Catholic News Service

"Lent is not just about the little sacrifices we make, but about discerning where our hearts are directed," Pope Francis said, "toward God or toward myself?"

The Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, has reached a $21.5 million settlement with a creditors' committee representing 145 survivors of clergy sexual abuse, the diocese said in a Feb. 10 statement.

Catholics working with migrants are welcoming U.S. President Joe Biden's posture toward Central America, but warn push factors are mounting. 

The Gospel story of Jesus healing the leper illustrates how nothing will stop God from tenderly and compassionately drawing close to people who want to be healed and saved, Pope Francis said.

As part of COVID-19 precautions, the Iraqi government has ordered the closure of mosques and churches "until further notice" ahead of Pope Francis' scheduled visit March 5-8.

As Christians pray, fast and give alms during Lent, they also should consider giving a smile and offering a kind word to people feeling alone or frightened because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said.

A Catholic panel analyzing a path forward during moments of strife or of social sin said the only way to move ahead as a society toward healing is to recognize the damage done to a person or communities, to lay the truth out for everyone to see.

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered new sanctions against the military regime in Myanmar to prevent six generals from accessing $1 billion in Myanmar government funds in the United States.

The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need said it found "very plausible" the claim of a former employee that the late Norbertine Fr. Werenfried van Straaten, founder of the charity, had sexually assaulted her in the 1970s.

Two U.S. bishops' committee chairmen and the head of Catholics Relief Services asked the Biden administration Feb. 10 to grant Temporary Protected Status for 18 months to people from Central America in the United States and to provide aid to their hurricane-ravaged countries.

El Salvador's bishops urged citizens to show faith, hard work and solidarity — not the violence on display during one of the most contentious political campaigns in the country's recent history.

"Authentic healing and authentic reconciliation require a community to commit itself to the long, slow, painful work of justice," says Fr. Bryan Massingale of Fordham University. For Catholic colleges and universities, this means a thorough "curricula review and overhaul," he says. It also means faculty and board members should reflect diversity.

A priest accused of abusing a younger student at a minor seminary located at the Vatican cited jealousy as the main reason behind the allegations against him.

Prayer makes every day better, even the most difficult days, Pope Francis said Feb. 10 during his weekly general audience.

No one needed to tell the Catholic college and university leaders, attending their annual conference virtually this year, that these different times are affecting their day-to-day operations and what they might do going forward.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has responded to a proposed class-action lawsuit involving allegations of sexual abuse at two Catholic high schools run by the Christian Brothers.

A new attitude and approach toward the elderly are needed in today's world, especially in the places and ways they are cared for when they become more fragile, said the Pontifical Academy for Life.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has shifted even worker organizing, typically a person-to-person staple, to the online world, according to Blanca Estela Delgado.

While COVID-19 was the "great equalizer because it really turned the world upside down," poor communities have lagged in gaining much attention from the world, said Anta Gueye-James, Catholic Relief Services' representative for Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau during the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering.

Denying any wrongdoing, Bishop John Brungardt of Dodge City has stepped away from his duties and pledged to cooperate with authorities investigating an allegation of abuse of a minor made against him.