Stressing that listening for God’s call to discipleship is integral to faith, the chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees invited people to also listen to the call of the earth during the observance of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

The number of Catholic institutions where at least some of its employees have union representation has grown to more than 600, according to the annual “Gaudium et Spes Labor Report” issued Aug. 24 by the Catholic Labor Network.

Father That Son Nguyen can be found addressing the concept of integral ecology as expressed by Pope Francis in his encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.”

“The liturgy is Christ’s work and the church’s, and as such, it is a living body,” Pope Francis told members of Italy’s Association of Professors of Liturgy.

Addressing the Schonstatt Fathers, who were in Rome for their general chapter Sept. 1, the pope urged them to be “bearers of a message of hope in these dark situations that people in every stage of life are going through.”

The FTC’s newest commission, Omar Bedoya, said that the protection of children is one of the FTC’s policy areas where there is bipartisanship.

This year’s annual Labor Day statement from the U.S. bishops touts two bills awaiting action in Congress as being helpful to children, women and families: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and an expansion of the federal child tax credit.

After a series of deadly clashes erupted in Iraq, Pope Francis said “dialogue and fraternity” were needed to overcome the current situation and to become a nation of diverse communities living in peace.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who died Aug. 30 in Moscow after a long illness, met several times with St. John Paul II, and the two often exchanged words of appreciation for each other.

Celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Aug. 30 with the College of Cardinals, the pope said this sense of wonder “sets us free from the temptation of thinking that we can ‘manage things.'”