Catholic News Service

In the spirit of Advent as a season of hope, Syracuse Bishop Robert Cunningham said he hoped the Dec. 3 release of a list of clergy credibly accused of abusing minors over the past 70 years would bring "some peace and healing" to those directly affected and to the faith community at large.

The chairman and CEO of the Eternal Word Television Network said the global Catholic media organization is "grateful that finally" it no longer "has to worry about being forced to choose between massive fines and following our faith."

The revelation in late November that a Chinese researcher had edited genes in human embryos and then implanted them in a woman was "a train wreck of a thing to do," said an ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.

The Catholic Church has been slow to recognize the presence of homosexual men in the priesthood, which is why superiors must exercise care in helping gay candidates prepare for a life of celibacy or leave the seminary, Pope Francis said.

Christians can turn Christmas into a "pagan" or "mundane" holiday by focusing on the gifts and the tree rather than on the birth of Jesus and his promise to come again, Pope Francis said.

Selling Dorothy Day's former New York parish to make way for luxury apartments would be a devastating blow to residents and former parishioners in a neighborhood threatened by gentrification, an American researcher said.

When he was running for re-election in 1992, President George H.W. Bush told Catholic News Service that he believed that a strong religious faith could provide "an extra shot of strength when you need it."

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Nov. 29 released the names of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.

A major scientific report by 13 federal agencies that concludes that climate change poses dire economic consequences to the United States and already is affecting the wellbeing of people serves as a warning that demands action to protect the earth, Catholics working on environmental concerns said.

Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said the archdiocese planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following the recommendation of several consultative groups.

A Honduran court found seven men guilty of the murder of indigenous human rights and environmental advocate Berta Cáceres.

Agents from the office of New Mexico's attorney general executed a search warrant to obtain records from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe regarding at least two former priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

The head of a Catholic order that runs homes for psychiatric patients welcomed the first prosecutions of Belgian doctors for an illegal act of euthanasia.

French-speaking Canadians will begin using a new translation of the Our Father Dec. 2. It changes a passage that formerly read "do not subject us to temptation" in French to "do not let us enter into temptation."

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure late Nov. 27 to provide humanitarian relief to genocide victims in Iraq and Syria and to hold Islamic State perpetrators accountable.

The Field Hospital: Friars and Sisters of the Poor Jesus hope that food and bottled water will be the first step in lifting the city's growing homeless population out of poverty.

Laredo's Bishop James Tamayo is calling church leaders and lay faithful to "extend the compassion of Christ" to those who come to Catholic churches in need.

People can disagree about problems and the best ways to resolve them, but no one should launch a formal accusation against a pope much less ask for his resignation, German Cardinal Gerhard Muller said.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte renewed his attacks on Catholic leaders and urged Filipinos to stop going to church altogether.

Every heart enslaved by false idols and evil desires needs a "transplant" with a heart filled with love, joy, goodness, hope and generosity, Pope Francis said.