Carl Bohman trains young people in his rural southeastern Indiana parish how to assist at Mass as altar servers, much like adult volunteers do in parishes across the Indianapolis Archdiocese.

With an estimated one in seven Christians worldwide facing persecution, OSV News recently sat down with Regina Lynch, who in June 2023 was appointed the executive president of Aid to the Church in Need, an international pontifical foundation that supports the church where it is poorest and most persecuted.

The world’s cultures, traditions, spiritualities and languages must be acknowledged, respected and protected, especially those of Indigenous peoples, Pope Francis said.

Arizona’s governor recently rejected legislation that would have made crossing the state’s international border a state crime separate from a federal one in a move praised by the state’s Catholic conference, as other controversial measures work their way through the state’s Legislature.

Pope Francis has decided that some of the most controversial issues raised at the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will be examined by study groups that will work beyond the synod’s final assembly in October.

Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood cause of U.S. Sister Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and he recognized the martyrdom of a German priest executed by the Nazis and a German nun and her 14 companions who were raped and murdered by Russian soldiers during World War II.

A bishop in Jerusalem has appealed for Christians to start returning to the Holy Land on pilgrimage, insisting they should visit holy places located within Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

A pope’s ministry is meant to last his lifetime, Pope Francis said, and, at least until now, he has not considered resigning.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Va., expressed “great sorrow” after the body of an unborn baby was found in a pond in Leesburg, Virginia, on March 11. He called on the faithful to pray for everyone involved in the incident, offered burial services and also drew attention to the resources the diocese offers to women in crisis pregnancies.

Synodality is a key theme of Pope Francis’ pontificate and its importance to the church’s mission can be seen in the American church’s response to policy issues including migration, said experts in a Georgetown University panel discussion marking the pontiff’s 11th anniversary.