Pope Francis prayed that God would raise up a new generation of “well-educated and faithful Catholics leaders committed to promoting the church’s social and ethical teachings” through public service, especially in politics.

If Jesus were just a great teacher or prophet or even hero from the past, imitating him and following him on the path to holiness would be impossible, Pope Francis said.

The Catholic Church in the United States has “a very strong reactionary” element that is well-organized and refuses to see how Catholic doctrine can and must grow and mature, Pope Francis told Jesuits in Portugal.

Sixty years later “what’s pretty clear is that racism, ignorance and fear are still with us.”

A Florida Catholic bishop condemned a racially motivated shooting that took place late Aug. 26 at a Dollar General store Aug. 26 in Jacksonville, saying, “Violence and bigotry have no place in our hearts or our society.”

A Ukrainian Catholic bishop has urged Russians to learn lessons from the fate of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, and choose “true democracy” rather than “an unstable dictatorship.”

“Father Mike,” as he is known from his wildly successful podcasts, including “The Bible in a Year” and “The Catechism in a Year,” kicked off the third season of a monthly speaker series in the Detroit Archdiocese with his address Aug. 8.

Missionaries pay their weekly visit to “Los Monckis,” a street gang of youngsters ranging in age from 7 to 26.

Ahead of the ecumenical celebrations of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation Sept. 1 and the monthlong “Season of Creation,” Pope Francis said he is writing a follow-up document to his 2015 encyclical on the environment.

– In the eyes of the world it would appear “absurd” to begin helping the poor and struggling for justice by spending time in adoration before the Eucharist, Pope Francis said, but that is precisely what an Italy-based religious order has been doing for 100 years.