Plans to dramatically cut welfare benefits for refugees from Ukraine who flee to Ireland to avoid Russia’s war are causing anxiety, according to a priest who works with the new arrivals. Officials in Dublin say that they want to “slow” the number of people arriving from Ukraine.

Four congregations of women religious filed suit against the board of gunmaker Smith & Wesson Dec. 5 in a Las Vegas court, the day before a shooter killed three people and critically wounded a fourth on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus five miles away.

Christians must be open to the Word of God and to welcoming and serving others, Pope Francis said.

Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Lodz, chairman of the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism of the Polish bishops’ conference, strongly condemned the incident in which a far-right Polish lawmaker used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles in the Sejm, the country’s parliament.

The Vatican’s financial planning, budgeting, auditing, investing and saving are essential for carrying out the Catholic Church’s mission and must be handled with the highest sense of responsibility and prudence, Pope Francis wrote in a letter to the staff of the Secretariat for the Economy.