The Gaza Strip has been under an air, land and sea blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007.

The executive order, issued in September, requires for the first time that resettlement agencies get written consent from state and local officials in any jurisdiction where they hope to place refugees after June 2020.

Bishops from U.S. Region VIII -- North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota -- met the pope on the first day of their "ad limina" visit.

The former prelate had stayed a little over one year at St. Fidelis Friary, run by the Capuchin Franciscan order in Victoria, Kansas. While his new residence has not been publicly disclosed, one diocese vociferously declared that McCarrick was not within its territory.

The "ever-more-complex situation of families in France" had made compiling Catholic documents "sometimes difficult," especially with baptisms.

The statement from Archbishop Gomez comes five days after the U.S. launched a drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.