Catholic leaders throughout the country are calling for prayer and action after gun violence scarred the July 4 holiday weekend in several states.

Any book that is considered sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for the human person who holds it sacred, Pope Francis said.

An apparent murder on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington was “not a random incident,” and poses “no present danger” to the university community, according to police and university officials.

Catholics must place the Eucharist at the center of their lives to transform their relationships with God and their neighbors, Pope Francis said.

The Vatican will establish a new commission to identify and catalogue Christians who have died for their faith in the last 25 years, Pope Francis said.

In order to eradicate hunger in the world, committed and experienced action must be taken that includes local and traditional cultures and peoples, Pope Francis said.

A priest on the road to sainthood, who has united millions of Catholic men across the world, is drawing faithful together in the town where he first served.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine hit the 493-day mark June 30, OSV News sat down with Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, papal nuncio to Ukraine, to discuss his experiences of the war.

The Vatican is developing a plan to return to Ukraine children illegally deported to Russia but is not jockeying to mediate the war, Pope Francis’ peace envoy said upon his return from his mission to Moscow.

Amid the heat of combat, “the most important thing is not just to do the medicine, which comes automatically, but to be able to gather your thoughts and be focused in these stressful situations.”