Editor's Notebook — Oct. 23

Good morning! It's Wednesday, Oct. 23, and currently 36 degrees in Indiana. I hope it's warmer where you are. Bishop Tebartz-van ElstCNS photoPope Francis, in his General Audience this morning, focused on Mary, saying that she models the Church's charity and "she teaches us to live a life of faith by her obedience to God’s will and by her unfailing devotion to Jesus and his work." The pope spent 3-and-a-half hours in St. Peter's Square greeting pilgrims, including kissing a child — then trying to make him smile by tickling his cheeks. The pope also suspended German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg (who has been called the "luxury bishop") for excessive spending. The move comes two days after the bishop met with the pope at the Vatican. Also at the Vatican yesterday, Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reaffirmed Church's teaching on divorced and remarried Catholics. Continuing the international news, Archbishop Josef Michalik of Poland continues to battle condemnation for remarks he made earlier this month about pedophilia. In the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in the wake of several sex abuse allegations, a pastor calls for a "fresh start in leadership" for archdiocese.  And, on the day the World Series begins between Boston and St. Louis, Cardinal Sean O'Malley has made a little wager.Gretchen R. Crowe is editor of OSV Newsweekly.