Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s line-item veto of more than $20 million in funding to support adoption programs, pregnancy resource centers and grants to help struggling mothers is “terribly unfortunate,” the Michigan Catholic Conference said.

Georgia’s “heartbeat law” is now in effect after a July 20 ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed a lower court decision and said the law should be permitted to take effect immediately.

Inspired by St. John XXIII’s encyclical “Pacem in Terris” (“Peace on Earth”), the outcomes of the Second Vatican Council and the founding of Pax Christi International from the rubble of two devastating world wars, Eileen Egan and Gordon Zahn sought to bring together Catholics who were outspoken advocates for civil rights, economic justice and ending the Vietnam War.

The top representative of Europe’s Catholic bishops said the Vatican is changing its approach to the war in Ukraine because of the unlikelihood of a mediated settlement, and praised the resilience of Ukrainians in withstanding Russian aggression.

Saying he wanted to highlight the spiritual gifts of Opus Dei and its contributions to the Catholic Church’s evangelizing activities, Pope Francis said it will now work with and answer to the Dicastery for Clergy, rather than the Dicastery for Bishops.

The purpose of the retreat is “helping men and women open their hearts to Jesus Christ as the healer,” he said, adding that “it is not just emotional, but a spiritual journey of the heart.”

Rare documentation of the Portuguese Inquisition with detailed information about the sentencing trials which took place 500 years ago have been digitized for the first time in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem’s National Library of Israel.

In his message for the World Day of Prayer for Creation, the pope said the current climate crisis is a call for men and women, especially Christians, to “repent and modify our lifestyles and destructive systems.”

Violations of religious liberty are increasing around the world, and U.S. citizens have a special responsibility to stand up for the religious freedom of all believers in all nations, said Samah Norquist, former chief adviser for international religious freedom to the administrator of U.S. Agency for International Development.

Pope Francis’ July trip to Canada was born out of his meetings with the nations’ Indigenous people and was planned around encounters with them, and if the pope’s words “have value elsewhere,” like throughout the Americas, all the better, said the director of the Vatican press office.