A suicide bomb attack on a Catholic cathedral compound shattered the calm of Palm Sunday Mass, leaving two bombers dead and at least 20 people wounded.

Fierro was fatally shot outside his home, dying at the scene. Being killed in such a violent manner was a sad irony, Montali said, because his late friend was “a peacemaker” by nature.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced March 25 that one of the three new Staten Island Ferry boats transporting people between Staten Island and lower Manhattan will be named for Catholic Worker Movement co-founder Dorothy Day, whose sainthood cause is being considered by the Vatican.

A Christian life should be filled with amazement — astonishment at the son of God suffering and dying for humanity and awe at realizing how precious and loved people are in his eyes, Pope Francis said.

Father Hector Maldonado, of El Buen Pastor Parish in Apancoyo, El Salvador, said he recently tried to convince a family of five from his parish, who told him of their plans to leave, not to undertake the dangerous journey.

A March 22 online webinar on the Equality Act focused on criticism that the legislation is so vaguely worded it would harm religious liberty and obscure biological reality.

Pope Francis, his liturgy office and his communications team made very deliberate decisions over the past year with the goal of letting people experience how close the pope was to them in their isolation and suffering.

Perez got the commission, did some quick and intense research on the nonprofit and Pope Francis, brainstormed with McGrory, and came up with a concept meant to convey the pope’s loving concern for the poor throughout the world: He would paint the pope in the company of Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi and people of different ages and ethnic groups.

Though its tone is sometimes overheated, this is a handsomely done dramatization of the most essential period in human history.

The life and works of the famed Italian poet Dante Alighieri remain a lasting treasure that embodies the virtue of hope so desperately needed in today’s world, Pope Francis said.