We might be facing a contentious election season this year, but we can never forget how much we have to look forward to.

A person does not have to travel far from home to find people living on the margins of society and in need hearing the message of the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

While bishops may take a cautious approach to the Vatican’s guidance on blessing same-sex or other unmarried couples, they should not deny their priests the possibility of discerning and imparting blessings on people who ask for them, the Vatican doctrinal office said.

Father Thomas Ryan, a Pittsburgh native whose nearly 50 years of ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore was highlighted by chaplain posts at Archbishop Spalding High School and Johns Hopkins University, died of cancer Jan. 2. He was 79.

With more than 22,100 deaths and 57,000 injured as reported by Jan. 2 by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the question is being asked: Can Israel’s conflict conduct be considered a “just war” under the Catholic understanding of the concept?