In an apostolic letter released at the close of the Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis called on the Catholic Church worldwide "to promote a culture of mercy in which no one looks at another with indifference or turns away from the suffering of our brothers and sisters."

"The problem that we have today, not only in society but also in the church, is that we've become too polarized," Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-born prelate who was bishop of Dallas before taking over a Vatican department on family life earlier this year, told America.

In Chicago, 17 people were lost to gun violence in a single weekend.

“Two priorities that we have are unity and governance,” said Jonathan Reyes, executive director of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. “So this divisive election—we somehow have to get to the other side. That will not be easy,

Euthanasia is occurring in Quebec at three times the rate the government predicted, but obtaining accurate statistics on medically assisted deaths across Canada is almost impossible and could lead to abuse, according to opponents of the practice.

The Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference, which includes the bishops of Sudan and South Sudan, said in a statement released on Nov. 8 that "there is nothing more needed than forgiveness"; to heal the divisions both countries have experienced over decades of conflict.