The fight against illegal drugs and narcotrafficking must target not just drug supplies, but also the demand for drugs through prevention programs and assistance, Pope Francis said.

Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., signed into law legislation proponents call a medical education bill that directs South Dakota’s Department of Health to create a video explaining the state’s abortion regulations for health care professionals and the general public.

Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and other Christian leaders in the U.S. have denounced Russia’s massive recent attack on Ukraine’s energy system.

– Young people need to understand how much Christ loves them unconditionally and how much the church needs their voices and presence, Pope Francis said.

When Christians gathered in Jerusalem to remember Jesus’ entry into the city, it was one of a few joyful moments in the Holy Land, “crushed by so much hatred” in the months following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Meeting hundreds of Nigerian Catholics who live, work and study in Rome, Pope Francis asked them to make their Rome parishes places where cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences are respected and shared.

Media outlets have a responsibility to share the truth, not spread ideologies, Pope Francis said.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace called upon the faithful to renew prayers during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks.

The Palm Sunday procession at the foot of an 85-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk in St. Peter’s Square recalls the martyrdom of many early Christians and the fast-thinking foresight of an Italian Renaissance sea captain.