Catholic News Service

Pope Francis prayed that President Joe Biden would work to heal the divisions in U.S. society and promote human dignity and peace around the globe.

Marking the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons coming into force Jan. 22, Pope Francis encouraged nations to work toward a world free from all nuclear arms.

As the Vatican health service continued vaccinating Vatican residents and employees against COVID-19, it also began offering the vaccine to homeless people who live in Vatican-owned shelters.

Unity requires prayer, love and fighting the devil, who always sows division, Pope Francis said.

The head of the San Salvador Archdiocese refused to allow a judge access to church records on one of the largest modern-day massacres in Latin America, saying Jan. 17 that he's simply protecting victims.

Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League in Chicago and one of the towering figures of the pro-life movement for decades, died of pneumonia Jan. 18 at his home in Chicago's Northwest Side.

The Vatican announced that it withdrew an arrest and extradition request for Cecilia Marogna, an Italian political analyst who allegedly was hired as a consultant by Cardinal Angelo Becciu and is now accused of embezzlement. Marogna faces "imminent" trial, the Vatican said.

With the news that dozens of people were suffocating to death due to a lack of oxygen in hospitals in the Amazon city of Manaus, Catholic bishops pleaded for more supplies. 

Retired Archbishop Philip Wilson, former president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference who served as archbishop of Adelaide for 17 years, died Jan. 17. He was 70.

Although the Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution of Dustin Higgs Jan. 15, two justices made their objections known loud and clear in dissents that called into question the speed of these decisions and even the constitutionality of capital punishment.

People need to rediscover and recommit to the vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to work nonviolently for equality for all, Pope Francis said.

Silence, like words, can be a love language, Pope Francis wrote in a very short introduction to a new book in Italian.

President Donald Trump's decision to ask Congress to rescind billions of dollars in foreign aid spending is "extremely ill-advised," said a senior Catholic Relief Services official.

The executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state's bishops, said he was pleased bipartisan support is growing for ending Virginia's death penalty.

Facebook removed a video commentary from Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara, saying it spread false information about COVID-19.

Pope Francis told Uruguay's new ambassador to the Holy See that a future visit to the country as well as to his native Argentina is still very much on the table.

In one day, the Catholic Church on two continents lost two leaders to COVID-19. 

For a variety of reasons, "especially in relation to the political situation" in the United States, the Legionaries of Christ university in Rome will not honor Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the head of the university's bioethics faculty.

The Supreme Court Jan. 12 reinstated a federal requirement that women who are seeking abortion-inducing drugs must do so in person, not by mail, as a federal judge had allowed last year due to the pandemic and the high court had let stand.

Jesus and the saints "show us that we can always give praise, in good times and bad, because God is the faithful friend — this is the foundation of praise, he is the faithful friend and his love never fails. He is always by our side; he always waits for us," the pope said Jan. 13 during his weekly general audience.