The penitential rite was necessary to purify the church from the stain of a “gravely injurious act,” such as a homicide, before normal religious activities could resume, according to a Nov. 1 statement on the website of the Diocese of Nice.

Blessed Michael J. McGivney was a priest of the Eight Beatitudes because he lived them “so consistently and thoroughly” as a parish priest and as the founder of the Knights of Columbus, said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, the Knights’ supreme chaplain.

The Supreme Court, with a full bench, will hear oral arguments by teleconference Nov. 4 about a Catholic social service agency that had been excluded from Philadelphia’s foster care program for not accepting same-sex couples as foster parents.

The Vatican Secretariat of State has sent an explanatory note to nuncios around the world insisting that when Pope Francis spoke about civil unions, he was not changing or challenging “the doctrine of the church, which he has reaffirmed numerous times over the years.”

Blessed Michael J. McGivney was “an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance” because of his “zeal” for proclaiming the Gospel and his “generous concern for his brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said in his apostolic letter of beatification of the founder of the Knights of Columbus.

Reflected in Mikey’s miracle are the Knights’ dedication to respecting life in all its stages, the order’s support for people with intellectual and developmental delays, its support for families, and the example of Father McGivney for all parish priests,

Although the Vatican knows Christmas may be very different this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it already has chosen its stamps and the Nativity scene and tree that will stand in St. Peter’s Square.

Logical flaws make this drama’s plot difficult to embrace, or even comprehend. Some dialogue expressing the inner lives of the characters would have been a great help.

French bishops ordered a “death knell” to ring from every church of their country Oct. 29 after three people were hacked to death in a basilica in the southern Mediterranean city of Nice.

The formal structures that sponsor Catholic-Jewish dialogue are important, but their decades of success have relied on strong personal friendships and mutual respect, both of which must continue to spread among all Catholics and Jews, officials involved in the dialogue said.