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The apostolic visitation of U.S. communities of religious women, though initially met with some resistance, ended up promoting a greater sense of unity in the church and helped the women become more aware of how God is working in their lives, said the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Co

A massive, detailed Vatican-ordered investigation of U.S. communities of women religious ended with a call to the women themselves to continue discerning how best to live the Gospel in fidelity to their orders' founding ideals while facing steeply declining numbers and a rapidly aging membership

The $1.1 trillion federal spending bill approved by the House of Representatives Dec. 11 and pending in the Senate avoided a repeat of last year's government shutdown and largely keeps in place social services spending, especially programs benefiting low-income families.Beyond the current fiscal

As a 17-year-old convert to Christianity living in Pakistan, Ali (not his real name) was stabbed in the chest and left for dead by Muslims upset he had rejected their faith.When he fled to England, his assailants tracked him down and threatened him.A chance meeting with an Anglican priest led to tem

During the second year of his pontificate, Pope Francis was still feeling the love, and not just from Catholics or those from his homeland of Argentina.A Pew Research Center study released Dec. 11 showed that the pope has broad support across much of the world. Sixty percent of the 43 nations polled

Dressed in green T-shirts and clutching statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe covered in plastic, a group of pilgrims from Guerrero prayed, posed for photos in front of the basilica dedicated to the national patroness, set out on a march to their hometown in the hills south of Mexico City.They described

Latin American church leaders apologized for historical complicity with colonial atrocities in the Amazon and called for a church with an "Amazonian face" in a pastoral letter issued as negotiators from around the world met for a climate summit here."The exploitation of the Amazon thr

Leaders must ‘overcome distrust; promote a culture of solidarity’

When shopping and when interacting with people on city streets, everyone can help fight the evil of modern-day slavery, Pope Francis said in his annual message (click here for Spanish) for the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1."Together with the social responsibility of businesses, there is als

The chairman of the U.S bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace said acts of torture outlined in a Senate Intelligence Committee report "violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong."Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico,