Catholic News Service

Vatican City -- Building on the development of Catholic Church teaching against capital punishment, Pope Francis has ordered a revision of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to assert "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person" and to commit the church to working toward its abolition worldwide.

The Field Hospital: After the 2018 U.S. Special Olympics in Seattle, Catholics there aim to leverage that success for pastoral initiatives for those with developmental disabilities.

The archdiocesan newspaper of Washington published a question-and-answer interview July 31 with Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl about the next steps for the archdiocese in light of the sexual abuse allegations made against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal and retired archbishop of Washington.

Washington -- Theodore McCarrick "will rightly face" a Vatican canonical process regarding sexual abuse allegations against him, but the U.S. Catholic Church must take steps to respond to church leaders' "moral failures of judgment," said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Idolatry is a human inclination that spares neither believers nor atheists and deprives people of life and love in exchange for slavery to unfulfilled dreams, Pope Francis said.

The Catholic University of America announced July 30 that it was withdrawing the 2006 honorary degree awarded to then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, in light of recent sexual abuse allegations.

Christ's commandment to love God and neighbor is a path trodden by those who have the desire to become saints, Pope Francis told thousands of altar servers from around the world.

India's Catholic Church has led a chorus of protest over a demand to ban the sacrament of reconciliation from the chairwoman of the National Commission for Women.

A prominent Catholic blogger and activist ended a two-week hunger strike in a Vietnamese prison after she met with visiting U.S. diplomats, local bloggers reported.

This November, Oregonians will vote on whether the nation's oldest statewide sanctuary law will remain in place. State election officials announced July 17 that Initiative Petition 22, the "Stop Oregon Sanctuaries" campaign, has enough valid signatures to make the fall ballot.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned the public during his third State of the Nation address July 23 that his two-year war on drugs would become even "more chilling" in the coming days.

The Field Hospital: In an interview with the Irish bishops' magazine Intercom, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, said "priests are not the best people to train others for marriage."

A priest in Michigan is awaiting an August trial after being accused of embezzling more than $5 million from a parish in Okemos, in central Michigan, in the Diocese of Lansing.

The U.S. ambassador to the Holy See told a Washington audience July 24 that "promoting and securing religious freedom as a human right is a shared priority" of the Vatican and the United States.

The Chilean prosecutor's office has issued a subpoena to Cardinal Riccardo Ezzati of Santiago regarding his role in the alleged cover-up of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley called for "three specific actions" to immediately address allegations of sexual abuse of minors and "sexual improprieties" with seminarians made against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Addressing 8,000 participants July 22 during the last day of the Fifth Philippine Conference on New Evangelization, a teary-eyed Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila lamented the deaths of innocent people killed since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican office for laity and family, said he was "shocked" when he heard allegations of years of sexual abuse and harassment by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the man who ordained him a bishop and whom he served as an auxiliary bishop for six years.

Driven by a zeal and strong ties to the roots of their faith, 450 young people from all over the world gathered in Lebanon for the first Syriac Youth International Convention, open to people 18-35.

Pope Francis has ratified the members elected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to represent the United States at Synod of Bishops Oct. 3-28.