VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ extended hospitalization and care is a reminder that every human being, especially the frail or elderly, must be given proper care, said Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. “What I would hope is that what we do for the pope we must do for everybody, for all the elderly, for all those who are alone, for all the abandoned,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference at the Vatican March 3. Entering his 18th day at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for double pneumonia, the 88-year-old pope “is...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis experienced “an asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the use of oxygen at high flows” Feb. 22, said the daily medical bulletin released by the Vatican. In addition to needing more oxygen, which was administered through a nasal cannula, the bulletin said that the 88-year-old pope required a blood transfusion after tests “showed plateletopenia, associated with anemia.” Plateletopenia is a low platelet count. In English it is more commonly called thrombocytopenia. “The Holy Father’s condition continues to be critical; therefore, as explained yesterday, the pope is not out of danger,”...

ROME (CNS) — Smiles, laughter, prayer and strategizing abound at the Bishops’ Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican. Just a few blocks from Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain, the visitors’ office is where hundreds of Americans — and not only — go on Tuesday afternoons to pick up their tickets for the pope’s weekly general audience on Wednesdays. They are welcomed by the Mercy Sisters of Alma, Michigan, aided by U.S. priests and seminarians studying in Rome. The office is sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Pontifical North American College. After requesting tickets online before beginning their journeys,...

https://www.usccb.org/news/2025/goal-catholic-education-flourishing-each-individual-and-their-ultimate-salvation-says   WASHINGTON – Catholic schools are an education model rooted in the recognition of the inherent dignity of every person, said Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education. He expressed gratitude to Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Congressman Darin LaHood of Illinois for introducing bipartisan resolutions celebrating National Catholic Schools Week; read the resolution here. “I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to Catholic educators for their steadfast dedication to forming students in the Catholic faith. It is through their dedicated service to the educational ministry of the...