Catholic News Service

Julie Sullivan, president of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, has been named president of Santa Clara University, a Jesuit-run university near San Francisco, where she will be the school's first layperson and first woman president.

Following news reports about the war in Ukraine is important, Cardinal Michael Czerny said, but meeting the victims of that war — the people forced to flee — has a different impact.

Condemning Russia's bombing of a children's and maternity hospital in Ukraine, the Vatican secretary of state insisted diplomacy and negotiations are the only ways to prevent the situation from getting much worse.

The Catholic Church needs women, especially women saints, who have shown throughout history an unwavering dedication to God and to caring for their brothers and sisters, Pope Francis said.

In response to more than 2 million refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine in recent weeks, the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services said it is "alarming to see the scale of the suffering" in the region.

Two cardinals arrived at separate destinations on one mission entrusted to them by Pope Francis: to bring relief, hope and encouragement to suffering Ukrainians.

Pope Francis has "relieved" Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, of the pastoral care of the diocese, the Vatican announced without providing an explanation.

During his 22-year tenure as the Diocese of Erie's shepherd, the late Bishop Donald W. Trautman "gave himself totally to his role as bishop," Bishop Lawrence T. Persico said of his predecessor.

Thirteen priests from outside the US ministering in the Diocese of Little Rock have had to stop working, and in some cases have had to return home, because of federal delays in processing immigration paperwork.

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world's largest wheat-producing countries. Their decreased exports due to war may affect U.S. farmers already struggling from droughts.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, leader of Russia's dominant religious group, has sent his strongest signal yet justifying his country's invasion of Ukraine — describing the conflict as part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold "gay parades" as the price of admission to their ranks.

Honduran church leaders have called for a thorough investigation into the abduction and murder of a priest in the Diocese of San Pedro Sula, a crime causing outrage in the Central American country.

As the Russian military continues to bombard Ukraine, the Vatican is mobilizing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to those suffering.

 Temptation's seductive proposals of happiness and freedom can lead one to being enslaved by the desire to possess material things and other people, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis said the Vatican "is ready to do everything to put itself at the service of peace" in Ukraine.

Italian Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, a former nuncio to the United States and the retired head of the Vatican investment office, died March 5 at the age of 95.

Representatives of 175 nations at the U.N. Environment Assembly endorsed an agreement to end plastic pollution and forge a legally binding agreement by 2024.

The Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a 6-3 vote, saying a federal appeals court in 2020 should not have thrown out the death sentence.

The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling March 3, said Kentucky's Republican attorney general could continue to defend an abortion restriction measure struck down by lower courts.

Retired Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, formerly a close colleague of Pope Francis, was sentenced March 4 in a sexual abuse case.