Recent kidnappings of hundreds of people in Nigeria, including almost 300 schoolchildren March 7 in Kuriga in the central part of the country, have left church leaders and parents, including Catholics, speechless in the face of another wave of senseless violence.

Stanislawa Leszczynska, a Polish midwife imprisoned at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Nazi Germany-occupied Poland, delivered 3,000 babies of different nationalities and treated them and their mothers with heroic humanity.

Christians should pray for the grace to look at others with the same mercy and care with which Jesus looks at them, Pope Francis said.

The Irish prime minister, known as the Taoiseach, has conceded that his government was defeated “comprehensively” when voters rejected amendments to the constitution that the country’s bishops warned would have weakened supports for marriage and undermined motherhood.

Pope Francis’ comment that Ukraine should have the “courage of the white flag” and engage in negotiation to end its war with Russia was dismissed by the Ukrainian government and church leaders.

High school juniors and seniors are invited to enter an annual religious liberty essay contest hosted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, along with the USCCB Secretariat of Catholic Education and Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

Artificial intelligence risks giving technology a “pseudo-religion” status by shaping the way people engage with information and reality, a leading expert on artificial intelligence said.

A survey of attitudes among young people in eight countries about religious beliefs, prayer and social issues found that while about 25 percent identified as being atheist or agnostic, believers and non-believers were very likely to both agree about the severity of environmental problems and the danger of political corruption in the world.

– Encouraging negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, Pope Francis called for the warring sides to have the “courage of the white flag,” a term usually associated with surrender.

Pope Francis has asked Catholics to dedicate 2024 to intensifying their prayer lives in preparation for the celebration of the Holy Year 2025, and the Vatican has published a resource guide to help them.