"No one ever thought about depriving Caritas of these funds," Raggi told L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Jan. 14. "The diocesan agency plays an important role for many needy and for the city of Rome, which wants to continue to be the capital of welcome for the weakest."

The Diocese of Pittsburgh in a statement emailed to Catholic News Service Jan. 11 confirmed that then-Bishop Wuerl informed the papal nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, in 2004 of the allegation against the former cardinal.

The news comes as other countries in Asia are starting to waken to the threat posed by mountains of plastic left at refuse dumps or dumped at sea.

The budget bill try to end the partial government shutdown includes a provision to repeal the "Mexico City Policy" that prohibits U.S. funding of foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion.

Managua Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Jose Baez reiterated his calls for dialogue and respecting human dignity in Nicaragua, where the president has crushed protests, closed critical media outlets and persecuted anyone -- including priests -- publicly opposing his administration.

Catholic Relief Services is working with local partners to help determine the greatest needs of survivors of Indonesia's Dec. 22 tsunami.

In a statement issued on December 18, 2018, Greg Schleppenbach, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, decried the epousal by Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, of using fetal tissue from aborted babies for use in medical research.

Archbishop Luc Ravel of Strasbourg and Pope Francis decry the terrorist attack that occurred on December 11, 2018 at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, where two were killed an twelve injured.

The bill will provide humanitarian relief to genocide victims in Iraq and Syria and hold accountable Islamic State perpetrators of genocide.

In a message marking the anniversary of their country's December 1991 referendum on independence from the Soviet Union, Ukrainian Catholic bishops said Ukrainians had a "right and sacred duty" to defend themselves against "Russian aggression," but should also avoid yielding to alarm and panic.