Happy Friday! As always, your weekly roundup:
Pope Francis, speaking after some 700 migrants were feared dead in the Mediterranean, on Sunday appealed to the international community to take swift and decisive action to avoid similar tragedies.
The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a stalled bill to fight human trafficking.
Ethiopia began three days of mourning, with joint Christian and Muslim prayers, for around 30 Ethiopian Christians believed to have been killed by the Islamic State in Libya.
As Philadelphia prepares to host Pope Francis, who is due to visit five months from now, preparations to accomodate the estimated 1.5 to 2 million visiting fans might rival the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000.
Pope Francis will visit Cuba before arriving to the United States in September, the Vatican said Wednesday.
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, who was found guilty of failing to tell police about a suspected pedophile priest. Nicholas Cafardi writes that the Finn case was filled with paradoxes.
Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, North Carolina has canceled a talk at a local church by a nun who ministers to the LGBT community.
Caught between the GOP base and shifting public opinion, three candidates who don’t back gay unions say they would still show up at the celebrations.
The author of a California bill to require school children to be vaccinated for such diseases as polio and measles regardless of their parents’ personal beliefs said he would revive the measure, which stalled in the legislature last week.
Scientists edited the genomes of human embryos for the first time, altering their DNA in a way never accomplished in our own species. But the team did not try to establish a pregnancy and say for ethical reasons they did their tests only in embryos that were abnormal.
When the National Football League creates its schedule each season, it works around all sorts of factors. The 2015 season included another challenge: making sure the Philadelphia Eagles weren’t upstaged by Pope Francis.
A Dutch Catholic priest filmed himself watching the second trailer for the upcoming addition to the Star Wars saga for the first time–and it soon became clear he’s a big fan.
And now for the papal rapid fire roundup:
This week, Pope Francis:
- Celebrated his name day.
- Said women aren’t inferior to men.
- Had some herbal tea.
- Celebrated Earth Day.
