The chairmen of two U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees welcomed recent executive actions by President Joe Biden to address racial equity in housing and the use of private prisons by the federal government.

"I am the pastor of people who are suffering," Pope Francis said.

Vatican sources suggest that Pope Francis would have been keen to talk with Cardinal Cupich about the situation in the United States following the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

It was the coldest national March for Life in some years, it was the smallest, and it also may be remembered as the bravest.

Immigration advocates, including four bishops, sent a letter to President Biden on Jan. 28, urging his administration to restore asylum, offer protection over deterrence at the border and overhaul the current immigration policy.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee called it “deeply disturbing and tragic” that any U.S. president would mark the Jan. 22 anniversary of the Roe decision that legalized abortion by praising it and committing to codifying it in law.

Refugees “can’t obtain the Brazilian documents,” one local bishop said, “but they keep needing shelter, food and healthcare.”

The wide-ranging nondiscrimination executive “threatens to infringe the rights of people who recognize the truth of sexual difference or who uphold the institution of lifelong marriage between one man and one woman,” said the chairmen of five U.S. bishops’ committees.

It is as though there are two parallel universes co-existing here, one hopeful and “normal for now,” the other overwhelmed by suffering.

“There’s more to being pro-life than abortion and assisted suicide,” said organizer Kathleen Domingo. “We want to keep our families safe. We didn’t think it was worth the risk. Life is precious.”