Senate Republicans Dec. 6 blocked an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel while calling for strict new policies at the U.S.-Mexico border opposed by some Catholic immigration advocates.

Russian occupation authorities have banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other Catholic ministries in occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to the church's main communications office in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s Secret Service, SBU, has gathered evidence against Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who, it said, “blessed the racists to kill Ukrainians.”

The fate of two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests remains unknown almost a year after their capture by the Russian National Guard amid Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Forum 18, an Oslo, Norway-based news service that covers religious and intellectual freedom violations in several countries.

The University of Alberta has closed an endowment fund and returned its donation to the family of a man who fought with a Nazi unit during the Second World War.

A Russian aerial attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv has killed one and destroyed a warehouse belonging to Caritas-Spes, the Roman Catholic mission of Caritas in Ukraine.

After meeting with a Chinese official in Beijing to discuss paths toward peace in Ukraine and ensuring grain exports from the country, Pope Francis' special envoy is expected to return to Moscow, Russia's foreign minister said.

Pope Francis’ comments praising the historical Russian empire in a video conference with Russian youth were “very surprising” and “unfortunate,” says the newly appointed head of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of New Westminster.

Russian clergy and lay Catholics were "caught by surprise" by the pope's remarks in a video call Aug. 25 to a youth gathering in St. Petersburg praising the country's past empire and urging young people to "never give up this heritage."

The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church said Ukrainians were shocked when Pope Francis told Russian Catholic youths to be proud of their heritage and cited two historic Russian leaders that, the archbishop said, are "the worst example of imperialism and extreme Russian nationalism."

Some World Youth Day pilgrims in Portugal were critical of Pope Francis for failing to condemn Russia’s brutal invasion of their homeland.

On the feast of Mary's assumption into heaven, Pope Francis entrusted to her people's prayers for peace, especially in Ukraine.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law a bill moving the official observance of Christmas Day to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7, when Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church mark the holiday.

As the war in Ukraine approaches its 18th month with no end in sight, the humanitarian needs are greater than ever in the war-devastated country, says Anna Dombrovska, Ukraine program coordinator for the pontifical charity Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).

A Russian attack on a key Ukrainian port city has partially destroyed a historic Ukrainian Orthodox cathedral and UNESCO World Heritage site, prompting international outrage and pledges to rebuild.