Congo

“People of the Congo suffer” in a war fueled by world’s insatiable demand for minerals, Dr. Denis Mukwege said. “Women’s bodies are used as weapons of war.”

The hope that comes from true faith “breaks the chain of evil,” promoting forgiveness and righteousness, Pope Leo XIV said at a Jubilee general audience Nov. 8.

A USCCB mental health initiative, St. Thérèse of Lisieux relics, a St. Maximilian Kolbe film, OSV News interviews with cardinals and more among this week’s coverage.

Bishop Melchisédech Sikuli Paluko of Butembo-Beni expressed his “spiritual closeness” to “all the families affected by this umpteenth and horrible carnage.”

“My commitment today to the cause of justice in my country, even on the African continent and globally, is inspired by the struggle of Pope John Paul II.”

“This tragedy invites us to work even harder for the integral human development of the wounded population of this region,” the pope said.

“Since he was a Christian, he prayed. He thought of others and he chose to be honest, saying no to the filth of corruption.”

“A basic moral test” on public policy “is how our most vulnerable members are faring,” says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The end of a longstanding ban on abortions in Wisconsin, a care for creation Mass being added to the Roman Missal, and the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill …

Church leaders in Congo cautiously welcomed a U.S.-brokered July 27 peace agreement to end a long-running conflict in the east of the country.