Nation/World

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced recently that participants in the National Eucharistic Congress and related National Eucharistic Pilgrimage now have opportunities to receive plenary indulgences.

Whether it was speaking out against injustice, ministering to those on society’s margins or accompanying communities afflicted by geo-political catastrophes, retired Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton traveled great lengths to express his solidarity with people on the periphery of society.

Photos featured this week include Easter celebrations around the world, as well as the “Do Not Be Afraid: March and Vigil for Human Dignity” in Texas and more.

The Vatican press office announced that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith’s declaration on human dignity, said to include a faith-based critique of “gender ideologies” and surrogacy, will be released April 8.

Pope Francis was “deeply saddened” to learn of the loss of life and damage caused by the earthquake in Taiwan, and he expressed his closeness to and solidarity with all those affected.

Seven staff members of World Central Kitchen died April 1 when their three-vehicle convoy was hit in an Israeli air attack. Catholic aid workers in Gaza are determined to continue their mission after that deadly strike.

Within 24 hours after Archbishop William E. Lori asked Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore to support twin emergency relief funds for those affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, nearly $50,000 was raised in online donations.

More than 200 people gathered in prayer at a Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore just a few hours after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River March 26.