March 9, 2022

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Two Catholic cardinals sent by Pope Francis to Ukraine met on Tuesday with the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the head of Ukraine’s Latin Rite bishops’ conference. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, was pictured in Lviv, western Ukraine, with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki. During the meeting the three men spoke directly with the pope via telephone. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250616/papal-envoy-meets-catholic-leaders-in-ukraine Major Archbishop Shevchuk said that “priests are being killed” amid fighting in the north, south, and east of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24. “Our spiritual heritage is being destroyed by bombing,” he said. “Churches, our spiritual values, cultural treasures.” The major archbishop stressed the unity among religious bodies in Ukraine, a country with a population of 44 million people before the war. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250618/ukraine-war-our-aspiritual-heritage-is-being-destroyed-by-bombing-says-catholic-leader Pope Francis has announced his prayer intention for March. The pope is praying that bioethical issues will be approached with respect for human life and dignity. The pope’s prayer video, released March 8, included images of a pregnant woman, a sonogram of a preborn child, an infant soon after birth, and an elderly woman in the hospital. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250607/this-is-pope-francis-prayer-intention-for-march-2022 In President Joe Biden’s statement Tuesday in observance of International Women’s Day, the president detailed his administration’s efforts intended to improve the status of women, including the launch of “a whole-of-government effort to protect reproductive rights.” In contrast, pro-life groups, such