Catholic News Service

While bishops in Ukraine and Russia are grateful Pope Francis will consecrate their nations to Mary, other Catholics are eagerly awaiting the text of the pope's prayer to see if he does it "correctly."

The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops said they were grateful for the first responders fighting wildfires raging across the state and offered prayers for them and all who have been affected by the natural disaster.

A Catholic bishop in the threatened Ukrainian port of Odesa warned of "ferocious resistance" if Russian forces launch a frontal assault.

Texas Catholic bishops joined a broad coalition of faith leaders, Latino organizations, anti-domestic violence groups and the Innocence Project in urging state leaders March 22 to commute the death sentence of Melissa Lucio and conduct a meaningful review of her case.

Two years after the implementation of a public health rule limiting who enters the US at its borders, Catholic immigration advocates keep calling out the Biden administration for continuing it and they are demanding its demise.

Fr. Campos and a group of young parishioners formed a Laudato Si' group and began outreach work that has included technical assistance for farmers, food distribution and construction of a soup kitchen. The social work went over well, but the priest did not find the same reaction when he began questioning the impact of wildcat mining in the province. Instead of support, he started receiving threats.

The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson began with introductory remarks followed by 13 hours of questioning the next day.

A survivor of clerical sexual abuse who quit the Vatican's advisory group on abuse said she believes new reforms of the Roman Curia will further erode the independence of the body.

As Russian bombardments continue to decimate Ukraine, Pope Francis prayed that God would free the world from war and the need to self-destruct.

Pope Francis told Lebanon's president the country has a special place in his prayers, and he reiterated his intention to visit.

While Pope Francis and bishops around the world will consecrate themselves and all humanity to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, they will include the phrase, "especially Russia and Ukraine."

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not just a tragic conflict between two nations, but the center of a spiritual battle wrought by the forces of evil that have pitted brother against brother, said the apostolic nuncio to Ukraine.

Pope Francis again condemned Russia's war on Ukraine, calling it a "senseless massacre" and "sacrilegious" attack on human life.

A U.N. working group urged the Indian government to conduct an independent probe into the arrest and death of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, a prominent human rights activist who died in prison last July.

Priests should try to help show the true face of the church as an open, welcoming home inhabited by the Lord and enlivened by love, said Cardinal Mario Grech and Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik.

Pope Francis sends greetings to the March 17-20 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress: "The church is outgoing, not inward-looking, and you must reach the existential peripheries with courage and creativity."

Pope Francis has asked bishops around the world to join him March 25 to pray for peace and consecrate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Russia's war on Ukraine, and especially its brutality, "leaves us dumbfounded," Pope Francis said; "we never would have imagined we would again see such scenes, which are reminiscent of the great wars of the last century."

Continuing the mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis, Cardinal Michael Czerny visited Slovakia and a Ukrainian border town to convey the pope's closeness to victims of Russia's war against Ukraine.

"Knowing what we know about civilian casualties, a just war cannot be fought today," said Jeffery Nicholas, an associate professor of philosophy at Providence College in Rhode Island.