Associated Press

Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Bolivia acknowledged May 24 that the church had been deaf to the suffering of victims of sexual abuse, commenting as a pedophilia scandal involving priests is rocking the country.

An Illinois attorney general's office investigation released May 23 found that 451 Catholic clergy sexually abused nearly 2,000 children in the state over a nearly 70-year period, which was more than four times the 103 individuals the church named when the state began its review in 2018.

Pope Francis’ peace envoy for Ukraine, a veteran of the Catholic Church's conflict-mediation efforts, blasted war as a "pandemic" on May 23 and said all Christians are called to be peacemakers.

Pope Francis will travel to Portugal for World Youth Day in the first week of August and include a stop at the popular Marian shrine in Fatima, the Vatican said May 22.

A top Vatican cardinal defended Pope Francis' "drastic" leadership firings at the Holy See's preeminent charity, saying May 12 they were necessary for the wellbeing of staff at Caritas Internationalis and not a condemnation of its work.

Pope Francis could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican this weekend, a Vatican official said May 11.

The head of the Church of England on May 10 condemned a British government bill that would dramatically curb migrants' ability to seek asylum in the U.K., calling the policy "isolationist, morally unacceptable and politically impractical."

The Vatican is formally recognizing 21 Coptic Orthodox workers who were beheaded by Islamic militants in Libya as martyrs with their own feast day, in a significant new ecumenical gesture aimed at forging unity between Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy on May 8 due to hundreds of new child sex abuse claims, becoming the second diocese in California to do so.

The Vatican-backed charity confederation, Caritas Internationalis, is hoping to open a new chapter this week after Pope Francis fired top managers over bullying complaints. But the recently ousted head is fighting back, claiming the Vatican engaged in a "brutal power grab" fueled by a "colonialist" attitude.

Ukraine’s prime minister said he asked Pope Francis during a private Vatican audience April 27 to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia.

Pope Francis said he hopes to travel to his native Argentina in 2024, which would mark the first time he would step foot in his homeland since becoming pontiff a decade ago.

A federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims, The Associated Press found, an apparent conflict that could throw the case into disarray.

A former head of the Catholic German Bishops' Conference is giving up the country's highest honor following scathing criticism this week of his handling of clergy abuse cases during his tenure as archbishop of Freiburg and as a personnel officer in the diocese.

Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic bishop on April 21 said he has invited the state-appointed archbishop of Beijing to visit his city, a symbolic gesture that experts said could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.

The pope's cathedral in Rome, St. John Lateran Basilica, acknowledged April 20 that an Anglican bishop and 50 priests celebrated an Anglican service on the main altar and blamed the "unfortunate" incident on a miscommunication.

Hong Kong's Roman Catholic bishop said in a historic trip to Beijing that he hopes the dioceses of the two cities will have more exchanges and cooperation, local media reported April 20 amid signs of Sino-Vatican strains.

Hong Kong's Roman Catholic bishop arrived in Beijing on April 17, marking the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city's bishop in nearly three decades, despite signs of Sino-Vatican strains.

Pope Francis on April 16 publicly defended his predecessor Pope John Paul II, condemning as "offensive and baseless" insinuations that recently surfaced about the late pontiff.

A meeting between Germany's Catholic bishops and lay representatives agreed Friday to call for the church to approve blessings of same-sex unions.