In addition to a legal status that allows them to flee unsafe situations, refugees also need the opportunity to integrate into the societies that host them and build a dignified life, Pope Francis said.

The White House has signaled it is open to making some concessions to congressional Republicans on border policy in order to pass an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel amid their respective conflicts.

Sharing the pilgrimage experience with people with disabilities is a testament to the Catholic Church’s ability to accompany all of its members and to proclaim the Gospel by caring for others, Pope Francis said.

All forms of artificial intelligence should be used to alleviate human suffering, promote integral development and help end wars and conflicts, not increase inequality and injustice in the world, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2024.

The U.S. Supreme Court said Dec. 13 it would take up a case concerning the abortion pill, the first major case involving abortion on its docket since the high court overturned its previous abortion precedent last year.

A federal court has struck down an Illinois law that restricted what the state’s 100 pregnancy resource centers — but not abortion clinics — could tell patients.

Two years ago over the course of a Friday night Dec. 10-11, a series of tornadoes struck western Kentucky, killing 57 with additional fatalities in Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri and damaging and destroying several thousand residences as well as nearly 200 commercial buildings.

Plans to dramatically cut welfare benefits for refugees from Ukraine who flee to Ireland to avoid Russia’s war are causing anxiety, according to a priest who works with the new arrivals. Officials in Dublin say that they want to “slow” the number of people arriving from Ukraine.

Four congregations of women religious filed suit against the board of gunmaker Smith & Wesson Dec. 5 in a Las Vegas court, the day before a shooter killed three people and critically wounded a fourth on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus five miles away.

Christians must be open to the Word of God and to welcoming and serving others, Pope Francis said.