WASHINGTON – The Obama administration's May 13 directive on transgender access to bathrooms "that treats 'a student's gender identity as the student's sex' is deeply disturbing," said the chairmen of two U.S. Catholic bishops' committees.

NAIROBI, Kenya – Jesuit Refugee Service has urged Kenya to reconsider its plans to close camps that host hundreds of thousands of Somali and South Sudanese refugees.

EDMONTON – Pope Francis has added his name to the list of people offering prayers for Canadians affected by the massive wildfires that have led to the evacuation of Fort McMurray.

WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has appointed Bishop John S. Pazak of the Byzantine Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius of Toronto as bishop of the Holy Protection of Mary Eparchy of Phoenix. The Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerald Dino, 76, of the Phoenix eparchy, where he had served eight years.

BRUSSELS – Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai urged the international community and the European Parliament to stop the wars in the Middle East through dialogue, and he called for a return of the displaced to their countries of origin.

VIENNA – An Austrian bishop said the government may not use Church property to build a border fence to keep out refugees.

QUITO, Ecuador – Catholic agencies are beginning to build temporary shelters for thousands of families in Ecuador made homeless by the South American country's worst natural disaster in nearly seven decades.

NEW YORK – A canonical inquiry into the life of Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, will begin soon and extend to the end of the year, according to the Archdiocese of New York, which is sponsoring her sainthood cause and is where Day oversaw Catholic Worker houses.

WASHINGTON – If Christians and other religious minorities disappear in Iraq and Syria, "pluralism and stability leave with them," the head of the Knights of Columbus told a U.S. congressional commission April 19.

VATICAN CITY – Four months after announcing it had hired the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an external audit of its finances, the Vatican has suspended the work underway.