David Gibson - Religion News Service

Executive order expands protection for LGBT employees of federal contractors.

When the Supreme Court on June 30 issued a split decision narrowly backing the right of for-profit corporations to deny contraception coverage to their employees for religious reasons many assumed that faith-based nonprofits would have it easy when their own cases eventually reach the high court q

Top Catholic and Orthodox church officials in North America are calling on the Vatican to let married men become priests in Eastern rite Catholic churches another sign that optional celibacy could become a front-burner issue under Pope Francis Eastern rite Catholic churches have a look and feel sim

Are American nuns paying for the sins of a Jesuit priest who died in the 1950s It might seem that way given the ongoing showdown between doctrinal hard-liners in the Vatican and leaders representing more than 40 000 U S sisters with one of Rome rsquo s chief complaints being the nuns rsquo conti

To hear Cardinal Walter Kasper tell it he became the pope rsquo s point man for reform in the Catholic Church thanks to a bit of serendipity or if you will Providence before anyone knew that Francis was going to be the next Roman pontiff The genesis of their partnership Kasper recalled during

When Pope Francis canonizes Popes John XXIII and John Paul II on Sunday April 27 Catholics across the spectrum will have reason to cheer Liberals credit John with opening the church to the modern world in the 1960s and conservatives hail John Paul as reasserting orthodoxy after too many innovati

Popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be declared saints on Sunday April 27 the first-ever double papal canonization Here 39 s a quick guide to making saints in the Roman Catholic Church nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp There are currently about 10 000 saints on the church 39 s official roster The