The Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops March 16 called for “the immediate cessation of Russia’s armed aggression and unprovoked war on Ukraine.”

The private secretary of Benedict XVI, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, has defended the former pope and criticised the Munich abuse report which made international headlines when it was released in January.

While Catholics generally are prone to religious switching, Black Catholics have the highest rates. Only 54 percent of U.S. Black Catholics who were raised in the faith remain so as adults.

Pope Francis has been invited to the besieged capital of Ukraine.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen has become the first in Germany to allow women to perform baptisms, citing a lack of priests.

“In the name of God, I ask: Stop this massacre,” the pope said March 13 at the end of his Sunday Angelus address.