Referring to the statue as "Pachamama," like many media had done, Pope Francis told bishops at the synod that the statues had been displayed in the Rome church "without any idolatrous intention."

It's not every day that a documentary film director gets a congratulatory phone call from legendary filmmaker Ken Burns. But that's what happened in mid-October for Elizabeth Coffman, an associate professor of film and digital media at Loyola University Chicago, who got a call from a New Hampshire area code while she was teaching class.

A group of nonprofits in Kansas argues the loans prey on people who can least afford triple-digit interest rates.

In a statement following their emergency meeting Oct. 23 led by Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch, the Christian leaders said of the protesting Lebanese, "We express solidarity with their peaceful uprising."

The bodies of 31 men and eight women -- all believed to be Chinese -- were found Oct. 23 in a refrigerated container near Purfleet, a port on the River Thames.