A prominent Russian Catholic urged his nation's bishops to condemn the mass arrest and beating of protesters, but the Moscow archdiocesan chancellor said the church could not comment on “political matters.”

Church officials' concerns stem from draft amendments to Russia's 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations, which would bar "clergy who receive religious education abroad" from ministering unless they obtain "recertification within a Russian religious organization" and "receive additional professional education."

An archbishop barred from reentering Belarus by authorities is seeking the assistance of the Vatican.

"Returning to Minsk, I was not allowed in at the Kuznica-Bialystok border crossing," Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev told the Catholic Information Agency, KAI, in neighboring Poland Aug. 31.

The oil spill off the coast of Mauritius has renewed attention as to how environmental disasters affect ecological and economic life.

In a message read in churches nationwide Aug. 16, the bishops said: “Blood has been shed in an active confrontation, leaving many physical and moral victims, including peaceful and innocent people of all ages.”

Archbishop Polak said the film showed required child protection standards were still not being observed in the Polish church.

Catholic clergy in Africa are concerned that there could be a rise in violence and insurgency during the pandemic, leading to more political and civil disruption.

The Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Union are calling for a "shared European responsibility" in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

In France, the northern sanctuary of Lisieux, burial place of the St. Therese and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, closed its doors to pilgrims March 17, complying with a 14-day government curfew on all nonessential movement.