Catholic News Service

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.

Although Russia's Catholics hold different views about the conflict in Ukraine, a spokesman for the country's bishops said all are united in welcoming Pope Francis' plan to consecrate their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The church's charitable outreach to people fleeing war, political instability, poverty and other threats is a requirement for followers of Jesus, the Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, private secretary of retired Pope Benedict XVI, has defended his boss and criticized the Munich abuse report, which made international headlines when it was released in January.

Cardinal George Pell has called for the Vatican's doctrine office to intervene and reprimand two leading European Catholic churchmen who called for changes in Catholic teaching on sexuality and homosexuality.

Ready to return to South Sudan after nearly a year of recovery from being shot in the legs, Bishop-designate Christian Carlassare of Rumbek met with Pope Francis.

 In a joint message for St. Patrick's Day, the Catholic and Anglican archbishops of Armagh said the war in Ukraine is a lesson to Northern Ireland to "never take peace for granted." 

The Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops March 16 called for "the immediate cessation of Russia's armed aggression and unprovoked war on Ukraine."

Asking God to forgive all people tempted by violence, Pope Francis prayed for an end to the war in Ukraine and the fratricidal killing of both combatants and civilians caught in the crossfire.

Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a penitential prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica March 25, the Vatican said.

A Ukrainian family who was repeatedly denied entry into the U.S. by Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border was allowed entry March 10, bringing back debate about a public health measure that keeps migrants out.

Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern that NATO would encroach on his borders, but concern about "the disease of democracy that could spread like a virus, and that's deadly for oligarchies and authoritarian rulers," said the archbishop who serves as a "foreign minister" for the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The call to prayer is an "active mission," one that does not take a believer from the world but prompts the believer to bring to God the pain and concerns of the world — including the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis said.