The archbishop of Paris spoke out in favor of freedom of Catholic education in France, amid weeks of tensions and protests after the principal of a Catholic school was fired by the state school-supervising body for “breaching secularism.”

The faithful will know how to avoid being swayed by worldly standards and concerns when they believe and trust more deeply that Jesus and the Holy Spirit will always help and guide them, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City told participants at the Synod of Bishops.

The best theological study and research are inspired by prayer that is attuned to the realities around the theologian, so in Sicily theology should address issues related to the Mafia and about migrants drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, Pope Francis said.

An Italian publisher announced the global release in January of “Hope,” a book it described as Pope Francis’ autobiography, which the pope apparently planned to have released only after his death.

Pope Francis called on divided Christians to overcome their doctrinal differences and walk together in love, expressing hope especially for greater unity between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, Pope Francis’ envoy for peace in Ukraine, returned to Moscow in mid-October for meetings with Russian government officials and leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Before the standing-room-only congregation gathered in Trenton’s St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral for the first statewide Mass for Life, Bishop David M. O’Connell framed his homily around the words “Duty to Protect” when it comes to protecting all human life, especially “the child in their mother’s womb, the child in the mother’s arms and beyond.

The Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which met in Rome in 2019, paved the way for the current synod on synodality, said the region’s top cardinal.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington said he hopes U.S. voters who are as concerned as he is about the “anger and vitriol” of the current election cycle will take time away from the media to think and pray about the values important to them as Catholics.

As Israel has escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon across a United Nations-drawn boundary between the two countries, more than a million people have fled their homes.