The Brazilian bishops' conference has established a commission to assist dioceses and prelatures in areas where mining operations are harming communities and the environment.

With the addition of two appointees of President Donald Trump, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the court seems poised to extend protections for religious objections to anti-discrimination laws.

Schools and museums in the two regions were closed, and school trips were suspended for all students throughout Italy.

The theme of the pope's message, "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God," was taken from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (5:20), which reflects the invitation to return to God through constant conversion and reconciliation, and experience new life in Christ.

The pope said that discourses from some leaders of new forms of populism bring to mind "speeches that sowed fear and then hate in the decade of the 1930s."

According to L’Arche USA, an investigation “reveals that Jean Vanier himself has been accused of manipulative sexual relationships and emotional abuse between 1970 and 2005.”