President Joe Biden signed an executive order Feb. 14 reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships as a means to work with religious and secular organizations to help with COVID-19 and economic recovery and confront systemic racism.

In the Pew Research Center’s “Faith Among Black Americans” released Feb. 16, show how U.S. Blacks manifest and feel about their faith.

The diocese reached a $21.5 million settlement with a creditors’ committee representing 145 survivors of clergy sexual abuse, it said in a Feb. 10 statement.

Ash Wednesday and Lent are a time to recall that new life emerges from the ashes.

Pope Francis has approved a number of changes to Vatican City State’s penal code and criminal justice proceedings, including the possibilities of reduced sentences, rehabilitation programs and community service sentencing, as well as no longer allowing trials “in absentia.”

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Iraq March 5-8, and he has events planned in churches each day.

Two days after the Iraqi government announced stringent COVID-19 precautions, including the closure of mosques and churches “until further notice,” the prime minister met with the Vatican nuncio to discuss “the preparation for the scheduled visit of His Holiness,” Pope Francis.

Prayer is a constant reminder that God is nearby and so, “the problems we face no longer seem to be obstacles to our happiness, but appeals from God, opportunities to encounter him,” Pope Francis said, continuing his series of audience talks about prayer.