With search and rescue efforts underway for the tornado that whipped through Alabama and other parts of the South March 3, Mobile Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi asked for prayers for “those who lost their lives and their loved ones as well as those who have lost homes and businesses.”

Americans have shifted toward a pro-life stance in recent weeks during a period when some states are considering legislation that would legalize abortion up until birth, according to a new poll.

The Missouri House of Representatives Feb. 27 passed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, an omnibus bill that bans abortion when the heartbeat of an unborn child can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks “depending on the method used.”

The Senate in an evening vote Feb. 25 failed to advance a measure sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, that would have required babies born alive after an abortion to be given medical attention and “the same protection of law as any newborn.”

Pope Francis has named Bishop David Talley to Memphis, Tennessee – a diocese still recovering from a tumultuous two-years under its previous head that led to a Vatican investigation into his management style and his forced removal from office.

One of the dioceses hardest hit by this summer’s Pennsylvania grand jury report chronicling decades of clergy sex abuse and cover-up has released a five-point action plan for child safeguarding and transparency.

If the global clergy sex abuse crisis was once thought of as an “American” problem, Pope Francis’ efforts to get the global Church to take the issue seriously may now be drawing on American solutions.