Catholic News Service

In what he said was his first visit to the catacombs, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the feast of All Souls with special words of remembrance for Catholics who still today must worship in secret.

Bishop Roger Morin, the third bishop of Biloxi, died Oct. 31 at age 78. He was returning to Biloxi after vacationing with his family in Massachusetts and died during his flight from Boston to Atlanta, according to a diocesan news release.

Catholic leaders joined more than 35 other groups that have filed friend-of-the-court briefs urging the Supreme Court to support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, known as DACA.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn has concluded an apostolic visitation of the Diocese of Buffalo.

Msgr. Gilfredo Marengo, a theologian who led important research on the drafting of St. Paul VI's "Humanae Vitae," has been appointed vice president of Rome's Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

"Some reporting has spoken of 'extending TPS.' That has important legal meaning, and that's not what happened (with) the agreements," Ken Cuccinelli.

The saints were flesh-and-blood people whose lives included real struggles and joys, and whose holiness reminds all the baptized that they, too, are called to be saints, Pope Francis said.

Bishop Mark E. Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston told Catholics in the statewide diocese he was working to have his predecessor "make amends for harm he caused during his tenure" as mandated by Pope Francis.

Military chaplains are called to educate the consciences of members of the armed forces so that even in war, the opposing side is not viewed merely as "an enemy to be destroyed," Pope Francis said.

The bishops of every diocese in the United States have prepared detailed reports on the life of the Catholic Church in their dioceses and have made or are making reservations to fly to Rome.

Governors from eight Amazonian states in Brazil and Peru meeting at the Vatican agreed that the Amazon is threatened and called for a "green economy" that would allow people to generate income without destroying the forest.

Nearly a month after private documents about a property deal involving the Vatican leaked to the press, a Vatican official rejected accusations that he "played and tampered with the money of the poor."

As demonstrations pitting pro-government groups against pro-democracy protesters continue, a bishop urged Catholics to pray for the realization that all are humans and not "cockroaches or dogs."

Bishop Richard Lennon, 72, whose time as the 10th bishop of Cleveland was marked by a commitment to evangelization with an emphasis on the Gospel, died Oct. 29 following a prolonged illness.

Christians can become stagnant if they do not have the crashing waves of hope moving in their lives, Pope Francis said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden attended the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Anthony Church Oct. 27 and when he presented himself to receive the Eucharist was refused by the pastor.

A Mexican priest and migrant shelter operator suffered an extortion attempt and, later the same day, a violent robbery at his parish residence.

After listening to indigenous people and church leaders at the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, the Catholic Church cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of the region's people, Pope Francis said.

Representatives from the Catholic and Orthodox churches and the Muslim and Jewish faiths signed a joint declaration at the Vatican reaffirming each religion's clear opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Citing the negative misinterpretations that the word "secret" implies, Pope Francis has changed the name of the Vatican Secret Archives to the Vatican Apostolic Archives.