San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who has advised Catholics to get the vaccine against Covid-19, revealed this week that he has not yet been vaccinated himself and offered explanations that may confuse the issue for some of his flock.

The newly installed Catholic bishop of Hong Kong promised action to heal Catholics and the wider society, divided because of the Chinese action to suppress a two-year-long protest seeking democratic freedoms.

The plan could result in the possible shutdown of churches and schools as the archdiocese responds to a decline in the number of priests and a shift in parishioners.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee urged all people of goodwill to pray that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade in its ruling on Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In the Supreme Court’s first major abortion case in decades the majority of justices Dec. 1 seemed willing to let that ban stay in place. But it was unclear if they would take this further and overturn Roe.

Cardinal George Pell, jailed for more than a year for sex abuse crimes he ultimately was cleared of, said the experience enabled him to understand suffering as a redemptive process that allows one to identify closely with Christ.