The second Synodal Assembly of German Catholics ended Oct. 2 with overwhelming support for a range of proposals that, if adopted, would bring widespread reform to the church.

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will formally launch the process of the Synod of Bishops with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco is asking “all Catholics and others of goodwill” to join a prayer and fasting campaign for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic Democrat who supports legal abortion.

The Christian mission of proclaiming the Gospel of salvation and defending the God-given dignity of every human person has led popes over the past 130 years to build a body of theological reflection known as Catholic social teaching or social doctrine.

Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, said diocesan celebrations coinciding with the World Meeting of Families 2022 will allow Catholic families to be in “spiritual communion” with Pope Francis and delegates in Rome.

Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington ordained 21 men from the Pontifical North American College to the diaconate Sept. 30 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

CHICAGO (CNS) — Father Stan Jaszek, a missionary priest from Poland who is serving Native Alaskans in the Diocese of Fairbanks, has been named the recipient of Catholic Extension’s 2021-2022 Lumen Christi Award.

Death row inmates in Florida’s prisons refer to their 6-foot-by-9-foot cell as their “house,” with some having lived in their “house” for 40 years — longer than one Catholic lay chaplain said he has lived in his family home in Tallahassee.

God put the desire to be a priest in Father Emil J. Kapaun’s heart at an early age, Bishop Carl A. Kemme of Wichita, Kansas, said during a homily Sept. 26 in Pilsen, the hometown of the war-hero priest and sainthood candidate.

Pope Francis said the Second Vatican Council so shaped his theological and pastoral vision that perhaps he has not been as explicit as he should have been in highlighting those ties, especially when it comes to his contributions to Catholic social teaching.