Pope Francis encouraged Catholic organizations yesterday to continue to fight against “unacceptable poverty.”

In a message to two Belgian groups released 29 January, the pope said that the coronavirus pandemic had made poverty relief even more difficult. 

In March 2020, Fr. Michael Stack was looking forward to retiring after years of exhausting priestly ministry. He had served for almost a quarter-century as a chaplain in four major hospitals in the archdiocese of Birmingham, England. 

Pope Francis urged Catholics today to engage in a “mission of compassion” to a world ravaged by the coronavirus crisis. 

Writing in his World Mission Day message, released today, the pope warned Catholics not to succumb to the temptation of justifying indifference on the basis of COVID-19 restrictions.

Emeritus Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster who passed away 24 January 2021 Credit: Diocese of Lancaster A tribute to Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue who sadly died …

Pope Francis met yesterday with the head of the World Food Program, as the organization issued a warning that more than 300 million children are going hungry amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A Vatican cardinal has expressed “astonishment” at a statement by a group of Protestant and Catholic theologians in Germany. 

Poland’s constitutional court published on Wednesday the rationale for its declaration that abortion for fetal abnormalities is unconstitutional three months after it made the ruling. 

The Supreme Court of Ireland ruled Friday that a hospital may withhold medical treatment contrary to the wishes of the parents of a child with severe injuries.

A Vatican official has encouraged Catholics to apply the Church’s social teaching to evaluate proposals for a “Green New Deal.”

The organizers of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon yesterday unveiled the event’s official theme song.

They said that the song, entitled “Há Pressa no Ar” in Portuguese (“There’s a rush in the air”) and released yesterday, invites young people to identify themselves with the Virgin Mary. 

All Saints Church in Warsaw is an imposing edifice. Its soaring twin bell towers were inspired by a Renaissance abbey in Italy. In 2017, it became the first building in Poland to be designated a “House of Life.” 

The title was awarded by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, named after the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary.

Pope Francis said today that commemorating the Holocaust means to be aware that “these things can happen again.” 

A heart monitor in an intensive care unit. Credit: sfam_photo via Shutterstock. A Polish Catholic patient at the centre of a UK court battle died …

An Italian cardinal expressed concern this week about the use of social media by children, encouraging the Church to do its part to give young people hope for the future amid the coronavirus pandemic.

On the day government figures recorded 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said:

“A day of great sadness all over the land. So many people, families, communities, remembering those who have died in these terrible months of the pandemic. Each one is mourned. Each one is to be prayed for.

Increasing rumors from multiple Vatican sources say the Vatican communications department might experience a shakeup shortly, and that Pope Francis might try a new redesign of the dicastery that handles Vatican media.

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said at a farewell Mass on Sunday that the Church would remain a source of strength for Catholics in Belarus despite a change in leadership. 

Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Fr Damian Howard SJ, Provincial of the Jesuits in Britain, have joined calls for the government of India to release Fr Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest who has been unjustly imprisoned because of his work to support marginalised communities.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity concluded yesterday with Vespers at the tomb of St. Paul.

Pope Francis was unable to attend the evening prayer 25 January at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls due to a resurgence of sciatic nerve pain, but the pope’s prepared homily for the occasion was read by Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.