Nicaraguans overwhelmingly disapprove of the conviction and imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, according to a survey in the increasingly repressing Central American country, where the Sandinista regime continues cracking down on the Catholic Church.

In a surprise move, Pope Francis has appointed the Argentine theologian and archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández as the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Argentine bishops knew for certain as early as 1979 that it was the military junta’s official policy to “disappear” people in order to quash opposition. The Vatican urged the bishops’ conference to intervene using all possible means.

Catholics in Honduras prayed for the victims of a horrific massacre in a women’s prison—an attack underscoring the power of the country’s criminal gangs and their control over correctional facilities.

While religious groups have been at the forefront of the movement to divest from fossil fuels, the campaign to divest from mining is moving more slowly.

Allegations periodically have surfaced that then-Father Bergoglio either failed to protect Fathers Jálics and Yorio or even that he facilitated their kidnapping.