VILNIUS, Lithuania – Outside the former KGB headquarters in Vilnius, Pope Francis ended a day of paying homage to victims of communist, Nazi totalitarianism and of warning Lithuanians to be attentive to any signs of anti-Semitism or hatred.

HONG KONG – The long-awaited Sino-Vatican agreement on the nomination of bishops is expected to be signed in September, reported several media outlets.

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia – Within weeks of the collapse of the final remnants of the Khmer Rouge in late 1998, Jesuit Father Enrique Figaredo visited some of the movement's last-standing cadres after hearing they needed assistance.

BEIJING, China – Continuing a controversial plan, Chinese bishops allied with the government have told dioceses to prepare local versions of a “Sinicization” program to bring the Catholic Church more in-line with the government’s understanding of Chinese culture, society and politics.

VATICAN – For more than 50 years, the writings of retired Pope Benedict XVI on the relationship between faith and politics have insisted that the measure of human freedom is the extent to which each person acknowledges being dependent on the love of God, Pope Francis wrote.

HA TINH, Vietnam – A court in central Vietnam has jailed a Catholic activist after convicting her of subverting the communist state, ucanews.com reported.

I was shocked when I learned of the death of Vietnamese Archbishop Paul Đọc Văn Bùi of Ho Chi Minh City. 

BEIJING – In a rare move, a top Chinese official answered journalists' questions about a new white paper on religious freedom and the ongoing talks between his government and the Vatican.

HONG KONG – China's ruling Communist Party has further stepped up control over all religions, dissolving its long-standing State Administration for Religious Affairs bureau and handing its functions to the party's United Front Work Department.

Wine from Raisins, A Life Transformed through Communist Gulag to Canadian Arctic by Josef Svoboda (Novalis, softcover, 240 pages, $27.95)

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BOGOTA, Colombia – Bishops in Colombia are calling on officials, parishes and the international community to increase efforts to help Venezuelan migrants, who are leaving their country at the rate of at least 50,000 people per month.

BROOKYLN, N.Y. – A priest who served a number of parishes in Brooklyn and moved back to Colombia four years ago to retire was brutally murdered there March 10.

In Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II, Baltimore-born papal biographer George Weigel reflects in a highly personal way on the 15 years he devoted to chronicling the life and times and impact of John Paul II in Witness to Hope (1999) and The End and the Beginning (2010). It is a story that emphasizes repeatedly and powerfully the idea of providence.

VATICAN – The Catholic Church in China registered 48,556 baptisms in 2017, reflecting the vitality and missionary strength of the Catholic communities there, according to a report by Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

HONG KONG – Since China's new regulations for religious affairs took effect Feb. 1, minors have been banned from entering places of worship in several regions.