Catholic News Service

When Pary Gul, a Christian woman from Afghanistan, met Pope Francis Sept. 22, she gave him her wedding ring as a reminder of her husband, who has disappeared and may be dead.

Thousands took to the streets of Washington, making a stop at an ICE facility before heading to the U.S. Capitol, urging that Congress and the president take action on immigration reform.

Plans by the United States and Great Britain to give Australia the technology needed for nuclear-powered submarines go counter to global disarmament efforts, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

The German bishops' plenary assembly began with urgent appeals for church reform and a reminder to heed admonitions from Pope Francis.

Retired Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland, who led initiatives to bring diverse communities together to overcome poverty, racism and social inequity, died Sept. 21 at age 88, the Diocese of Cleveland said.

Catholic leaders side with tribes in rejecting argument that Indigenous groups have rights only to territory they have physically occupied since 1985.

Immigration advocates were dealt a blow at the beginning of a week that many believed would bring about history. They had hoped to include an immigration provision in the $3.5 trillion budget bill that would have granted legal status to 8 million farmworkers and essential workers, young adults brought to the U.S. illegally as minors, and recipients of a temporary program for migrants.

The ruling on a class action involving Famille Marie-Jeunesse opens the way for people who claim to have been physically, spiritually or psychologically abused within the Catholic group to join the legal case.

Visitors, tourists and employees who want to enter Vatican territory will be required beginning Oct. 1 to show proof of vaccination, recovery from the coronavirus or a negative COVID-19 test.

To listen to the Holy Spirit, members of the church must listen to each other and especially to those who are marginalized, Pope Francis said, explaining how dioceses are to help the church prepare for the Synod of Bishops.

In God's view, human greatness is measured by how one serves or helps someone who cannot offer anything in exchange, Pope Francis said.

Church has always led on issues related to mining, illegal logging and land grabbing, says new leader of Malaybalay Diocese in country's food basket region.

The Biden administration has reinitiated and expanded an immigration program aimed at reuniting some immigrant parents in the U.S. with their children left behind in Central America.

President Joe Biden's coronavirus vaccine mandate for workplaces with more than 100 people on the payroll is rooted in existing law governing worker protections, said a trio of public health law experts.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington has collected and donated nearly half a million dollars to assist the restoration and rebuilding efforts of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was extensively damaged in a fire two years ago.

Italy's highest court of appeal has ruled that public school classrooms can approve the presence of the crucifix because it does not discriminate against anyone.

Catholic bishops in Guinea criticized the country's Sept. 5 military coup and called for the unconditional release of deposed President Alpha Condé as well as all those arrested with him.

Pope Francis praised Catholic lay movements and associations for living out the Gospel in their everyday lives and for promoting education, social support and evangelization in the world's peripheries.

Patrick Raglow and the resettlement staff at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City expect to be very busy very soon. They are preparing to welcome to Oklahoma 1,800 Afghans who were part of the emergency evacuation in August as the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan's government. "We expect a trickle by the end of the month (September) and then a more rapid flow of people the remainder of the year," Raglow, the agency's executive director, told Catholic News Service.

The U.S. bishops' migration committee chairman Sept. 15 welcomed a move by House members to include language in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill to provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and other immigrants. "We are pleased that the House Committee on the Judiciary has taken this important step, setting up an opportunity for many undocumented persons to receive legal status and a pathway to citizenship," said Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration.