Ukraine’s Independence Day, celebrated on Aug. 24, is “like a July 4th,” said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia, head of Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S.

Russian occupiers launched an attack Aug. 22 on St. Teresa of the Child of Jesus Roman Catholic Church in the town of Skadovsk, located in the Kherson region in eastern Ukraine, Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk of Odessa-Simferopol confirmed on Facebook.

The synod process underway around the world and at the Vatican is inflicting “evident and grave harm” on the Catholic Church, retired U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke wrote in a letter published as the foreword to a book.

Acknowledging Ukraine’s celebration of Independence Day Aug. 24, Pope Francis pleaded with thousands of visitors at his weekly general audience to keep praying for peace in the country.

The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the state’s six-week abortion ban in an Aug. 23 ruling, permitting that law to go into effect.

Wildfires wreaking devastation across British Columbia and the Northwest Territories of Canada have apparently spared Catholic churches, though the same thing cannot be said for numerous other buildings.

Our Lady of Guadalupe and other recognized Marian apparitions show clearly how evangelization does not require complicated plans and elaborate theological explanations but sharing the faith in “a language suitable for all, a language that is comprehensible, like that of Jesus,” Pope Francis said.

Indiana’s new law banning most abortions finally went into effect Aug. 21, almost a year after the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, Planned Parenthood and other plaintiffs filed a suit Aug. 30, 2022, charging that Indiana’s new law violated the state’s constitution.

As the Hawaii island of Maui struggles to recover from horrific wildfires that destroyed historic Lahaina, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden toured the fire-ravaged town Aug. 21.

Dorothy Day was “a great witness to faith, hope and charity in the 20th century,” a woman who loved the Catholic Church despite the flaws of its members and who knew that serving God meant serving the poor and working for justice, Pope Francis wrote.