Catholic News Service

A new year is a chance for a new start, a time to remember that all people are brothers and sisters and a time to nurture amazement that God became human to save all people, Pope Francis said.

The surprising news in November that the Vatican had asked U.S. bishops not to vote on several proposals for responding to the sexual abuse crisis was motivated by a lack of time given the Vatican to study the proposals and potential conflicts with church law.

Pope Francis' 2019 calendar includes meetings to address the clerical sexual abuse crisis, as well as foreign trips, a special Synod of Bishops and a special month devoted to the church's missionary activity.

Retired Bishop Robert Mulvee of Providence died Dec. 28 at the St. Antoine Residence in North Smithfield, following a brief illness. He was 88.

The end of one year and beginning of next naturally leads people to think about the passing of time and about love, which gives time — and everything else — real meaning, Pope Francis said.

Celebrating the feast of the Holy Family Dec. 30, the pope led a round of applause for all the families that were among an estimated 50,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

James Grein, a Virginia man who said Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington, sexually abused him for years beginning when he was 11, gave his testimony about what occurred Dec. 27 before a judicial vicar for the New York Archdiocese.

Year in review: The Supreme Court's past year will probably be remembered more for the shakeup at the bench than for specific rulings.

Year in review: Hurricane, fire, flood and even earthquake, Catholic Charities agencies did their best to help thousands of their fellow residents through some of the worst natural disasters they had ever encountered.

Catholics working in border communities such as El Paso, Texas, have been impacted by Washington's squabbles, and expressed anger about experiencing more than just daily inconveniences.

Year in review: The most dramatic immigration development of 2018 took place around summer when then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new policy that resulted in separating children from parents or other family members traveling with them and then placing the minors in detention centers.

A priest who once served in the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to prison for sexually molesting a boy in the 1990s.

The Vatican City State court sentenced an Italian contractor, who had done work for several Vatican offices, to 2 1/2 years in jail for using a Vatican bank account for money laundering.

Immigration officials announced new health checks for immigrant children under detention after a second child, an 8-year-old boy, died Christmas Eve while under the agency's care.

Francis Chronicles: While "it may seem strange" to celebrate the feast of the first Christian martyr on the day after Christmas, Pope Francis said it serves as a reminder that Jesus came to offer his life for the salvation of all.

The Vatican announced it had opened a new medical clinic for the homeless and the poor, expanding services previously offered in a small space just outside St. Peter's Square.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote Dec. 21 rejected the Trump administration's request that the court let it implement a rule that those who enter the United States without documents will not be eligible for asylum.

The Field Hospital: "How Can We Pray?" was written by Zachary Stachowski, director of music ministry at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Ijamsville, moved by the anger he felt immediately after the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse was released in mid-August.

Year in review: 2018 will no doubt be remembered as a dark time for the U.S. Catholic Church. Catholics felt betrayed by church leaders accused of sexual misconduct and cover-up revealed this summer and this cloud still hung over the church at the year's end.

Year in review: Pope Francis marked the fifth anniversary of his election in March in the midst of a firestorm over his handling of clerical sexual abuse and bishops' accountability in Chile.