By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although it is not unusual for a pope to set aside temporarily the limit of 120 cardinals under the age of 80, Pope Francis has done so in a way that could last for more than a year.

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, seeks to follow Catholic ethical practices in investments, according to its latest annual report.

By Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Here are brief biographical notes about each of the 14 churchmen who will become cardinals June 29. Their names are listed in the order Pope Francis announced them May 20: — Iraqi Cardinal-designate Louis Raphael I Sako, the Chaldean Catholic patriarch, was ordained a bishop eight months after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The most desolate places in the world in need of Christ are where people are indifferent, even hostile to God and his love, Pope Francis said.

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Without its feminine dimension, the Catholic Church risks becoming an old boys club and incapable of love, Pope Francis said. The church must “remain female” and “have this attitude of a wife and mother” who nurtures her children, the pope said in his homily May 21 during a morning Mass commemorating the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.

By Catholic News Service HOUSTON (CNS) — In response to the May 18 school shooting at a Houston-area high school, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said the archdiocesan community would “unite to support and offer healing to those affected.” “As a society, we must strive for a way to end such acts of senseless gun violence in our schools and communities,” he added in a May 18 statement.

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis announced he would make 14 new cardinals June 29, giving the red cardinal’s hat to the papal almoner, the Iraq-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan, among others.

“I want to thank Anthony for responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit,” said Bishop Curtis Guillory, SVD, during the ordination of Anthony McFarland to the Order of Diaconate on May 19 at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica.

Editor’s Note:  This has been published through the Catholic New Service without an author provided. GENEVA (CNS) — Mourning the deaths of protesters in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the Vatican’s observer at U.N. agencies in Geneva urged people on both sides to let “wisdom and prudence prevail.” Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, the Vatican observer, spoke May 18 at a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council dedicated to discussing “the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.” Protests along the Gaza-Israeli border and in the West Bank continued after 60 people were killed May 14 in clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and al-Naqba, what Palestinians call their catastrophe — the creation of the State of Israel.

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Priests are called to love, care for others and prepare for the cross, Pope Francis said. Celebrating Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae May 18, Pope Francis focused his homily on the day’s reading from St. John’s Gospel (21:15-19).

By Office of Public Affairs, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has issued the following statement in the aftermath of the Santa Fe High School shooting: “Our community and our local church joins an ever-growing list of those impacted by the evil of gun violence.

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Every bishop in Chile offered his resignation to Pope Francis after a three-day meeting at the Vatican to discuss the clerical sexual abuse scandal.

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service ROME (CNS) — While taking selfies can be an occasion to capture treasured memories, it can also be a sign that young men and women are deprived of meaningful human interaction with others, Pope Francis said.

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service ROME (CNS) — After months of study and discussion, the parishes of the Diocese of Rome have recognized “a general and healthy exhaustion” with doing the same things over and over, touching the lives of fewer and fewer people as time goes on, Pope Francis said.

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican released an instruction with new norms for contemplative orders of nuns, encouraging cooperation among their monasteries and outlining procedures for communities left with only a few members.

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When a bishop leaves a diocese, he should give an honest assessment of what he has done and where he has fallen short, but mostly he should encourage people to follow the Lord, Pope Francis said.

By Walker Wooding There are approximately 294 homeless persons in the Southeast Texas counties of Jefferson, Orange and Hardin. But, homelessness is something other than statistics and numbers. When groups minister to the homeless, they don’t see numbers they see the face of Jesus.

By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis, the subject of a new documentary by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, is “the most fearless man I ever met,” the director said in a segment of the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” that aired May 13.

By Judith Sudilovsky, Catholic News Service JERUSALEM (CNS) — As the new United States embassy was inaugurated in Jerusalem May 14, violence broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers.