The frequency of attacks has faith leaders and law enforcement grappling with how to protect people when they are at their most vulnerable.

The announcement from Jeff Anderson & Associates included plans for the law firm to file suits in the Archdioceses of Los Angeles and San Francisco and the Dioceses of Fresno, Monterey, Orange, San Bernardino, Oakland, San Jose and Santa Rosa.

Pope Francis had slapped a pilgrim's hand in an incident that quickly went viral on Twitter. Departing from his prepared text the next day, he said that "love makes us patient. We often lose our patience; me, too, and I apologize for my bad example last night."

Well, at least 10 of them.

A host of voices from throughout the religious spectrum condemned the Dec. 28 knife attack at the suburban New York City home of a Hasidic rabbi that wounded five, one of them critically.

"Women and Francis" is the theme of the January 2020 issue of Women-Church-World, a monthly supplement to L'Osservatore Romano. It was released Dec. 28.