Pope Francis, in keeping with his predecessors, has sought every opportunity to improve relations with the Chinese government. With the news that a historic agreement is imminent, the Vatican faces a risk and an opportunity.

Even after revelations about sexual abuse in the church, 79 percent of U.S. Catholics—but only 53 percent of all Americans—hold a favorable view of Pope Francis, according to a Gallup poll.

A Catholic bishop has praised a decision by the British government not to impose exclusion zones around abortion clinics throughout the country.

In his celebration of Mass, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said he will be with the Catholics of West Virginia on the journey to "healing and reconciliation."

California's Stanford University will strip the name of 18th-century Franciscan friar, St. Junipero Serra, from some of its properties but keep a street named after him.

Hans Zollner, S.J., a member on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, shares his hopes for the church as a crisis that never ceases to shock and sorrow continues.