The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco heard oral arguments Oct. 19 in a lawsuit that aims to overturn a 2017 federal regulation expanding the exemption to the federal contraceptive mandate to include the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious employers.

The bishops of Virginia's two Catholic dioceses said in a joint statement Oct. 24 that they wanted to assure Catholics in the state and the public "we are cooperating with the attorney general's office."

The Vatican said only that Francis had "relieved (Holley) from the pastoral governance" of the diocese and named Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz to replace him temporarily.

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, will direct the Ignatian style retreat, the U.S.C.C.B. announced Oct. 23.

Catholic clergy and laypeople have been expelled from Myanmar's northern Shan state by a China-backed ethnic minority army.

Indiana's attorney general Oct. 15 petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review and reverse a ruling by a lower court declaring unconstitutional an Indiana law that makes it illegal for women in the state to have an abortion solely based on the race, gender or disability of a fetus.

Two U.S. Catholic leaders have called on Catholics to pray for victims of Hurricanes Michael and Florence, along with responders to these storms, and to donate to recovery efforts in the impacted areas.

The 15-year-old program has saved millions of lives around the world and prevented millions of new infections.

In the wake of Hurricane Michael, which left 13 known dead and more than 1 million without power two days after it ravaged the Florida panhandle, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, whose territory was smack in the path of the Category 4 storm, is moving from prayer to action.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo urged bishops make this special appeal and that "we each take up the collection as soon as possible so that those most in need can receive assistance quickly."