Pope Francis met with a group of transgender and intersex Catholics, along with LGBTQ+ allies and a medical doctor specializing in transgender healthcare, during a nearly 90-minute audience at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Jennie Bradley Lichter, president-elect of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said challenges for the group’s cause on both political and cultural fronts also present an opportunity to demonstrate “leading with love.”

Amid its war on Ukraine, Russia continues to block a number of external religious websites, social media accounts and apps from several countries, preventing believers of various faiths from accessing information and engaging in dialogue, according to a human rights watch group.

Michigan’s Catholic bishops have expressed “profound disappointment and offense” after that state’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appeared to mock the Eucharist in a social media video posted by feminist author and podcaster Liz Plank.

Recent synods convened at the Vatican as well as the worldwide synod on synodality have “shown us the value of listening as a common thread in any process of humanization,” said Sister Liliana Franco Echeverri, a member of the Company of Mary and president of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious.

Pope Francis called again for “an immediate cease-fire on all fronts” in the Middle East, urging leaders to “pursue the paths of diplomacy and dialogue to achieve peace.”

A recent report from Springtide Research Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, found that a growing share of young people do not identify with a political party, defying traditional political categories.

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty Oct. 10 in an event at the Holy See’s apostolic nunciature in Washington with a message from Pope Francis praising its work to help transform society.

Pope Francis will create his 21 new cardinals Dec. 7, not Dec. 8 as he originally announced, according to the official in charge of papal liturgical ceremonies.

Pope Francis asked the new members of the College of Cardinals to cultivate a sense of prayer and closeness with God’s people, so they remain at the service of the church and their flocks.