With a powerful appeal to the international community to implement lasting resolutions for the safeguard of lives and the dignity of migrants and refugees, Pope Francis says his thoughts never stray from the predicament of the thousands of men, women and children stranded in Libya as they search to reach Europe in the hope of a better life.

Pope Francis encourages us to pray to the Lord, like Bartimaeus in Sunday's Gospel reading, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And may we repeat it often with concrete, insistent and courageous faith.

As the Church marks World Mission Sunday, the Chairperson of the newly re-branded Missio Ireland, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly, SMA, says it is an opportunity to recall the “heroes of mission” around the world. At the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis also paid tribute to missionaries around the world for their witness to the Gospel, often at great sacrifice.

United Nations Day, on 24 October, marks the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the UN Charter entered into force. The UN is made up of 193 Member States.

Following the Second Reading of the Assisted Dying Bill at the House of Lords, on 22 October , Bishop John Sherrington has thanked Catholics in England and Wales for writing to peers and praying that the legislation might be defeated. He said bishops will continue to scrutinise and challenge the Bill.

Earlier this week, the Vatican's Permanent Observer to the United Nations addressed a statement to the UN General Assembly on disarmament measures and cybersecurity.

A UN humanitarian flight is aborted as the conflict between Ethiopia’s federal government and the TPLF in the Tigray region escalates, severely hampering humanitarian operations.

Evangelizing an evangelist: Dale Recinella, a “lay chaplain” to death row inmates in Florida, shares his testimony in this story about conversion.

Dale Recinella, a lay prison chaplain based in the US state of Florida, shares his experience of friendship with a former inmate who turned his life around through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

In a message sent to the International Conference of the "Opera Nazionale Maria Montessori", Pope Francis urges people to look to her example "to form people in solidarity, citizens of the world open to dialogue and to acceptance."

In an address to the Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice Foundation, Pope Francis says developing a more just and equitable society, and protecting the freedom and dignity of persons, is at the heart of the mission to implement the Church’s social teaching.

The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week, 7-13 November, with dioceses across the US holding events to foster an appreciation for all vocations and pray specifically for those discerning a vocation to ordained ministry and consecrated life.

Pope Francis urges members of the 24th General Chapter of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to be inspired by the example of Our Lady and encourages them in their service of young people and of the poor.

The highlight of the liturgical celebrations of Pope Francis in the month of November is the World Day of the Poor, instituted by him 5 years ago.

Neuroscientist Professor Maryanne Wolf explains why Pope Francis was right in saying that education is key in bettering the world post-Covid, especially as we come out of the pandemic to a much more technological way of doing things.

A group of Catholic students in Port Moresby has urged extractive companies in Papua New Guinea to respect the environment for the wellbeing of indigenous people and future generations. Their call echoes one of the nine Appeals “in the name of God” addressed by Pope Francis in his message to the Fourth World Meeting of Popular Movements.

Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF representative in Yemen, highlights the devastating toll of the war in Yemen, which has claimed the lives of at least 10,000 children since it started in 2015. He says that despite dwindling funds, UNICEF continues to work to respond to the needs of the conflict-hit Yemeni population.

United Nations agencies say that 3 years of consecutive severe drought as well as floods, cyclones and locust outbreaks in southern Madagascar have wiped out harvests and hampered people’s access to food.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has published a decree implementing Pope Francis’ motu proprio “Magnum principium,” concerning the respective competencies of the Congregation and the episcopal conferences with regard to the translation of liturgical texts. The Prefect of the Congregation explains the import of the new decree, in a written interview with Vatican Media.

The leader of a Haitian street gang, which has kidnapped seventeen missionaries and family members, is threatening to murder them unless their $17 million ransom demand is paid in full.