Catholic News Service

The Missouri House of Representatives Feb. 27 passed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, an omnibus bill that bans abortion when the heartbeat of an unborn child can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks "depending on the method used."

Calling the federal government's migration protection protocols – also known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy – "baseless and immoral," a coalition of 500 religious organizations and leaders have asked Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for an immediate end to the policy.

South Sudan's peace deal is fatally flawed, the country's bishops said as they committed the church to helping forge new negotiations. They also recommended a series of measures to end the conflict.

The Supreme Court is sending a death-row case back to the lower courts to determine if the inmate's dementia, brought on by strokes he suffered while on death row, should prevent him from being executed.

Rep. Francis Rooney, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, cautioned that offshore drilling for oil in Florida's coastal waters would endanger the state's tourism-based economy should a major spill occur.

Bishops from both sides of the border and Catholics working on migration matters convened a special meeting in El Paso Feb. 25–27 to plan their responses to the implementation of U.S. immigration policy, such as metering, in which migrants wanting to apply for asylum face long waits in insecure Mexican border cities as some U.S. ports of entry accept fewer than 15 claims per day.

Christians must not take advantage of God's forgiveness — selfishly repeating sin after sin — because God's wrath for those who refuse to change their ways is just as great as his mercy, Pope Francis said.

The Field Hospital: Fr. Doug Marcotte believes "there's no better way to change a community than one small act of kindness at a time." So the pastor embraced a plan from one of the parishioners to help individuals and families in the community when they don't have enough food for their next meal.

The apostolic nunciature in Ottawa, Ontario, confirmed Feb. 26 that it received a first complaint of sexual misconduct concerning Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Vatican's ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2009.

When the Vatican Congregation for Clergy developed guidelines a decade ago for handling cases of priests who father children, the first objective was to make it easier for those men to leave the priesthood.

The holiness of God is a power that is constantly expanding and will defeat all evil once and for all, Pope Francis said.

The death penalty is a cruel violation of the basic right to life and robs people of the chance to repent and make amends for the crimes they have committed, Pope Francis said.

Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City admitted it was "with a heavy and sad heart" he was reporting that some priests and bishops have abused the grace and beauty of the priesthood.

The day Australian Cardinal George Pell was jailed in Melbourne, the Vatican announced his case would be investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy and former member of Pope Francis' Council of Cardinals will remain behind bars ahead of his sentencing March 13.

A New York woman sued the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, a diocesan-run high school and a Maryland-based order of Franciscan priests for $300 million, saying she was sexually abused by a priest of the order for three years at the school.

The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has launched an investigation into Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, over how he handled information on child abuse.

The Lenten season is a reminder for Catholics that overindulgence ruptures communion with God, with others and with creation, Pope Francis said.

Throughout Latin America, people whose lives and land have been affected by industries that extract natural resources, such as mining or oil operations, find strength in their spirituality, church leaders say.

An Australian court found Cardinal George Pell guilty on five charges related to the sexual abuse of two 13-year-old boys; sentencing is expected in early March, but the cardinal's lawyer already has announced plans to appeal the conviction.