In this Sunday’s “Good Shepherd” gospel, Jesus speaks of a flock in which all are embraced and none are excluded. Pope Francis was instrumental in helping the U.S. and Cuba move beyond the exclusionary rhetoric of the Cold War and into a closer relationship. He announced Wednesday a stop in Cuba on his way to the United States . . .

The world is mistaken about the church, just as it was about the revelation of Jesus, the reading from 1 John this Sunday asserts. A day after saying that progressive champion Sen. Elizabeth Warren was mistaken to oppose fast-track legislation to expedite a Pacific trade pact, President Obama Wednesday confronted a widening rift . . .

Peter falls under suspicion with Jewish authorities in this Sunday’s first reading for curing a crippled man. Vaccines that have prevented crippling diseases in children for decades have lately fallen under suspicion thanks to unfounded internet rumors about their supposed risks. But a bill that would require nearly all children in California . . .

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes,” opines the psalmist, raising issues of trust and skepticism this Sunday. President Obama on Wednesday paid his first visit to the Everglades, delivering an Earth Day speech that targeted Republican skeptics of global warning by pointing out the threat rising seas pose to the imperiled . . .

“Learning the art of discernment will go a long way in helping our children make wise choices. Our role as Catholic parents is to help facilitate that process by promoting what Pope John Paul II called a ‘culture of vocation’ within our families.”

Globally, 20 percent of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86 percent of total private consumption expenditures—the poorest 20 percent a minuscule 1.3 percent.