Associated Press

Other papal Masses have drawn millions of people in more populous countries, such as the Philippines, Brazil and Poland. But the estimated crowd of 600,000 people in East Timor was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever in terms of the proportion of the population.

Pope Francis' visit to Papua New Guinea will take him to a remote part of the South Pacific island nation where Christianity is a recent addition to traditional spiritual beliefs developed over millennia.

Here are some takeaways from the AP's reporting on Vance's Catholicism and the Catholic thinkers in his circle of influence.

The president of East Timor sees Pope Francis' upcoming visit as a prime opportunity to promote Asia's youngest country on the world stage, not a time to confront the legacy of abuse by influential members of the clergy in the deeply Catholic nation. Many Timorese doubt or are willing to look past the serious charges involving Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who was secretly sanctioned by the church and is banned from voluntary contact with minors. The pope has met with abuse victims in other countries, but it's not clear if he will do so or address the matter publicly in East Timor.

The professors and media personalities in this network don’t all agree on everything — even on what to call themselves —  but most go by “postliberal.” They share some longstanding Catholic conservative views, such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. But where Catholic conservatives of the past have seen big government as a problem rather than a solution, the postliberals want a muscular government — one that they control.

The Catholic Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, and five of its priests whose legal status in the United States expires as soon as next spring, have now sued the federal agencies overseeing immigration. They argue that the change “will cause severe and substantial disruption to the lives and religious freedoms” of the priests as well as the hundreds of thousands of Catholics they serve.

Pope Francis will come face to face with the Timorese faithful on his first trip to the country, a former Portuguese colony that makes up half of the island of Timor off the northern coast of Australia. But so far, there is no word if he will meet with victims or even mention the sex abuse directly, as he has in other countries where the rank-and-file faithful have demanded an accounting from the hierarchy for how it failed to protect their children.

Pope Francis will hold an interfaith meeting with representatives of Indonesia's six officially recognized religions as the populous Southeast Asian nation faces growing challenges to its tolerant image.

Tania Tetlow has earned a reputation as a trailblazer. She became the first woman and first layperson to serve as president of two Jesuit schools — first at Loyola University New Orleans and now at Fordham University in New York City.

NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Tracy Dyson are both members of Houston-area Providence Baptist Church. They are also both astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Here's how the church and their congregants continue to worship, even from outer space.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public under new laws approved by the supreme leader in efforts to combat vice and promote virtue.

According to the decree by the Vatican's department for religious orders, which was posted on the website of the Peruvian bishops conference, Francis gave his explicit authorization to expel Figari from the movement, even though canon law didn’t precisely cover his alleged misconduct.

It was no ordinary Sunday on Mexico City’s famed Xochimilco canals. Instead of tourists and locals hanging out with friends, the brightly painted boats known as “trajineras” were filled with Catholics honoring a relic of St. Jude Thaddeus, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles and patron saint of impossible causes.

Two activists from animal rights group PETA interrupted Pope Francis’ general audience on Wednesday, shouting and holding up banners against bullfighting before being escorted out of Paul VI Hall. The two were wearing t-shirts reading “Stop blessing corridas” and holding banners saying “Bullfighting is a sin.” PETA has been pleading with the Pope to cut the Catholic Church’s ties with bullfighting and condemn the “despicable blood sport.”

The suit was filed in June by parents of Louisiana public school children with various religious backgrounds who contend the law violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty. Proponents of the law argue that it is not solely religious but that the Ten Commandments have historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.

Already known to many as “St. Romero of the Americas,” San Salvador’s archbishop was beloved among the working class and poor for defending them against repression by the army. But he was loathed by conservative sectors who saw him as aligned with leftist causes as the country descended into a 1980-1992 civil war.

The investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland found marked and unmarked graves at 65 of the more than 400 U.S. boarding schools where Native American children were forcibly assimilated into white society. The findings don't specify how each child died, but officials said the causes of death included disease and abuse during a 150-year period that ended in 1969.

Among their bold performances was a scene that seemed to evoke Leonardo da Vinci’s "The Last Supper," featuring the drag queens and other performers in a configuration reminiscent of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, afterward drew attention away from "The Last Supper" references, saying that hadn't been his intention.

Sixty people allege in new lawsuits filed in Missouri that they were abused as children by dozens of Catholic priests, nuns and others, and the man who now leads the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, is among the accused.