NATION/WORLD

Pope Francis has accepted the retirement of Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and named Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City to succeed him.

Ordaining 19 men to the priesthood on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Francis not only told them to make sure their homilies were not boring, but he offered them advice on how to ensure their preaching would touch people: speak from your heart.

The devastation from a magnitude-7.8 earthquake included not just buildings collapsing from the tremors, but also people and villages being buried by landslides and avalanches triggered by the quake and aftershocks.

For an international group of researchers and scholars, serving at the pleasure of popes had meant producing lots of papers on important topics. But with Pope Francis, they are moving from publication to advocacy.

God's plan for fruitful, everlasting unions between a man and woman has been lost in a world filled with skepticism, distrust and hostility, Pope Francis said.

The pope, who is preparing an encyclical letter on the environment, made his remarks at the end of his general audience in St. Peter's Square April 22 — Earth Day.

With so many women and men being killed because of their faith in Christ, the church today is a church of martyrs, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.

The canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra will give the United States its first Hispanic saint, which should help more Americans realize that the country was settled by both Hispanics and Anglos, said the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Compelling as events in Acts are, however, the book represents more than a collection of historical stories. An underlying purpose binds its many parts together.

Cardinal Francis E. George, the retired archbishop of Chicago who was the first native Chicagoan to head the archdiocese, died April 17 at his residence after nearly 10 years battling cancer. He was 78.