NEWS

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continued, members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors remained active in promoting outreach and providing new educational opportunities.

The Idaho Senate approved a measure called the Heartbeat Bill April 20 that would ban almost all abortions after an unborn child's heartbeat can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks, and the measure has been sent to Gov. Brad Little's desk.

Teresa Pitt Green, who as a child was sexually abused by Catholic priests, said she is convinced "there's a lot more hope than people dare to feel."

When it comes to safeguarding creation, there is no time to waste -- humanity either must live up to its responsibility or continue on a path of self-destruction, Pope Francis said, commemorating Earth Day with a video message.

Sometimes the Catholic Church has "proposed a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage, far removed from the concrete situations and practical possibilities of real families," Pope Francis wrote in his 2016 exhortation, "Amoris Laetitia."

When the world shut down last year because of the pandemic, the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton decided it was time to reach outward.

Following the Chauvin verdict, the chairmen of two U.S. bishops' committees prayed God "strengthens us to cleanse our land of the evil of racism, which also manifests in ways that are hardly ever spoken, ways that never reach the headlines."

Although Catholic leaders across the country called the April 20 jury verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial a moment of justice, they also stressed there is still a lot of work to do to move toward healing.

Pope Francis has called for a global prayer marathon for the entire month of May, praying for the end to the pandemic.

After a three-week trial, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts April 20 in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd.