DENVER, COLO. (CNA/EWTN News) - Hundreds of demonstrations were held outside of Planned Parenthood clinics across the U.S. this weekend with protesters calling on the federal government to stop funding the abortion giant.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - The Senate failed to bring a bill to block federal funding of Planned Parenthood to the floor on Monday evening, in a much-anticipated vote.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - Hundreds of women - along with scores of men - gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest what they see as betrayal of the nation's women at the hands of Planned Parenthood.

WASHINGTON - Cardinal Seán O'Malley, OFM Cap., archbishop of Boston and chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), responded, July 29, to recent videos showing leaders from Planned Parenthood discussing the provision of fetal organs, tissues, and body parts from their abortion clinics.

OMAHA, NEB. (CNA/EWTN News) - With the hope of providing authentic and ethical health care for women, Dr. Thomas Hilgers, creator of Natural Procreative Technology, has worked for decades to establish a medical network that studies, understands, and treats the female fertility cycle.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The bishops chairing two committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) renewed the bishops' opposition to the death penalty in a message, July 16. The message commemorated the 10th anniversary of the bishops' Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty and their accompanying message, "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death."

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA) - An undercover video report on Planned Parenthood providing fetal body parts for harvesting and research should shock the conscience of the country, pro-life members of Congress insisted Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - On Monday afternoon the Supreme Court of the United States temporarily halted Texas' regulations on abortion clinics, which were upheld by an appellate court earlier in the month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the continued use of a drug that has been accused of causing excruciating pain in several controversial state executions.

The Office of Pro-Life Activities has begun a campaign to distribute signs, bumper stickers, magnets and other materials advertising an outreach center for pregnant women in need and a counseling service for women and men who have experienced abortion.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - In his new encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis slams attacks against human life such as abortion, embryonic experimentation and population control - saying that respect for creation and human dignity go hand in hand.

It's contraception's 50th anniversary - on June 7, 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in the Griswold v. Connecticut case that contraception was legal.

"I felt I'd committed the unforgiveable sin."

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death for all Americans. It does not discriminate. It takes life without regard to age, income, ability, race, or gender. In the U.S., someone attempts suicide every 32 seconds, and someone completes a suicide every 14 minutes

Care for the dying, advocates against the death penalty, an encounter with Pope Francis and the superhero in all of us. Here's our weekly roundup of interesting Catholic links from around the web to get you started for the week.

Bishop Richard J. Malone will celebrate a special Mothers' Day Mass at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 10, at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo. The Mass will include the Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb.

While a difficult topic, the prospect of end-of-life care is one nearly everyone must face at some point. In order to make choices easier for local families, the Respect Life Committee of Our Lady of Pompeii Parish in Lancaster has organized a conference designed to inform families about caring for aging or ill family members with dignity and in accordance with Catholic teaching.

More than a hundred people went to Mass first thing Saturday morning in North Buffalo; not just for the Eucharist, but also to show support for the Catholic teaching on life and marriage. Bishop Richard J. Malone noted the consistent attacks on pro-life beliefs and traditional marriage resembled the work of Satan as he presided over a Rosary Novena for Life and March for Marriage celebration at St. Rose of Lima Parish.

Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone and the Office of Pro-Life Activities invite all to participate in prayer for a culture of life at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, at the Rosary Novena for Life Mass at St. Rose of Lima Parish, 500 Parker Ave., Buffalo. All priests and deacons are invited to concelebrate and vest for Mass.

Washington D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - The U.S. Supreme Court has continued its trend of decisions stopping enforcement of a federal contraception mandate against religious employers with moral objections.

New York is facing three bills that could allow physician-assisted suicide to take place in the Empire State. The New York bishops are urging voters to prevent these bills from becoming law.

Topeka, Kan. (CNA/EWTN News) - Kansas became on Tuesday the first state to ban abortions by a procedure known as "dilation and evacuation," which is common during second-trimester abortions and is called "dismemberment abortion" in the law.

The 2015 annual Rosary Novena for Life commences on Saturday, March 28, with 8 a.m. Mass at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Parkside and Parker avenues, Buffalo, and will continue on one Saturday each month through November.

Over two dozen people gathered in Dunkirk to pay respects to a life lost. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish hosted a memorial service on March 14, for "Baby Jesse." a fetus discovered last August on the shore of Lake Erie State Park just south of Dunkirk.

The diocesan Office of Pro-Life Activities held its fourth annual banquet to support the St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center on Feb. 11. The dinner gathered those who work in the pro-life ministries throughout the diocese to hear the testimonies of people affected by the center. Bishop Richard J. Malone led a prayer for those in attendance.

At some point every family must deal with issues involving end of life care for a loved one. As Catholics attempt to navigate the myriad medical, ethical, and religious questions that arise, all the while dealing with the grief of an impending death, it can become overwhelming.

Bishop Richard J. Malone has named Kevin A. Keenan as diocesan representative to the New York State Public Policy Committee. In this role Keenan will serve as a voice for Bishop Malone and the Diocese of Buffalo to Albany legislators.

This month, the St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center will hold its fourth annual banquet to help benefit the center's ministry. The banquet will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m., at Classics V Banquet and Conference Center on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst. The event will feature a dinner and presentations from guest speakers.

WASHINGTON—Two recently enacted laws in the District of Columbia are "unprecedented assaults upon our organizations" and "violate the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association protected by the First Amendment and other federal law," said representatives of a number of national and local organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a February 5 letter to Congress.

Pro-life activists from across the country, including a delegation of representatives from the Diocese of Buffalo, assembled at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life 2015 on Jan. 22. Before the event, Vicki Thorn, original founder of Project Rachel, the Catholic Church's official ministry for post-abortive women, discussed the work she has done.

Kaitlyn Hogg, a 14-year-old high school freshman from St. Gregory the Great Parish, Williamsville, was the youth award recipient at the presentation of the Pro-Vita Awards on Saturday at Our Lady of Victory Basilica, Lackawanna.

WASHINGTON—Over 10,000 pilgrims, many of them youth from schools around the nation, are expected to gather in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pray for an end to abortion at the Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life, Wednesday, January 21, at 6:30 p.m., the eve of the annual March for Life. The vigil coincides with the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision on January 22, 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide. Since the decision was handed down, an estimated 56 million abortions have been performed legally in the United States.

A Mass marking the observance of the 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion will take place on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 4:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory National Shrine, Ridge Road and South Park Ave., Lackawanna. The Most Reverend Richard J. Malone, bishop of Buffalo, will be the celebrant.

Christmas will be a little bit happier for some disadvantaged kids this year. An Amherst volunteer group has collected toys and clothes for several Catholic social service agencies.

Join the Buffalo Diocese and hundreds of thousands of Catholics and others in solidarity for a pilgrimage of public witness, penance and prayer for all those victimized by the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, and for the conversion of those who misguidedly perpetuate it.

Through special training with pro-life experts last May, 30 diocesan clergy heard of the feelings of guilt and anxiety experienced by women who terminated the lives of their unborn children. They also learned how to help them heal.

A current student at Christ the King Seminary is taking an opportunity to serve at the Office of Pro-Life Activities to help prepare for the day he becomes a priest.

Pope Francis has captivated the world with his humility, warmth and compassion for each person. Vivid accounts of his tenderness for "the least of these" - the elderly, the imprisoned, those with disfiguring disabilities, the unborn and many more - seize our attention. Why?

Cheryl Calire, director of the diocesan Office of Pro-Life Activities, sat among 150 of her colleagues in a leadership conference held in Charleston, S.C., in late July. The conference, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, allowed pro-life directors to share information and bring those practices back to their own dioceses.

Bishop Richard J. Malone will be the main celebrant and homilist at the annual Respect Life Mass on Sunday, October 5, at 10:30 a.m., at St. Joseph Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., Buffalo.