Victims of violence in eastern Congo told Pope Francis horrifying stories of watching their families be slaughtered or of being kidnapped or raped repeatedly by militia members.

A priest who offered up his suffering from cancer for the sake of clerical abuse victims said he has experienced a miraculous healing following a June 2022 pilgrimage to the Marian shrine at Lourdes, France.

Pope Francis has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington to head the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana.

In a country where most people are Christian and all are suffering from decades of violence and atrocities, Pope Francis told the Congolese to lay down their weapons and their rancor.

Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington thanked attendees at the 2023 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering for “the service and sacrifices” they make to “preach the Gospel and share Catholic teaching in these discordant times.”

Dozens of people, mostly police and security forces, were killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque in northeastern Pakistan.

More than three-quarters of a century after the largest genocide in history, the United States and the Catholic Church are still making sense of their response to the Holocaust.

The people of Congo are more precious than any of the gems or minerals found in the earth beneath their feet, yet they have been slaughtered by warmongers and exploited by prospectors, Pope Francis said.

The experience of the sacrament of penance in the Roman rite will be slightly different this Lent, thanks to approved changes in the English translation set to take effect in a few weeks.

After flying across the equator, Pope Francis was welcomed warmly — in every sense — to Congo where Catholics make up the majority of the population and where, for decades, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of efforts to bring peace, education and health care to the people.