Faith is a journey guided by the Holy Spirit, who helps the church grow in understanding the sinful nature of once-accepted practices like slavery and the death penalty, Pope Francis said.

Each person taking the pledge promises to educate, advocate and pray for an end to capital punishment.

Oklahomans overwhelmingly support capital punishment, despite highly publicized problems with lethal-injection drugs that prompted state officials to put a temporary moratorium on executions in 2015.

To take Holy Communion in the face of death is to say that it is fellowship, and not food, that matters most.

During oral arguments, the court seemed evenly divided as it examined whether an Alabama death-row inmate should get a new sentencing hearing because he did not have a mental health expert during his sentencing trial more than 30 years ago.