A Jesuit from the Zimbabwe-Mozambique province has said that the recent cyclone that hit Africa has "wiped out entire villages"; 2 million people have been affected and more than 700 people have been killed by the storm.

Pope Francis has sent $50,000 each to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to assist with initial emergency relief efforts.

"To define a whole category of people, or a whole nation, or a whole religious group as being in some way more prone to terrorism than any other group is irresponsible."

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee late March 19 expressed grief over the lives and livelihoods lost and threatened by the historic flooding in the Midwest and offered prayers for recovery.

Marcelo Gleiser, a native of Brazil, became the first Latin American to be awarded the Templeton Prize. A professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College, Gleiser, who is a professed agnostic, was acclaimed as a "scientist who rejects the notion that science alone can lead to ultimate truths about the nature of reality."

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon said Pope Francis would not accept his resignation following his conviction for covering up clerical sexual abuse, so he has decided to step aside temporarily for the good of the archdiocese.

"I share their concern for the welfare of both the child and the parents, but we disagree about the best way to treat them with both respect and compassion."

It is expected that Cardinal DiNardo will remain hospitalized for several days.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati ruled March 12 that the state of Ohio can stop funding Medicaid services provided by Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities.

An organization based in Silver Spring, Md., known as CLINIC--Catholic Legal Immigration Network--has called the Department of Homeland Security's decision not to include more recent arrivals from war-torn South Sudan (apart from those already here) as part of the Temporary Protected Status designation as "morally reprehensible."