NEWS

Writing to his peers, Catholics who have reached a venerable age like he has, Pope Francis told older Catholics that God is close to them and still has plans for their lives.

In the months leading up to the U.S. bishops' spring general assembly held June 16-18, headlines in both secular and Catholic media focused primarily on one issue: the potential of a document on eucharistic consistency and what that would mean in the political sphere.

Shortly before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced the bishops had approved moving forward in drafting a teaching document on the Eucharist, a group of Catholic Democratic members of the House of Representatives asked the bishops not to deny holy Communion to anyone over the issue of abortion.

Catholic and Anglican bishops of dioceses along the English Channel have called for "a climate of welcome" in the face of unprecedented numbers of migrants attempting to reach Britain in small boats.

Pope Francis has named U.S. Cardinals Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, to be members of the Vatican's supreme court.

Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of 10 nuns who were brutally murdered by Soviet soldiers in Poland at the end of World War II and declared venerable Robert Schuman, who is considered one of the founding fathers of European unity.

A permanent deacon whose ministry is focused on service to the poor and hurting is an antidote to clericalism within the church because it illustrates that "to love is to serve and to serve is to reign," Pope Francis said.

U.S. bishops have authorized development of a new formal statement and comprehensive vision for Native American and Alaskan Native ministry, since the last one approved was over 40 years ago.

In a June 17 presentation to the U.S. bishops at their annual spring assembly, which was virtual again this year, Dallas Bishop Edward J. Burns announced a proposal to develop a new national pastoral framework on accompanying youths and young adults in the church.

The U.S. bishops approved by a wide margin a plan to draft a document to examine the "meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the church" following a lengthy debate during their spring general assembly.