Advocacy groups, including the U.S. bishops conference, have cautioned against allowing a government shutdown before the deadline on Sept. 30, urging lawmakers to come to an agreement and keep the government open.

The world and the Catholic Church today need to take a leap forward “in faith, charity and hope,” Pope Francis said in his homily at a late afternoon Mass in Marseille’s open-air stadium.

“The exploitation of migrants is criminal” as is their detention, Pope Francis told reporters in August, and “I am going to Marseille for this.”

The Catholic Church excommunicated Luther. The Lutheran Augsburg Confession calls the papacy the ‘anti-Christ.’ But both sides are hopeful about the future of Christian unity.

The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members.

A new report from Pew Research Center stated that American's views of the family are “complicated” and “more pessimistic” than previous statistics showed.