Israel’s escalation in Rafah is only worsening the humanitarian situation for countless men, women and children caught in the crossfire, said Ireneusz Krause, deputy director for Caritas Poland.

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Heartbeat International, an anti-abortion group, and 11 crisis pregnancy centers May 6, accusing them of misleading and potentially causing harm to women by claiming that they can provide a treatment that reverses the effect of the abortion pill mifepristone.

While the forces of a market economy may obstruct people from advancing social justice, society cannot remain mute in the face of unjust labor practices and exploitative economic structures, Pope Francis said.

The U.S. fertility rate has slowed to a new record low, according to an analysis recently published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But experts said there does not appear to be any one policy that could reverse a complex trend.

The world is in great need of hope and patience, Pope Francis said at his weekly general audience.

Pope Francis has appointed Father James M. Beckman, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, Tenn., to be the bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn..

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish its new norms for the discernment of apparitions and other supernatural phenomena May 17, the Vatican press office said.

As many as 1,000 people participated in prayer vigils and rallies in four Iowa cities May 1 in support of human dignity and to call for the repeal of a new state law on illegal migration that opponents say is punitive.

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has denounced Russia’s seizure of a Catholic church in Ukraine’s Kherson region, calling the structure’s rededication for the Russian Orthodox Church a “sacrilege.”

Loneliness causes tremendous harm, including to families, Pope Francis told international leaders of the Teams of Our Lady lay movement.