Rhina Guidos

 Brian Burch, nominated by Donald Trump to become the next ambassador to the Holy See, tied to fake news about the health of Cardinal Pietro Parolin. 

For the second Sunday in a row, the balcony from where the pope prays the traditional Angelus remained empty. An unusual quiet blanketed the streets of Rome, with fewer of the usual crowds of faithful and tourists.

At least one U.S. bishop said President Donald Trump needs to apologize, and even his closest prelate in the church, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, said it was "not good."

Despite the warm embrace from Romans and while Rome observes nine days of mourning for the popular late pope, a few of Francis' detractors inside the College of Cardinals are speaking out. 

Despite hopes for potential sainthood, in Argentina, "we cry because we did not fully understand or appreciate the extent of his global leadership," said an Argentine priest.

"He knew how to speak to each one of us with acts of love, to those of us who are migrants … those of us who are marginalized," said one Guatemalan migrant living in Rome.

Many young people who had planned to attend the canonization of Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, were among those who paid their respects to the late pontiff April 26. 

A simplified papal funeral will make a fitting farewell for a pontiff who just three days after his surprise election expressed his desire for "a church that is poor and for the poor."

Maria Bambina Sr. Susana Vanni says Argentina's divisions, then Pope Francis' health, likely tilted against the longed-for papal visit to his native country.

Latin Americans observed that Pope Francis, the first pope from the new world, brought to the Vatican a new way of talking about God, lifting up causes and convictions that they shared.

As migrants in the U.S. scramble amid rapidly changing policies, congregations join forces to help immigration-related ministries near San Diego.

Dominican Sr. Carol Gilbert joined Catholics and members of various faiths for a Holy Week vigil April 14 in the park in front of the White House, to support the family of deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

At a March event for sister researchers, sponsored by the Hilton Foundation, sisters shared ways data can enrich ministries and general knowledge of women religious.

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University organized a panel highlighting the downstream and life-or-death effects of the recent cuts to USAID.

In his installation Mass, McElroy addressed some of the nation's current tensions but also emphasized the need for hope and dignity.

Sisters are participating in the church's campaign: "Yes to life, no to mining," calling for the restoration of a law against metal mining in El Salvador. 

"He is loved by many, many, many people": From Buenos Aires to Mexico City, Latin Americans expressed closeness to the Argentine pope as he battles double pneumonia for the second week in a hospital room in Rome.

The Trump administration's effort to shutter USAID "is getting in the way of us being an influence of good and showing Christ's love in a tangible and practical way," one person attending the rally told NCR.

As President Trump moves to expel migrants unauthorized to be in the U.S., a group of Salvadoran mothers warn that deportees could suffer the same fate as their sons and daughters: sent to prison without due process.

"We have to be prophets of hope" and prevent mining water contamination, "including physically, if necessary," Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez said in a homily, as El Salvador is poised to reverse its ban on metal mining.