As soon as the lights dimmed for the start of the show in the tiny Vatican movie theater, the crack of beer cans being opened joined the quieter crunch of popcorn.

Pope Francis will travel to Asti Nov. 19 for a private family celebration of his cousin’s 90th birthday, and he will celebrate a public Mass the next morning in the Asti cathedral, the Vatican said.

Reviewing one’s life is an essential step in discerning God’s call because it helps one see places where God was at work, even in small things, and also helps one recognize “toxic” thoughts of self-doubt, Pope Francis said.

Over the course of three years, the U.S. bishops not only wrestled with the specter of nuclear Armageddon in writing a pastoral letter, but how to convey that teaching effectively.

Completing a project to repatriate human remains held in the Vatican Museums’ ethnological collection, the Vatican and the government of Peru signed an agreement Oct. 17 to return to Peru three mummies sent to the Vatican in 1925.

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the U.S. bishops’ landmark pastoral letter “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.”

Dioceses and parish volunteers who have embraced the “Walking with Moms in Need” initiative are still in the early stages of assessing its effectiveness.

The Biden administration’s Oct. 12 decision to apply Title 42 to Venezuelans at the U.S.-Mexico border “will have an immediate impact on our border community,” said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso.

Catholics working with migrants have mobilized to assist Venezuelans who are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers but are being expelled back to Mexico under pandemic-era health restrictions.

At a time when tensions are growing, fueled by “blatant misuse of social media” and by political manipulation, Catholics and Hindus are called to teach personal responsibility for civilized behavior and to promote “respect, love and trust” among people, a Vatican office said.