While Pope Francis was “on mission” in Africa he urged consecrated persons to embody the church’s missionary spirit in spreading the Gospel.

A congregation of more than 100 gathered for an evening memorial Mass Jan. 27 in a community still looking for answers and seeking comfort from a Jan. 21 mass shooting at a dance club just two blocks from the church.

Israeli police arrested an American Jewish tourist Feb. 2 for vandalizing a statue of Jesus at the Franciscan Church of Flagellation in the Old City.

Speakers and participants at the 2023 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering explored how social justice ministries of the church are often intertwined, from how the sin of racism impacts housing to how economic and social policies that uplift women and families can save lives from abortion and other forms of violence.

An independent commission just published the results of a two-year study providing shocking details about the background, pseudo-spirituality and “mechanisms of abuse and control” of the late Jean Vanier and his mentor, the late Dominican Father Thomas Philippe.

During a Jan. 29 plenary session at the 2023 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio made an impassioned plea to treat all people with dignity, calling gun violence a pro-life issue.

The Catholic Church in Sydney bid farewell to its former archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, in a funeral at times solemn, reverent, defiant and sorrowful, shot through with wry Australian humor, and attended by mourners from all walks of life.

The hands that will save Congo and build a future worthy of its people belong to the Congolese people, to each one of them, but especially the young, Pope Francis said.

The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is “a modest but important step” to make the long-standing policy of preventing federal taxpayer funding of elective abortions permanent and government-wide, said the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee chairman.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops affirmed its “united position” in opposition to taxpayer funding for abortion procedures, invoking the teaching of Pope Francis, following recent remarks by President Joe Biden.