The first public day of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ fall plenary assembly in Baltimore saw elections to important posts, while public presentations chiefly centered on synodality, the use of technology in the liturgy and advancing the cause for canonization of a champion of evangelizing through media.

After almost a year of audience talks about “zeal for evangelization” and highlighting the example of saints and other exemplary men and women from around the world, Pope Francis said his last talks in the series would focus on four points from his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.”

The U.S. bishops voted Nov. 14 to support Father Isaac Hecker’s cause for canonization, which was initiated by the Paulists Fathers, the order Father Hecker founded, and launched in 2008 by the Archdiocese of New York.

An estimated tens of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall Nov. 14 in a show of solidarity for Israel in the wake of the terrorist group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on that country and a protest of antisemitism around the globe. Protesters also demanded the release of hostages abducted by Hamas.

The March for Life’s theme for its 2024 event will be “Pro-Life: With Every Woman, For Every Child,” the group’s president announced Nov. 14.

The U.S. bishops Nov. 14 elected Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City as secretary-elect of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their meeting in Baltimore.

Despite his Sept. 25 retirement as a Chicago auxiliary, Bishop Joseph N. Perry may continue to serve as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, completing the term he began in May.

Christian hope “is the celebration of the love of the risen Christ, who is always at our side, even when he seems far from us,” the pope said in his annual message for local celebrations of World Youth D

British bishops expressed their condolences to Dean and Claire Gregory, parents of 8-month-old Indi, who died Nov. 13 after neither a court battle nor Italian citizenship granted to the infant prevented the British courts from halting her life support.

Christmas in Bethlehem and the Holy Land this year will be one of solemnity, prayer and fasting as the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem called upon the faithful to forgo any “unnecessarily festive activities” during the Christmas season this year and to “stand strong” with those facing the afflictions of war, focusing more on the spiritual meaning of Christmas.