Catholic News Service

Lay men and women involved in ministry have been fundamental in spreading the Gospel and furthering the Catholic Church's mission in the Amazon, a Brazilian bishop said.

The Diocese of Brownsville and a group on interfaith leaders in the Rio Grande Valley have introduced a "parish identification strategy" to provided members of parishes in the diocese a way to identify themselves to local law enforcement regardless of their legal status.

By demanding respect for the cultures of indigenous peoples, Pope Francis was not promoting pantheism, but — tapping into his Jesuit roots — urging respect for a worldview that sees God in all things.

Brazilian Cardinal Serafim Fernandes de Araujo, retired archbishop of Belo Horizonte, died Oct. 8 in Brazil at the age of 95.

On the second day of the Supreme Court's new term, a divided court Oct. 8 heard oral arguments from three cases concerning protections for gay, lesbian and transgender employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts.

The U.S. bishops are scheduled to elect the next president and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their upcoming fall general assembly taking place Nov. 11-13 in Baltimore.

Synod members called for the Catholic Church to deepen its theology in a way that would help people recognize "ecological sins."

Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said the people who portray him as an opponent of Pope Francis are being used by the devil to help divide the church.

When Catholics attack other members of the church, they are hurting Christ, Pope Francis said.

The chairmen of three U.S. bishops' committees have urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to redefine "sex" in civil rights law, arguing this would change the definition of "a fundamental element of humanity that is the basis of the family and would threaten religious liberty."

Mack McCarter, who has spent a lifetime helping hurting communities by building "a system of caring relationships," starting in his hometown of Shreveport, is the winner of Catholic Extension's 2019-2020 Lumen Christi Award.

Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Austin A. Vetter, a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, to be the bishop of the Diocese of Helena, Montana.

Too many Christians today are "as long as" Christians, obeying God "as long as" God and the church meet their conditions and criteria for what is acceptable, just and righteous, Pope Francis said.

Climate change, water resources, inculturation and indigenous practices were among the topics discussed during the first afternoon session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon.

The University of Notre Dame's de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture will award its 2020 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to Vicki Thorn, founder of the post-abortion healing ministry Project Rachel.

Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, could not get a word out. He was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the 16th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference at Georgetown University Law Center the morning of Oct. 7, but he'd barely said, "Thank you," before chanting protesters drowned him out for several minutes.

Pope Francis named Spanish Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martin as the new apostolic nuncio to Chile, the Vatican announced.

In an Oct. 4 statement, the Catholic bishops of Indiana said the federal government's decision this past summer to end a 16-year moratorium on executing federal inmates is "regrettable, unnecessary and morally unjustified."

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said Oct. 3 he has overseen the return of the remains of 2,246 aborted fetuses back home to Indiana after they were discovered in September at the Illinois home of the late Dr. Ulrich "George" Klopfer.

The Supreme Court announced Oct. 4, just three days before it begins its new term, that it will add an abortion case to its docket.