Catholic News Service

An attorney for the U.S. Catholic Bishops conference has confirmed that federal officials have asked the organization to keep documents and other files that might pertain to possible sex abuse allegations and other matters and to order the same of all dioceses around the country. 

Federal officials sought entry to two properties belonging to the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, seeking to survey the land for construction of a border wall on it, but in an Oct. 29 statement, Brownsville Bishop Daniel Flores said he did not consent to such use because such a structure "would limit freedom of the church to exercise her mission in the Rio Grande Valley."

A former nuncio to the United States acknowledged hearing rumors about the sexual misconduct of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick already in 1994.

"Forgive us if often we have not listened to you; if, instead of opening our hearts, we have filled your ears. As Christ's church, we want to listen to you with love" because young people's lives are precious in God's eyes and "in our eyes, too," the pope said in his homily Oct. 28.

The U.S. Catholic bishops stand with "our brothers and sisters of the Jewish community," the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Oct. 27 after a horrific shooting earlier that day in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue, described as a hub of Jewish life in that city.

Six bishops representing episcopal conferences on five continents issued a joint statement calling on the international community to take immediate action against climate change.

The more than 250 Catholic bishops from around the world meeting at the Vatican in October missed an opportunity to confront the global sex abuse crisis, said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.

Humility, kindness and generosity are needed to create peace in the world, starting in one's own family, Pope Francis said.

An open letter to the U.S. bishops asks that at their Nov. 12-14 fall general meeting in Baltimore, they make it mandatory for bishops to become reporters of suspected sexual abuse.

Members of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in this southern Mexican city rose early Oct. 24 to feed but a fraction of the Central American migrants traveling in a caravan, which is trying to traverse Mexico and reach the United States border.

The bishops of Virginia's two Catholic dioceses said in a joint statement Oct. 24 that they wanted to assure Catholics in the state and the public "we are cooperating with the attorney general's office."

The Field Hospital: Hurricane Michael's Oct. 10 landfall brought near Category-5 strength winds when it came ashore at Mexico Beach, near Panama City on the Florida Gulf Coast. Two weeks after the storm came ashore, Michael's death toll has risen to 29 in Florida alone.

Days after the Catholic Church declared Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero a saint, a judge in El Salvador issued a capture order for a former military captain suspected of killing the religious leader in 1980 as he celebrated Mass.

Pope Francis has removed Bishop Martin Holley of Memphis, Tennessee, from the pastoral governance of the diocese and has named as apostolic administrator Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky.

"Christ reveals authentic love," the pope said Oct. 24 during his weekly general audience. "He is the faithful friend who welcomes us even when we make mistakes and he always wants what is best for us, even when we don't deserve it," he said.

As frequent terror attacks continue in northeastern Kenya, Catholic bishops and priests are warning that the acts are posing threats to missions and their work.

With the launch of a new book, Pope Francis is calling for a new alliance -- between young and old -- to change the world.

The attorney general for the District of Columbia is the latest official to announce an investigation into clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church and said his office will look at possible abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Washington.

In a statement issued a few minutes after the broadcast of a story from Radio-Canada investigating sexual abuse allegedly committed by 10 Oblate missionaries in First Nation communities, the Quebec Assembly of Catholic Bishops told of their "indignation and shame" for the "terrible tragedy of sexual and physical abuse of minors by members of the clergy or religious communities."

The synod's final document will seek to address issues concerning all young people and not just those issues facing young men and women living in Western countries, said members participating in the Synod of Bishops.