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Two cardinals, an archbishop and a dozen priests concelebrated a funeral Mass Jan. 25 for Roberto Mantovani, a soccer player decades ago, who spent much of the past few years living on the streets near the Vatican.

Unable to preside over Mass on the Sunday of the Word of God because of a recurring bout of sciatica, Pope Francis' homily was read by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, which coordinates the annual celebration.

In the age of instant communications and fake news, journalists -- like everyone else -- need to recover the practice of going out and verifying information before they share it, Pope Francis said.

When they vote, Catholics must weigh many issues of very grave moral consequence "in good conscience," but "no Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion," San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said Jan. 21.

Massive damage and looting has occurred in Adigrat, a diocese in Ethiopia's semi-autonomous region of Tigray, where the government launched a military offensive nearly two months ago, reported a delegation from the Ethiopian bishops' conference.

Hank Aaron, who was baseball's home run king for 33 years, overcame racism to make his mark in the game he loved. Aaron died Jan. 22 at age 86.

Even though Pope Francis' encyclical "Fratelli Tutti" is not aimed specifically at vowed religious, those in religious life can link its themes to the Second Vatican Council, a leading Vatican official told the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.

A former president of the Vatican bank and his lawyer were found guilty of money laundering and embezzling millions of euros from property sales.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization's executive board Jan. 21 that "in the coming days," President Joe Biden will revoke the so-called "Mexico City policy," which blocks U.S. funding of foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform and promote abortion as a form of family planning.

Two leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops applauded President Joe Biden's Inauguration Day executive action ordering the federal government to keep in place and strengthen the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.