Pope Francis asked Catholics around the world to join him in entrusting to Mary “the universal desire for peace, especially for the martyred Ukraine, which is suffering so much.”

Russian occupation authorities have banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other Catholic ministries in occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to the church’s main communications office in Kyiv.

Senate Republicans Dec. 6 blocked an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel while calling for strict new policies at the U.S.-Mexico border opposed by some Catholic immigration advocates.

Given the meandering pace at which building plans make their way through Baltimore city offices to final approval before construction begins, it should take at least two years before the new inclusionary – meaning, affordable – housing law, which finally passed in full on Dec. 7, will show an impact.

A Texas judge ruled Dec. 7 in favor of a pregnant mother who sued the state to seek an exemption to its abortion ban after she argued that continuing with her pregnancy would endanger her life and future fertility.