As child labor law restrictions continue to be loosened around the country, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Feb. 21 a nationwide, temporary restraining order and injunction against an offender it slammed for “oppressive” and “egregious” practices.

The gifts of men and women are “fruitful” together, and to erase the difference between men and women “is to erase humanity,” Pope Francis said.

Jesus did not teach his disciples to organize agencies and structures to help vulnerable people, but gave the example of encountering them, listening to them and helping them as individuals and not “categories” of people in need, Pope Francis said.

Western theology risks becoming an abstract and rationalized conversation among academics rather than a tool for nourishing the faith of God’s people, the papal preacher said.

The urgent need for Catholic parishes to welcome young and old with disabilities — and their families — was prominent among presentation threads at a Feb. 17 conference held virtually by the Diocese of Arlington, Va., “From Inclusion to Belonging: Creating Communities that Foster Mental Health for All.”

Nearly 3,500 of the faithful came from as far as Maine and Maryland and waited over two hours to view 200 relics of Jesus, the Holy Family, and various saints, martyrs and blesseds exhibited at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Oratory in Montclair Feb. 24.

Ivan Cantu was executed Feb. 28 by the state of Texas despite claims that the Texan’s 2001 conviction for killing James Mosqueda and Amy Kitchen, his cousin and his cousin’s fiancee, was based on false testimony.

Pope Francis’ calendar for Holy Week and Easter is just as full as in previous years despite a mild illness which has caused him to cancel meetings in the days leading up to the release of his liturgical calendar for March.

The day after Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for “diagnostic tests,” he had a full morning of audiences, including a meeting with bishops from Italy’s Emilia Romagna region making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

Rev. Hood said he and the other witnesses “were very under-informed, very underprepared” for the execution method.