Our Church in the World

A commission set up by Pope Francis to study women deacons has voted against the possibility of ordaining women deacons while also supporting more study on the issue.

Visiting two countries over six days on his first foreign papal trip, Pope Leo XIV preached unity, dialogue and respect for differences as the only paths to peace.

James “Jim” Riches, who spent several months searching for the remains of his son, James Riches Jr., in the World Trade Center rubble, died on Thanksgiving Day. Riches served as an advocate for all impacted by the attacks on 9/11.

“People of the Congo suffer. The demand for these minerals has turned our homeland into a battlefield,” Dr. Denis Mukwege told a crowd gathered Nov. 19 at Loyola University Maryland’s McGuire Hall in Baltimore.

During the National Catholic Youth Conference, visitors were invited to pray with first-degree relics in a newly added relic chapel.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City presided at the third annual Native American Mass, his first major Mass since being elected president of the USCCB.

An initiative — titled “Honoring Those Who Were Enslaved: Do Justice, Love Goodness, and Walk Humbly” — seeks to “honor those enslaved by the Catholic Church in Maryland.”

Dominican Sister María Lucía Caram Padilla was awarded the Order of Princess Olga, III class, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for her efforts in providing humanitarian aid and support since the beginning of the Russian invasion.