Nation/World

The U.S. bishops said Catholics should attend separate Masses for both that Sunday obligation and Monday’s Christmas Mass obligation.

Clergy and laypeople from South Korea, the United States, Japan and other parts of the world also called for fewer military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. at the first-ever conference on the role of Catholics in building peace on the Korean Peninsula and more broadly in northeast Asia.

In a statement issued Dec. 2, Bishop Dewane said, “Congress must act now to fix the fundamental flaws found in both bills, and choose the policy approaches that help individuals and families struggling within our society.”

Pope Francis said each human being is created in God’s image and likeness at the end of an interreligious gathering in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec. 1 when he met with Rohingya refugees.

During a news conference Dec. 2 on his flight back to Rome from Dhaka, Bangladesh, Pope Francis said the Cold War policy of nuclear deterrence appears morally unacceptable today.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, specifically ask that the government continue to fund the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, and the Global Fund to at least current levels.

A health program that serves children from low-income families that has enjoyed bipartisan support for 20 years faces an uncertain future unless Congress adopts legislation reauthorizing it before funding runs out in the coming months.

Thousands of Catholics have joined the Legio Maria sect in search of healing and supposed miracles.