Having returned the previous day from a religious summit in Bkerke, north of Beirut, Archbishop Bacouni struck a tone of cautious optimism regarding the end of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

A coalition of medical and pro-life groups Oct. 22 launched what they called the Women’s Healthcare Declaration, which they said calls on policymakers, medical boards and other health care entities to enact pro-life policies that enhance “the medical standard of care for pregnant women and women facing miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, an incomplete abortion or any other life-threatening condition related to pregnancy.”

Catholics in Asia and Africa have already been leading the way with synodality, two members of the Synod of Bishops on synodality said.

Pope Francis has expelled two more members and upheld the expulsion of one member of the controversial lay movement Sodalitium Christianae Vitae due to allegations of sexual abuse, abuse of power and financial malfeasance.

A Peru-based Catholic movement active across Latin America and the United States is more of a “political project” than a religious movement, said the archbishop of the Peruvian capital where the movement is based.

The Vatican and the Chinese government are renewing their agreement on the appointment of bishops and extending it from a two-year to a four-year term, both sides announced.

Three states — Nebraska, Kentucky and Colorado — will have ballot measures related to school choice before voters on Nov. 5.

The nation’s Catholic bishops are inviting the faithful to join in a novena highlighting the gift of human life, while praying for its protection.

Texas lawmakers held a hearing Oct. 21 on the fate of a Texas man whose scheduled execution was halted the previous week after an unprecedented legal effort by members of a state House panel who questioned the evidence behind his conviction.

Donald Kerwin set the tone for an Oct. 16 webinar on migrant deaths with a clarifying statement: “Accounting for deaths, it means more than accurately counting them or enumerating them. … What it means is identifying decedents, investigating deaths, determining their causes and repatriating remains to loved ones.”