Spain’s top tourist attraction, the Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona, must give priority to ensuring it is a place where people are inspired to pray, Pope Francis said.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reaches the two-year mark Feb. 24, OSV News sat down with Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, recently returned from his latest visit to Ukraine, for his insights on the war.

War will never solve problems, Pope Francis said, appealing for prayers that God inspire people to concretely work for peace.

The second assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will meet Oct. 2-27 and will be preceded by several formal studies coordinated by the synod general secretariat working with various offices of the Roman Curia.

Vices, such as vanity and greed, are like “wild beasts” of the soul that risk tearing people apart, Pope Francis said.

The first anniversary of the shocking killing of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell prompted reflections and commemorations from Catholic leaders about the bishop’s joy and love of Jesus Christ. The anniversary comes as his alleged killer is expected to face trial later this year.

The Vatican’s decision to allow varying implementations of its recent document on blessings for people in irregular and same-sex unions is part of a “great move toward decentralization” in the Catholic Church amid the ongoing Synod on Synodality, said Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego.

Two days after St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City was filled with mourners for an irreverent “homecoming” funeral for a prominent activist who identified as transgender, the cathedral’s rector acknowledged that many people “have let us know they share our outrage over the scandalous behavior” that took place at the service.

Titled “Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress,” the 192-page book pairs O’Connor’s fragments with Wilson’s commentary on the events and writings that influence them.

Pope Francis has chosen a line from Psalm 71 — “Do not cast me off in my old age” — as the theme for the 2024 celebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.