A Catholic women's leadership organization, the GIVEN Institute, which aims to encourage and train young women in leadership roles in the church and society, officially launched Sept. 12.

The leaders of the U.S. bishops' conference said they shared with Pope Francis how the church in the United States has been "lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse."

The Vatican confirmed an ongoing investigation into financial irregularities involving the directors of the Sistine Chapel Choir.

Bransfield had been implicated in 2012 in an infamous Philadelphia priestly sex abuse case.

As U.S. Catholic leaders head to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis about a growing church abuse crisis, the cardinal leading the delegation has been accused by two people of not doing enough to stop a priest who was arrested this week on sexual abuse charges.

As she sat outside her hut making jewelry to sell to tourists, 9-year-old Sajon Lengupayi pleaded with passers-by to rescue her from an early marriage that she said her parents arranged without her consent.