Big cases this year involved the president's travel ban, a same-sex wedding cake, gerrymandering, sports betting, cellphone tracking, union dues and pro-life pregnancy centers.

The bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States have for weeks expressed outrage and condemned the government's recent practice of separating children from a parent or a family member if they're caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without legal documentation.

A group of bishops, including the head of the U.S. bishops conference, will visit the border early next week.

The proposal, which had been called a "compromise" bill by Republicans, would have provided some respite to youth brought to the country illegally as minors, as well as some $25 million in funding for part of a wall along the border with Mexico.

The Washington-based Pew Research Center issued a report on religious freedom around the world last week that found that Europe registered the sharpest increase in “social hostilities concerning religion” in 2016, the last year for which it has full statistics.

In an unremarkable-looking conference room at a hotel in downtown Portland -- a city known for its dearth of traditional religious practice -- a gathering of Catholics from five states did something remarkable.