Approximately 200 doctors, nurses, medical professionals and others gathered for the annual White Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore. The event attracted those currently engaged in the health profession, as well as students, retired doctors, surgeons, nurses and pharmacists.

Russia’s latest blockage of Western religious websites and social media accounts tightens the Kremlin’s chokehold on Russian residents’ information access, the editor of a Ukrainian religious news outlet told OSV News.

Donald Kerwin set the tone for an Oct. 16 webinar on migrant deaths with a clarifying statement: “Accounting for deaths, it means more than accurately counting them or enumerating them. … What it means is identifying decedents, investigating deaths, determining their causes and repatriating remains to loved ones.”

In an early October massacre, at least 150 people, including many Christians, were killed in northeastern Burkina Faso’s town of Manni, in what turned out to be a brutal terrorist rampage.

Pope Francis decided the question of ordaining women deacons was not to be discussed at the 2024 Synod of Bishops, and he directed a synod-related study group on women’s ministries not to explore the matter, according to the Vatican’s doctrinal chief.