"We don’t want an abrupt change that would produce a different type of gold rush: from Communism to consumerism overnight.”

The crackdown against Christianity has taken various forms.

This week-long journey takes him first to Cuba and then to the United States and is widely considered “the big one” of the year.

Pope Francis comes to embrace all Americans.

Timor-Leste is the world’s most densely populated Catholic country after Vatican City.

Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo and the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, signed the accord during an official ceremony at the Government Palace in Dili, the capital city, on August 14.