Catholic News Service

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee late March 19 expressed grief over the lives and livelihoods lost and threatened by the historic flooding in the Midwest and offered prayers for recovery.

One of the founders of liberation theology in Latin America said he supports an effort to declare St. Oscar Romero a doctor of the Catholic Church.

Christians have faith in a God who wants to and is able to transform the world, conquering evil with good, Pope Francis said.

Two boys at a Catholic boarding school in Zimbabwe are among the more than 300 people killed in the aftermath of a cyclone that slammed into Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in mid-March. Officials fear the death toll from the cyclone could reach 1,000.

The attorney general of West Virginia has brought a civil suit against the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and its former bishop, Bishop Michael Bransfield, citing provisions of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.

The Archdiocese of Boston is implementing a reporting system to handle confidential and anonymous reporting of misconduct by high-ranking church officials, including cardinals and bishops.

Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of an Italian missionary killed in Myanmar and seven Romanian Catholic bishops — one of whom was secretly named a cardinal by St. Paul VI — persecuted during the communist era.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City wrote his March 15 column in The Leaven, the archdiocesan newspaper, about a Catholic school's decision not to enroll the child of a non-Catholic same-sex married couple, noting the issue has garnered local and national media attention.

Tears flowed during a Mass for peace at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 16, one day after terrorist attacked two mosques, leaving at least 50 people dead and dozens more injured.

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon said Pope Francis would not accept his resignation following his conviction for covering up clerical sexual abuse, so he has decided to step aside temporarily.

The season of Lent is a time for Christians to reflect on and practice the mercy of God toward others and not waste away sitting in judgment of others, Pope Francis said.

The constant temptation and cancer of corruption is one of the most devastating illnesses to befall society, Pope Francis said.

The Vatican's tentative agreement with the government of mainland China obviously has a diplomatic component, but it was motivated by a desire to spread the Gospel and ensure the appropriate freedom of the Catholic Church, the Vatican secretary of state wrote.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was taken to the hospital late March 15 after experiencing symptoms of what tests March 16 confirmed was a mild stroke, according to an archdiocesan statement.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration endorsed an act which would provide a pathway to citizenship for qualifying "Dreamers" and those covered by the temporary protected status and Deferred Enforced Departure programs.

In a Buddhist temple nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, more than 7,200 miles from Davenport, Iowa, the Dalai Lama received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award from Bishop Thomas Zinkula.

The need for Catholics in particular to engage in the nuclear disarmament debate is as crucial as it has been more than three decades because of the recent announcement by both Russia and U.S. to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.

A top Polish Catholic leader, named the first bishops' conference delegate for child protection, welcomed a church report on sexual abuse by clergy in his country and vowed efforts to combat it.

The Catholic Church in Germany is at a point where serious debate — including on priestly celibacy and the role of women — and openness to doing things in a new way must be encouraged, said the president of the German bishops' conference.

Republican leaders in the House are calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and other House Democrats "to stop blocking" a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.