Pope Francis appealed to South Sudan leaders to “lower the tension in the country” as Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan expressed alarm at the escalating violence in the world’s youngest nation and warned of a catastrophe if full-scale war returns.

As the 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s death approached April 2, top world leaders and thinkers gathered in Poznan, Poland, to discuss his legacy.

We as Catholics are asked to assess how Christian or moral an administration is not by its members or its rhetoric, but by its actions.

While it began as an independent crowd-funded series, “The Chosen” has now become a global phenomenon as the most watched series in the world.

Pope Francis’ condition remains stable, and an X-ray showed there has been a slight improvement regarding his lingering lung infection, the Vatican press office said.