Catholic News Service

Pope Francis is being very careful to ensure that he offers solidarity and hope to suffering Ukrainians while not doing or saying anything to endanger a possibility for dialogue, said Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann will step down from his position as spokesman on abuse issues for the German bishops' conference in September, the conference announced May 12.

Wanting to go back to the way things were in the past is not Christian, Pope Francis said.

A Nigerian priest kidnapped In March died while in captivity, according to the Archdiocese of Kaduna, Nigeria.

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Queen Rania were honored May 9 with the annual Path to Peace Award from the foundation that supports the work of the Vatican Mission to the United Nations.

 An audit ordered by the Vatican into the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires has revealed irregularities in the sales of church assets, with properties being disposed of controversially. The audit said no crimes were committed.

Among the 10 men and women Pope Francis will proclaim as the Catholic Church's newest saints is a Dutch priest and journalist who stood his ground against Nazi ideology and paid for it with his life.

The U.K. government is unfairly punishing English Channel migrants for the crimes of human traffickers by sending the migrants to Rwanda to have asylum applications processed, said the English and Welsh bishops.

Some Catholic clergymen and groups expressed disappointment at the result of the Philippine presidential election by offering messages of support to Leonor "Leni" Robredo, the defeated candidate and the champion of many in the church.

Christians must listen to God's word, go where Christ goes, seek those who are lost and reach out to their neighbors, Pope Francis said.

The study and celebration of the liturgy should lead to a sense of awe before God, a commitment to mission and a growing unity within the church, not tensions and squabbles, Pope Francis said.

The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church said Russia's reasons for attacking Ukraine are nothing more than an excuse to justify its ultimate goal of wiping out the country and its people.

Doing nothing to overcome the divisions among Christians means allowing tensions to fester and even feed conflict, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis' secretary of state reaffirmed the pope's offer to go to Moscow personally to try to convince President Vladimir Putin to stop his war on Ukraine but said the Kremlin had yet to respond.

Taking the stand for a second time at his Vatican trial, Cardinal Angelo Becciu spent more than two hours reading a statement in which he claimed accusations of financial impropriety were an attempt to stain his reputation.

The Society of Jesus has suspended a prominent Chilean priest as it investigates accusations with a "sexual connotation," according to the Jesuits.

Days after the Salvadoran government extended emergency measures suspending some personal freedoms, a national Catholic organization of men and women religious called attention to the arbitrary detention of one of its members.

The Vatican believes Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki and his vicar general, Msgr. Markus Hofmann, did not violate canon law in their funding of investigations and hiring of communications consultants.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced to staff May 4 a dramatic reorganization of its communications department, including the closure of the Washington and New York offices of Catholic News Service.

Pope Francis expressed his opposition to nuclear weapons and the threat they pose to the world during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the Vatican said.