Pope Francis’ fifth trip to the African continent will highlight gestures of peace and reconciliation, consoling the victims of violence but also emphasizing the importance of each person sowing peace in the family, the neighborhood and the nation.

Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates descended upon the nation’s capital for the 50th March for Life Jan. 20 — the first national march since the overturn of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that initially prompted the annual demonstration.

The 26-year-old native of Isanti, Minn., said he’s not letting a life-altering injury affect his future as community support carries him through challenging times and his trust in God helps him forge a new perspective on life.

The hundreds of teens and young adults from across the Archdiocese of Washington who gathered Jan. 20 prior to the annual March for Life at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington were urged to be “witnesses to life, witnesses to the truth that every life matters.”

Sponsored by the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus, the morning gathering drew some 4,200 people — most of them teens and young adults — for a program of prayer, worship music, and personal testimonies that concluded with Eucharistic adoration and Mass.

Religious celebrations must foster the “fruitful participation of the people of God” and not just of the clergy, Pope Francis said.

The pro-life movement has “much to celebrate” because Roe v. Wade “is no more,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Va., in his homily Jan. 19 for the National Prayer Vigil for Life’s opening Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

This year for the first time the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco takes place “in a country where the so-called right to kill an unborn child is no longer the law of the land,” Eva Muntean, co-chair of the walk, told OSV News.

Amazon said in its statement that it would close AmazonSmile by Feb. 20 since the program’s impact was “often spread too thin” among the more than 1 million registered organizations worldwide.

The U.S. Supreme Court revealed Jan. 19 that after a monthslong investigation by its marshal, it has yet to identify who leaked the draft of the high court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization