Russia’s ambassador to the Vatican confirmed Pope Francis helped facilitate recent prisoner exchanges with Ukraine and said the Vatican is ready to act as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia.

Canada’s Ukrainian Catholic bishops are asking all Catholics for prayers, charitable giving and three days of fasting Nov. 24 to 26 in solidarity with Ukrainians living with food shortages and facing days without heat, light or water as Russia continues to target civilian infrastructure, especially Ukraine’s power grid.

A senior Russian priest dismissed President Vladimir Putin's threats of nuclear war as "just words," but said many young Catholics now fear being forcibly conscripted with their priests to join the war against Ukraine.

Being against war and for peace requires more than urgent appeals and treaties, according to Pope Francis. It requires a demanding, lifelong process that starts in the human heart and boldly expands outward into a broken world, he has said.

As war and conflict rage during a prolonged pandemic, Christians prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus who offered peace as a parting gift to His disciples. 

The world doesn’t just feel like a more dangerous place since Russian troops entered Ukraine, it is a reality.

The carnage has begun. Is there any way it can end without the annihilation of Ukraine? NATO has (rightly) refused to enter the fray, fearing that its participation will lead to the further spread of war and possibly to nuclear war. Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are having no effect on the fighting. It may be months before economic sanctions bring Russia to its knees. Ukraine’s heroic defence is no match in the short run for Russia’s military might.

Fifty-two years ago this June, Mr. Edwin Starr immortally caught millions of ears around the world with a song that asked a short, sharp rhetorical question.

War is never moral. It is not ordered to the good. But the Church through the centuries has taught that when faced with war, or the prospect of war, we must think carefully and morally — prudence first. So, is a war that pits a broad Western alliance against Russian aggression in Ukraine a just war?

Church networks are getting ready for a humanitarian disaster and a massive wave of new refugees as the civil war in Ethiopia rages on.

Ceasefires in Ukraine aren’t quite ceasefires.

VATICAN CITY - God does not play favorites, but human beings do in little ways at school and in big ways with the global economy, Pope Francis told students from Milan's Istituto San Carlo, a school with students from prekindergarten through high school.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT – The clerical sex abuse of women religious is a problem in the Church and more must be done about it, said Pope Francis.

KYIV, Ukraine – In a message marking the anniversary of their country's December 1991 referendum on independence from the Soviet Union, Ukrainian Catholic bishops said Ukrainians had a "right and sacred duty" to defend themselves against "Russian aggression," but should also avoid yielding to alarm and panic.

VATICAN – Fully automated and autonomous lethal weapons systems must be banned now before they become a reality in tomorrow's wars, a Vatican representative said.