It makes no sense to lament the problems of hunger and forced migration if one is unwilling to address their root causes, which are conflict and climate change, Pope Francis said.

More than 750 Catholics called on President Donald Trump and Congress to seek diplomatic solutions to defuse rising tensions between the United States and North Korea and to assure that the U.S. remains a party to the Iran nuclear deal.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone consecrated the Archdiocese of San Francisco to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Oct. 7, telling thousands of pilgrims packed shoulder-to-shoulder in St. Mary's Cathedral that "her heart is the gate of heaven."

There's little, if anything, that immigrant advocates like in the Trump administration's latest immigration plan.

A Catholic bishop in Togo condemned "indiscriminate brutality" by security forces against anti-government protesters and warned of a "climate of psychosis" in the West African country.

Catholic schools in the Miami Archdiocese are accepting students and enrollment inquiries from Puerto Rican families displaced to Florida after the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria.

The leaders of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, which has its headquarters in the Dallas suburb of Irving, said they "accept and work with the new membership policy of the Boy Scouts of America" to admit girls.

The Diocese of Santa Rosa "has been hit hard" and "is in an ongoing state of uncertainty" because of Northern California wildfires that began the night of Oct. 8, said Bishop Robert F. Vasa.

The death penalty, no matter how it is carried out, "is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel," Pope Francis said.