The interim director of the Vatican Press Office said the move was an "extraordinary gesture" that underlined the diplomat's desire to fully cooperate with French authorities.

A federal judge July 3 granted a preliminary injunction blocking an Ohio ban on abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The chairmen of two U.S. bishops' committees said July 3 they oppose a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that they say would lead to separation or housing instability for many families.

Pope Francis welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Vatican July 4. Russia plays a major role in conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The policy says the diocese's structures and institutions are to identify themselves only with "the names of saints, the mysteries of the faith, the titles of Our Lord or of Our Lady, or the place where the ministry has been established."

Bishop Jenky said the sainthood cause for the archbishop, a native of the Peoria Diocese, has resumed.

"The injustices and sufferings still being inflicted by these executioners risk diverting us from God's path into a spiral of vengeance and cycle of violence," the bishops said.

The mineral-rich country has suffered persistent violence by armed groups, leaving 4.5 million people displaced and a fifth of the population needing basic assistance, according to the United Nations.

"This image cries to heaven for justice. This image silences politics. Who can look on this picture and not see the results of the failures of all of us to find a humane and just solution to the immigration crisis?" the bishops said.

English bishops welcomed a Court of Appeal ruling that a pregnant mentally disabled woman did not need to have an abortion.