Associated Press

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.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said Feb. 10 it may declare bankruptcy in the coming months as it faces "staggering" legal costs in dealing with some 400 lawsuits alleging priests and others sexually abused children.

The Church of England’s national assembly on Feb. 9 voted to let priests bless same-sex marriages and civil partnerships, while continuing to ban church weddings for the same couples.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI's second secretary came out with a new memoir on Feb. 9, a light, photo-filled daily journal that sharply contrasts with the bombshell tell-all book published last month by the late German pope's main assistant.

A Nigerian priest was burned alive in his home in the country's north on Jan. 15, police said.

Pope Francis will deliver a final send-off for Cardinal George Pell during a funeral Mass on Jan. 14, the Vatican said, as revelations emerge of the Australian prelate's growing concern about what he considered the "disaster" and "catastrophe" of the papacy under Francis.

A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a $121 million reorganization plan for one of the oldest Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S. as it tries to stem financial losses from clergy abuse claims that date back decades.

The Vatican has detailed rituals and procedures to follow when a pope dies, but it has not published such rules for a pope emeritus. As a result, official word on December 28 that the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had worsened prompted questions about what happens if and when he dies.

Twenty years after city prosecutors convened a grand jury to investigate the handling of priest-abuse complaints within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the tortuous legal case came to an end with a cleric's misdemeanor no contest plea in a near-empty City Hall courtroom.

Opposition lawmakers in Italy are seeking a parliamentary commission of inquiry into three cold cases that have consumed the Italian public's imagination for decades, including the 1983 disappearance of a 15-year-old that was highlighted in the Netflix documentary, “Vatican Girl.”

President Joe Biden on Dec. 19 expressed alarm about growing antisemitism in the United States and around the globe and vowed to fight back against the scourge.

A Vatican-appointed investigator who helped bring to light decades-old allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse against a famous Jesuit priest is calling for the hierarchs who hid his crimes to “humbly ask the world to forgive the scandal.”

Pope Francis' Jesuit order on Dec. 18 asked any more victims to come forward with complaints against a famous Jesuit artist who was essentially let off the hook by the Vatican twice despite devastating testimony by women who said he sexually and spiritually abused them.

Pope Francis has decided to send back to Greece the three fragments of Parthenon Sculptures that the Vatican Museums have held for centuries, the Vatican announced Dec. 16.