Catholic News Service

Pope Francis, Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and the Rev. Jim Wallace, moderator of the Church of Scotland, marked the 10th anniversary of South Sudan's independence and promised to visit the country when it has a stable peace.

The Vatican's indictments of Cardinal Angelo Becciu and nine others may prove to be a litmus test for Pope Francis' efforts to reform the Vatican's finances, which have been marred by scandals over decades.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines elected Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Caloocan as its new president July 8. He will begin his two-year term as head of the conference Dec. 1.

The South Korean archbishop who was recently appointed prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Clergy said that while a papal visit to North Korea seems very unlikely, it could be just the outside intervention needed to overcome the stalemate dividing the Korean Peninsula.

Bishop Douglas Lucia, whose downtown Syracuse office sits on the ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation, hopes to meet with Pope Francis "to re-examine" 15th-century Vatican documents that justified colonization, land takeovers and oppression of Indigenous peoples.

Condemning the "heinous assassination" of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, Pope Francis urged the people of Haiti to shun violence and make a commitment to dialogue and solidarity as the path to a better future.

Pope Francis has chosen Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, a Jesuit, to serve as relator general of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Mexico's bishops have expressed dismay with a Supreme Court decision to declare "unconstitutional" laws prohibiting the use of recreational marijuana.

As a worldwide religious order, Franciscan friars need to find new and better ways to welcome the diversity of their members and allow it to challenge the ways they live the Gospel in the world, said Fr. Michael Perry, the order's minister general.

The organization of the universal Catholic Church has a precise hierarchy, but there is no such thing as a "vice pope," who steps in when the reigning pontiff is traveling abroad, ill or under anesthesia.

The day after issuing its final opinions for the current term, the Supreme Court announced it was taking up one religious rights case and rejecting another for its next term. Both cases sound somewhat familiar based on previous court rulings.

Nearly 400 religious leaders have signed on as public supporters of a statement calling for passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, currently pending in Congress. Known as the PRO Act, the bill proposes the most significant overhaul of labor law in decades.

A Honduran court ruled that a former executive of a hydroelectric dam was a co-collaborator in the the 2016 murder of Berta Cáceres, an environmental leader and Indigenous rights advocate.

Activists who oppose the death penalty said the Justice Department's temporary stop of federal executions is a step in the right direction, but not enough.

Jesuit Fr. Stan Swamy, 84, jailed on dubious terrorism charges since October, died July 5 at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. He had been moved to the hospital from jail in late May, under orders from a local court.

The Diocese of Fargo said July 2 it has added the late Bishop James S. Sullivan, sixth bishop of Fargo, to its list of clergy with credible accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

More churches across Canada have been destroyed or damaged by fires that police are describing as suspicious or suspected arson.

Bishops seek to encourage local churches to commit to protecting world's second-largest tropical forest from destruction while 'taking into account the dignity of the people' who live there.

With the approval of Pope Francis, the Vatican has ordered the dissolution of an Italy-based lay movement, citing problems with the group's origins, catechesis, governance and finances.

Business leaders must invest more in the common good and less in lining their own pockets, Pope Francis said.