the impressive view from the top of 100-foot-tall bronze structure has been reserved for a select few: cleaners, contractors and restoration experts.

A new book accusing Opus Dei of dealing in human trafficking, forced labor as well as financial malfeasance by members who held powerful positions in a prominent Spanish bank is “absolute nonsense,” according to the organization.

The U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 9 considered a bipartisan appeal to reverse the death penalty conviction of Richard Glossip, a case in which Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general and Republican lawmakers have also intervened on his behalf.