The Associated Press

Pope Francis on Dec. 8 made a surprise early morning visit to the Spanish Steps in Rome to pray for people worldwide struggling in the pandemic. 

Pope Francis has revamped the Holy See's financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering unit following financial scandals, including an ongoing in-house corruption probe, Vatican officials said Dec. 5. 

The United Nations has voiced concern that refugees be allowed to make a "free and informed decision" about whether to relocate to the island in the Bay of Bengal.

Faith affiliation has emerged as one explanation for this political divide among Latino Americans.

Nine more Catholic priests, including one well known for helping Denver's homeless, were found to have sexually abused children in an updated report on sex abuse in Colorado's Catholic churches released Dec. 1 by state Attorney General Phil Weiser.

The pope’s former treasurer Cardinal George Pell said Monday he feels a dismayed sense of vindication as the financial mismanagement he tried to uncover in the Holy See is now being exposed in a spiraling Vatican corruption investigation.

That's the stark dilemma Belgium's prime minister has set to urge smaller festive family gatherings, as Europeans battle with containing the surging COVID-19 pandemic over the holiday season.

Conservative Christians are rallying behind the state's two Republican senators, while Black churches and liberal-leaning Jewish groups are backing their Democratic challengers.

A federal appeals panel has upheld Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's order to stop in-person classes at religious schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

Long a staple of Catholic life, the rosary is back in the spotlight with the election of Joe Biden, who will become the nation’s second Catholic president when he is inaugurated in January. The president-elect often carries a set of rosary beads with him that once belonged to his son Beau, who died in 2015.

The court’s action was a victory for the Diocese of Brooklyn and Orthodox Jewish synagogues that had sued to challenge state restrictions announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Oct. 6.

As cases of COVID-19 spike in the U.S. just weeks before major religious holidays, questions abound as to whether attending religious services in person can, in fact, be safe.

Paolo Gabriele, the Vatican butler who was convicted of stealing and leaking Pope Benedict XVI's private papers in 2012, has died. He was 54.

Pope Francis met with NBA players at the Vatican on Monday, lauding them as “champions" and saying he supported their work on social justice.

Mexico's Roman Catholic Church announced the cancellation Nov. 23 of what's considered the world's largest Catholic pilgrimage, for the Virgin of Guadalupe, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Nov. 23 sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and two former church leaders, alleging they covered up allegations of sexual misconduct and misused charitable assets by supporting predatory priests who were allowed to retire or go on leave.

With no papal travels abroad this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis is cheering efforts for a youth jamboree, traditionally attended by pontiffs, in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023.

Four accusers of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick have sued the Vatican, arguing it should be held liable for allowing the now-disgraced cleric to serve in multiple positions when it knew of numerous allegations of sexual abuse against him. 

The Vatican cardinal sacked by Pope Francis amid a corruption investigation is suing an Italian news magazine, claiming that his ruined reputation has eliminated his chances of becoming pope and will undermine the legitimacy of any future papal election.

California-based Bishop Oscar Cantú confirmed Wednesday that he is under investigation by the Vatican for his handling of abuse and misconduct cases in his former diocese in the Las Cruces area of southern New Mexico.