the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference also thanked 93-year-old Mugabe for "the good work he did for Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle" against white rule and as president.

A Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians on Nov. 26 initiates “Solidarity in Suffering,” a week of awareness and education that runs through Dec. 3.

"These threats to so many vulnerable immigrant and refugee families must end now."

He came from an Irish family of profound Catholic convictions. Faith for him was a very precious inheritance for facing the difficulties of life.

Father John, in northern China, said he felt Xi had become "another Mao" Zedong.

Two leading bishops urged Catholics and all people of goodwill to show support of "our brothers and sisters in such dire need."

For 50 years, Nicholas Black Elk led others to Christ, often melding his Lakota culture into his Christian life.

The Justice Department said it was about to appeal a lower court decision allowing the teen to have an abortion when it realized she had already had the procedure earlier that day.

Cardinal Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Valladolid, president of the Spanish bishops' conference, expressed sadness for the Catalonian declaration of independence.

"This action is not humane," Bishop Tamayo said.