Catholic News Service

What some consider the most significant federal tax system overhaul in 30 years — the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — also has been flagged as a potential train wreck for annual charitable giving.

A Chilean bishop acknowledged the damage inflicted on survivors of clerical sex abuse and the mishandling of cases by church leaders in the country. "I am not saying that perhaps we have made mistakes. We have made mistakes," said Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz of San Bernardo.

The Mexican bishops' conference pledged to pursue a pastoral vision in which the church is close to the needs of the people, prioritizes the poor and speaks prophetically.

As the new United States embassy was inaugurated in Jerusalem May 14, violence broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers. International media reported that in Gaza, at least 52 people were killed, including five under the age of 18, and some 2,000 were injured. 

Dominic Lombardi has been named executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

In addition to offering prayers, the Catholic Church is stepping into action on behalf of hundreds of residents displaced from a fierce and unpredictable volcanic eruption.

The Catholic Church must not keep young men and women at a distance, but instead must learn to listen to them, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis, the subject of a new documentary by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, is "the most fearless man I ever met," the director said in a segment of "60 Minutes" that aired May 13.

Days before the U.S. celebrated Mother's Day May 13, the national group Faith in Action urged others to think about immigrant mothers who have been separated from their children.

The Catholic Church in Cameroon said shots were fired at the residence of Archbishop Samuel Kleda, bishops' conference president, after he criticized policies by the government of President Paul Biya.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington blessed a newly completed green infrastructure project at a Catholic cemetery May 7, saying it aims to "keep God's creation as beautiful as when he created it."

A Catholic-led shareholder proposal calling on gun manufacturer Sturm Ruger to report its efforts to improve gun safety received majority support at the company's annual stockholder meeting.

Over 130 pastoral leaders working in Catholic young adult ministry across the country are expected to attend the National Young Adult Ministry Summit May 15-17.

The German bishops' conference has published a document containing key points for marriage preparation based on Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation, "Amoris Laetitia."

The Vatican has accused a former director of the Vatican bank and his lawyer of money laundering and embezzlement, saying the men took an estimated 57 million euros (about $68 million).

During a quick morning visit to Tuscany, Pope Francis praised two lay communities there that are dedicated to living out the Gospel values of reciprocal love and cooperation.

The front-runner in Mexico's presidential election said, if he wins July 1, he would appoint an activist priest as his human rights director.

The baptismal font is a tomb in which a person dies to sin, and it is a womb through which a person is born to new life in Christ, Pope Francis said.

Jesuit Fr. Howard J. Gray, a national and international known scholar on Ignatian spirituality and long serving member of NCR's board of directors, died May 7 from injuries received in an automobile accident in Michigan.

Pope Francis added a reference to the office's responsibility for promoting a deeper reflection on the role of women in the church and society to the statutes of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.