Pro-Russian protesters stormed government buildings in eastern Ukrainian cities.

South Sudan’s civil war has taken a brutal turn, despite appeals from the country’s church leaders to stop the violence. In the oil hub of Bentiu, rebels loyal to ousted Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, killed more than 200 civilians and wounded more than 400 in mid-April, the

A small group of Teresian Carmelites from Kerala, India, began working in the Diocese of Bismarck, N.D., in February, the first time members of the congregation have served in the Western Hemisphere. • Jesuits in Honduras have demanded an investigation after Carlos Mejia Orellana, 35, marketing

Tensions between Christian and Muslim communities in the Central African Republic appear to be rising. As the predominately Christian anti-balaka (“anti-machete”) militias continue to harass Muslims around the country, there are signs that Seleka rebels, who are mostly Muslim, are attemp

When the pope was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, he dragged the hidden problem of human slavery into broad daylight, annually celebrating open-air Masses in the city’s Constitution Square for and with victims of human trafficking. Now, as leader of the universal church, Pope F

“I feel called to take responsibility for all the evil some priests...have committed and to ask forgiveness for the damage they’ve done [because of] the sexual abuse of children,” Pope Francis said, speaking at the International Catholic Child Bureau meeting in Rome on April 11. &l

Georgetown hosts dialogue between believers and nonbelievers on role of religion in society.

An ecumenical prayer service called for healing on April 9 at Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church in Murrysville, Pa., after a 16-year-old student rampaged in the hallways of Franklin Regional High School near Pittsburgh, wounding 22. • Along with other leaders and organizations that defend the r

Pope Francis urging a peaceful, negotiated solution to the ongoing political crisis.

Pew researchers report that six of the world’s 12 nations with a “very high degree” of religious diversity can be found in the Asia-Pacific region—Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, China and Hong Kong; five are in sub-Saharan Africa—Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Ivory Coa