The challenges and threats facing humanity and the planet can be confronted effectively if all people come together in “a spirit of solidarity,” said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, in an appeal also supported by three Vatican dicasteries.

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight, of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, asked for prayers after three people died following an Oct. 24 shooting at a high school in St. Louis.

The importance of the family for the Catholic Church and for society means that theological reflection on family life and pastoral responses to the joys and problems of families must focus on more than the relationship between a husband and wife, Pope Francis said.

Ten months after a marble statue of Our Lady of Fatima in the Rosary Walk and Garden outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was vandalized and destroyed beyond repair, a replacement statue was blessed Oct. 23 by Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory.

The international community must work for peace, and believers of all faiths must pray for it, but pressuring Ukraine to make peace with Russia would be to “consecrate the law of the strongest,” French President Emmanuel Macron told religious leaders meeting in Rome.

“Spiritual arrogance” — thinking one is holier or better than others — is a temptation everyone faces and is a form of self-worship, Pope Francis said.

Bishop Mario Dorsonville — like previous chairmen of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration — has been a constant voice on church teaching that calls on Catholics to welcome the stranger in an age when Catholic politicians are some of the most visible voices against that teaching.

On. Nov. 8, voters will go to the polls to choose lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels. All 435 seats in the U.S. House, 35 seats in the U.S. Senate and 36 governorships are on the ballot.

Pope Francis encouraged Christian business leaders to form “a new alliance” with young people to learn and create together an economy for the common good.

As France begins a national debate on euthanasia, Pope Francis urged politicians from the country’s northern region to reject the “throwaway culture” and instead focus on providing care and relief to those nearing the end of their lives.