Pope Leo XIV strongly defended the family, marriage and unborn life during his first-ever New Year’s address to the diplomatic corps Jan. 9, telling the diplomats accredited to the Holy See that abortion “cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life.”

An interfaith gathering of faith leaders in Minneapolis Jan. 8 drew a crowd as faith leaders raised concerns about the impact immigration enforcement actions are having on people in the community, including Catholic parishes in Minneapolis.

After an intense day of roundtable discussions, the “low-batteried” but “very pleased” cardinals wrapped the first historic extraordinary consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV in a spirit of fraternity, with a sense of knowing each other better and saying they “discovered” the pope, while he did “more listening than talking.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Jan. 8 to extend enhanced health care subsidies for three years by a vote of 230-196 after 17 Republicans broke with their party’s leadership to force a vote.

President Donald Trump said Jan. 7 he will seek to ban corporations from buying single-family homes amid the housing shortage, an issue the U.S. bishops’ conference has said is affecting “a basic human right” nationwide.

The U.S. Senate on Jan. 8 advanced a war powers resolution following the Trump administration’s recent strike to remove deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, requiring congressional approval for Trump to take additional military action in Venezuela.

The Thomas More Society announced Jan. 6 it would pursue a rehearing of its case against California’s laws that allow public schools to conceal how a student expresses their gender identity at school from their parents.

A Nigerian bishop urged intensified military action to “eliminate” bandits and their hideouts in the Kainji Game Reserve amid reports of the killing of 50 people between Christmas and New Year’s and traumatizing of children recently abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri.

Crowds gathered in the French coastal town of Saint-Tropez to bid a final farewell to actress Brigitte Bardot.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda is continuing his call for prayers after police said a woman was pronounced dead following a shooting involving a federal agent in Minneapolis Jan. 7.