Franciscans around the world commemorate the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata on Sept. 17, 1224, the appearance of the bodily wounds of Christ’s crucifixion.

Young people must reject indifference and embrace their role as a generation of hope and unity to build a better future for the world, Pope Francis said.

The investiture of the 18th president of Notre Dame, Holy Cross Father Robert A. Dowd was a bit more involved, and it extended over Sept. 12 and 13, just before two feasts with particular significance for the Congregation of Holy Cross: the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept. 14) and Our Lady of Sorrows (Sept. 15).

With student loan debt soaring, the University of Notre Dame has unveiled a new “no-loan policy” for undergraduate students, while also expanding its need-blind admissions policy to include domestic and international students.

The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized.

While the serious problems the world is facing are mostly beyond the control of the church, Catholics can “shine their light” and draw people to a path of peace and solidarity, said Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., the chairman of the board of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc.

Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix led the prayer service — the first of three being held throughout the state ahead of this year’s Nov. 5 elections — with six of his counterparts from other Christian denominations in Arizona.

Issuing a Vatican postage stamp celebrating the 40th anniversary of full diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See is a sign of the importance the Vatican attributes to their relationship, said the president of the commission governing Vatican City State.

Pope Francis lamented the death of an Israeli-American hostage abducted by Hamas and called for the immediate release of all hostages being held in Gaza.

Poland’s government is preparing a decree of a state of natural disaster as the southwestern part of the country was severely flooded by torrential rains caused by Storm Boris.