The life and ministry of the Catholic Church is enriched by listening to everyone, especially those who are often excluded by society, and by including their experiences and perspectives, Pope Francis said.

Ahead of an annual day of prayer for vocations, a newly released report shows what one researcher called greater “consistency of age,” more diverse educational backgrounds and a commitment to Eucharistic adoration among men preparing for priestly ordination.

At least three dozen women will be voting members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October, Pope Francis has decided.

As part of his series of talks about “zeal” for evangelization, Pope Francis spoke about nuns and monks.

“The Lord’s call is grace, complete gift and at the same time a commitment to bring the Gospel to others,” the pope wrote in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

North Dakota has enacted a near-total ban on abortions, with limited exceptions in cases of rape and incest up until the sixth week of pregnancy.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley delivered remarks April 25 calling for a “national consensus” on abortion, embracing some general policy positions on the subject, but she stopped short of endorsing specific gestational limits at the federal level.

President Joe Biden announced April 25 that he will seek a second term in the White House. Biden, a Democrat, is the nation’s second Catholic president, but his reelection would make him the first Catholic to serve twice in the Oval Office.

Viktoria Halitsina, head of the Ukrainian military administration of the port city of Berdyansk, wrote on her agency’s Telegram channel that Russian troops had seized the city’s Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ronald W. Gainer of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who is 75, and has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Timothy C. Senior of Philadelphia to succeed him.