"Francis' twin ideas of fraternity and social friendship underscore the urgency of Ubuntu in our present-day context, where the fabric of humanity is riven by atavistic conflicts, ideological division, isolationist paranoia and political polarization that take a catastrophic toll on the weak and vulnerable," writes Orobator.

• In Fratelli Tutti, a lengthy and wide-ranging encyclical letter, Pope Francis says the continuing global health crisis makes it "all the more urgent that we rethink our styles of life."

• Fratelli Tutti synthesizes much of Pope Francis' social magisterium, proposing a long-overdue conversation about moral obligations within the one human family. Yet, amid this, women are largely absent, writes Meghan Clark, associate professor at St. John's University in New York.

• The release of Pope Francis' latest encyclical has been greeted by a number of leading U.S. Catholics as a letter that speaks directly to a deeply polarized church and country.

This summer while cantoring during Mass, Margaret Hillman was overcome by traumatic flashbacks that caused her to have panic attacks while singing music by composer David Haas. 

Hillman's flashbacks were triggered by a press release from SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), which supported the reports Into Account collected from several women accusing Haas of sexual and spiritual abuse. Two weeks later, Hillman filed her own report with Into Account, describing sexual abuse by Haas.

Last week, Into Account released a new 22-page report compiling 44 women's harrowing accounts of sexual and spiritual abuse by Haas which spans 41 years. 

This July, Hillman, fellow survivor Susan Bruhl and former Haas colleague Laurie Delgatto-Whitten sent letters to all dioceses requesting to publicly ban Haas' music from liturgies, to ban him from working in the dioceses, and to reach out to other potential survivors of abuse. 

At press time, of the 174 dioceses contacted, 35 responded that they will ban Haas and his music, 36 responded to the letters but did not make a firm commitment to fully ban his music, and 103 have not responded to the women. 

Until Wednesday,

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